Regarding FTTC installation/Openreach Engineers

Hello!

FTTC has (finally) come to my area, and we have an install date set for the 27th November, however there is something that I'm a little concerned about; the positioning of our master socket makes it very difficult to provide power to the fibre modem. Also, the primary user of the service is a PC in an upstairs room.

My question is how competent are the Openreach engineers, and how far will they go to fulfill installation requirements?, and yes, I know how condescending this is!

The optimal setup would be to have the fibre extension cord run outside our home, then directly into the upstairs room where we can set up both the fibre modem and the router. Another option would again to have the cable run outside, into the garage and use a pair of powerline adapters to link the fibre modem to the router upstairs. Using wireless or running ugly cables throughout the house is unacceptable for us.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any insight you guys can provide!

Experienced OR engineers are very competent and can provide a suitable solution in most cases . However, OR areengineers increasingly using inexperienced new recruits and contractors to install FTTC, and these can be a very mixed bunch

You should make sure that the service provider orders the Home Wiring Solution.

That should trigger an engineer who is capable of installing it, and if they fail and it was ordered ISP should chase for a refund on the install fee, and pass this on.

The extension is no harder to install that a decent telephone extension anyway, and involves no actual fibre.

I've not heard of this Home Wiring Solution before, I ordered with BT, and did not see any option for this when configuring the order. Reckon they could amend my order if I were to give them a call?

Thanks btw, much much appreciated!

They may have added it by default, but it is worth double checking.

As if the engineer has 3 installs with the option that day, he will have three kits in the van. It is not expensive to do as a retrofit yourself if you want afterwards, or if the layout is more than the engineer wants. As in we have seen some people who wanted to do complex things like go under floor boards, and engineer simply left the kit with them in those cases.

They may have added it by default, but it is worth double checking.

The HWS option is always present on BT Retail/Infinity managed installs.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

The HWS option is always present on BT Retail/Infinity managed installs.

Does it include exterior grade cable?

Yes, exterior grade data extension cable exists, only in black though.

What I meant was will it be automatically present in the engineer's van when a HWS is ordered? (Or is it permanently there on a reel?)

In the van stock, 24/7.