Opportunistic FTTH installation. Is it possible?

Hi there all,

I'm new to the forum but had a questions about fibre broadband that I was hoping you might be able to help me with.

I live right across from my local cabinet and am currently having a new power connection laid into my house. At the same time, it seems there is some work being done by BT to my local cabinet and I was told by one of the engineers this was to provide fibre to the cabinet. You can see the works on roadworks.org if you type in my postcode "W6 0HY".

I am wondering whether, given the fact that both the footway in front of my house and the footway by the cabinet is currently dug up and exposed, I would somehow be able to convince someone to lay a fibre cable from the cabinet to my house. The opportunity just seems to perfect to miss. I certainly wouldn't mind paying for it also.

Does anyone know who I would have to speak to about this? I've tried getting in touch with my local Openreach Newsites offices but have not been able to get through to anyone. Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

I believe this normally would not be possible for individual residential premises.

However you could send a query to [email protected]

If they are installing an FTTC CAB just over the road would this "impossible dream" actually provide anything that you want?

In future there would, of course, be the possibity of FTTP on demand when the product is released. This seems to be going to has a live FTTC CAB as a prerequisite.

Installing ducting on your premises for future FTTP would seem to be the only option and this would presumably need to meet BT's standards if they were to use it.

Thanks for your replies! I sent an email to [email protected]. Let's see what they say.

I know it's probably quite greedy of me but I would do almost anything for super-super-fast internet. Getting, say, a 1 gig line is the stuff of my dreams

Would it be safe to say then that, unless FTTP is available for all people on this particular cabinet, I won't be able to get it myself?

With the road already dug open, I just couldn't help but think: I wonder if they could put a fibre cable here....

knowing BT they will say no but then later agree when the cost will be higher having to dig it up again.

Obviously as well you would be bound to whatever retail FTTP offerings they have so not gigabit.

There are rules and guidelines about where various services should be laid under roads and foot-ways with preferred separations between them. What you are asking might require additional work and approval to adhere to the guidance and the overall cost prohibitive. By all means, ask BT and see what they say but be prepared for a "NO".

Quick, throw some ducting in whilst no one's looking

At least run some from in your house to the edge of your property just in case for the future, although if that is you're cabinet then you should get the full speed, with a a lot of headroom if they ever release higher speeds in the future.

Again, thanks for all your replies so far.

According to this list, my exchange is currently only accepting FTTC orders so I take it that, even if I somehow miraculously managed to convince someone to lay a cable from the cabinet to my house, there'd be no service provider for me to sign up with.

It looks like I might just have to accept the FTTC options for now which are still going to be a nice upgrade to my current 24M Be line. In the meantime, I'll see whether I can't at least get some fibre laid internally to the curb, since I'm having lots of recabling done anyways.

Have a read of these two News Articles :-

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5016-fttp-on-dema...
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5307-openreach-re...

Would be of no use as there no current or prospective future product/ service which can connect to in this manner. FTTP on demand may be a possibility in the near to medium future but the fibre will not terminate in the cabinet anyway.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Would be of no use as there no current or prospective future product/ service which can connect to in this manner. FTTP on demand may be a possibility in the near to medium future but the fibre will not terminate in the cabinet anyway.

From this news article:

...a BT spokesman offered this explanation:

When we install a 'head-end' in an exchange, we use an FTTX head-end, which can support both FTTC and FTTP. In the majority of cases the bulk of the network deployment will be FTTC, as this allows greater numbers of people to receive fibre speeds and is therefore generally the most economically viable.

However, we would expect that more exchange areas will see a mix of the two technologies being used over the coming couple of years, as we start to roll out FTTP solutions to MDUs [multiple domicile units] (apartment blocks) and then, from next year, to individual premises who request it via FTTP on Demand.

Does that not contradict what you are saying? If FTTP fibre does not terminate in the cabinet, where does it terminate? Another sort of local hub?

Edited by deleted (Thu 29-Nov-12 16:12:46)

Head end is the exchange handover node, which you can see in http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2012/11/spotters-guid... if you decode the labels you might even spot where it is a PCP, or FTTP or FTTP on Demand, The exchange in question serves all three variations.

FTTP on Demand - as it is part of the trial areas.
FTTP on Demand is only needing the FTTC as a pre-requisite because it means the GPON network is in the local area, and can be connected to via the fibre splitters.

http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/super-... has more including a graphic showing how it will work.

It seems to me to be pointless laying fibre under your drive... someone is going to need to splice to it at some point, in which case they'd have to dig it up again. And you'd have to make sure it was an exactly compatible type. In fact... I'm not sure BT would want to put a splice there. Isn't that why they're installing manifolds & splitters, to control the places where splices are done?

If you wanted to put *anything* underground, the best bet would be ducting of the right format - so that BT can do whatever they need to with blowing the fibre... but even that is only of use if you can joint it directly to BT's ducting, or accept that it might need to be dug up again anyway.

And all that assumes that
a) You don't already have ducting towards BT
b) That BT will be sending the drop links via ducting rather than overground - no point installing ducts if the manifolds are 30' in the air!

You obviously know about Openreach's "new build" sections. Have you seen their Developer's Guide?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

FTTP on Demand is only needing the FTTC as a pre-requisite because it means the GPON network is in the local area, and can be connected to via the fibre splitters.

Does the fibre supplying FTTC cabinets work as an integral part of the GPON network, or is it just that the fibre for GPON is being laid (at least in part) at the same time as the fibre to the FTTC cabinets?

FTTC cabinet fibre is part of the GPON network, Openreach has plenty of simple maps showing the fibre/node/splitter arrangements.

The architecture diagrams (kinda maps) that I've seen show the architecture to be the same only as far as the aggregation nodes. After that, the FTTC architecture has nothing of the splitters or the manifolds.

The FTTC architecture does have "tube intercept joints" which look to be a very limited connection points - almost a way to join the ducting (and keep blown fibre possible) rather than a way to join the fibre itself.

From what I've seen, I'd expect to see FTTC cabinets being connected *through* the splitter nodes if it were really part of the GPON. Without that, aren't they just being co-located (not that that is a bad thing, mind).

By not being too integrated if FTTP does prove the total hit predicted from future gazers then removing cabinets in 15 years is something that may happen.

One issue is there may be resistance to the removal of the copper loop by those who prefer the simplicity of copper telephony.

Yes, morse code over copper has a lot to be said for it.

You are not real going togain a lot anyway if the cabinet is outside your door almost FTTC will give you almost the same as FTTP

Almost the same? So FTTC will manage 330 Mbps, with its 30 Mbps upload?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

FTTC cabinet fibre is part of the GPON network, Openreach has plenty of simple maps showing the fibre/node/splitter arrangements.

They pull / blow extra fibre well above any requirements for the FTTC network. For FTTPoD they take one of the unused fibres in the network and build out to the home via an optical splitter and hook that fibre into an OLT in the headend.

All the FTTC hardware is connected via dedicated point to point links back to the handover point. Having the FTTC network there makes the civils, etc, for running the fibre to neighbourhoods economically viable in the first place but there the dependency ends. Zero shared components whatsoever, the FTTC cabinets are not connected to the GPON network.

http://www.btplc.com/Sharesandperformance/Industryan...

Also none of the Huawei DSLAMs support GPON use as backhaul GE / 10GbE only

http://www.huawei.com/us/products/fixed-access/dslam...

The same seems to go for the ECI:

http://www.ecitele.com/OurOffering/Products/Pages/NG...

Which is wise, GPON would be a more expensive solution compared with point to point fibre to cabinets due to increased costs either side of the link. Not to mention that the main reason for Openreach using GPON is to avoid having to offer physically unbundled fibre

Well at any sensible price, Would he want to pay the cost of that?

They might, they might not

BT Retail is doing FTTP 160 Meg for £35 a month.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/bt/package/1132-un...

Actually, it does... when the power goes down.

Back when I worked on PABX's... using the most modern signalling systems around, digital lines on 30B+D connections... one of the requirements we had to test against included using very old, hand-cranked magneto military field telephones.

Just in case...

That would be half at moment, or even about a quarter of the 330 Meg product.........

80mbit to 330mbit download little real world usefulness although to some people I respect that will be valuable.

The real improvements now looking for is on upload and 20 to 30 seems tiny compared to what we know FTTP is capable off. BT seem to be treating upload rates on FTTP like platinum. Although a big advantage of course with FTTP should be there be no SNR issues and DLM would be retired.

I would consider 100/100 far superior to 330/30

It also would be almost out of reach for VM, VM could probably surpass 30 with some effort on bonding upstreams, but 100mbit upload would be a different story.

Edited by Chrysalis (Fri 30-Nov-12 02:35:13)

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

BT seem to be treating upload rates on FTTP like platinum.

I would consider 100/100 far superior to 330/30

I agree there.

Ironically, those ISPs purchasing WBMC capacity from BT wholesale do so at symmetric volumes. No strange treatment on *that* side.