Home refurb - how to prepare for FTTH

Hello,

I'm about to embark on some major works on the ground floor of my house. The walls and floors will be coming up so it is the perfect time to prepare for FTTH so it can be installed with the minimum clutter on the walls.

I have the space under the stairs in the same area which is where modems, routers, NTE's etc... will hopefully end up. I've found a developers guide for Openreach and they talk about preparing the house with duct 25/17. It doesn't really say much about what else is needed. Am I wrong in guessing the "blowing" process will send a fibre from outside to the point inside where the duct terminates? Will observing the minimum bend radius be sufficient? And where to find this ducting.... nothing seems to come up on searches.

Is this ducting what blown tubing would then be fed through by Openreach so they could then blow through a fibre through to the final termination point? Could I get my hands on any of this tube if this is how it is done?

Otherwise do I run my own fibre which termination and fibre type should I use? Ideally I would drill through to the external side of the house and coil a metre or two inside a PVC weatherproof housing. This all has to do with the termination into the BT modem and which type of fibre they would splice when they finally dig outside.

Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated, cheapest solutions that leave BT to the kit but have the same result of less stuff on the walls would be best.

Good question. A minimum would probably be a 25mm duct from an access chamber outside to your preferred location inside, laid to the radius requirements and with a pull rope inside it. The Openreach new build specs talk of laying a single fibre tube inside the duct along with the rope and the fibre would be blown along that.

The tube is 6mm, and there's a note about spec -

"The minimum bend radius for the tubing is 72 mm.
 The maximum distance the external tube can be installed into the building is 2 metres. If the distance from the point of entry is greater than 2m then the tube needs to be
connected to an internal single 2.7/6mm RFH (Reduced Fire Hazard) tubing. "


http://www.radiustelecoms.com/products/fttx-microtub... has some tech specs, don't know where to buy it retail.

25/17 sounds like 4mm wall thickness as the convention is OD/ID.Good luck and well done for thinking ahead !

Edit to add: Openreach ask for 56mm ducting if there's to be copper or copper and fibre.

Edited by yarwell (Sat 23-Feb-13 10:44:06)

The fibre will be provided to a 'customer splice point' which will be wall mounted above the duct mouth of the UG feed (unless you are fed over head). This will be Openreach's doing. As for what you could do. A small conduit provided from the area of the external feed to the space under the stairs. No sharp bends, and a draw cord within, will allow the installer to pull in the connectorized fibre lead in to where required, this would be the neatest solution.

Thanks very much for your ideas.

I'm assuming that an Openreach installer would be able to polish and splice a fibre when and if we ever get offered FTTH. I'd

just need to make sure of two things, the type of fibre and termination to the BT fibre router if I a.

Are there any people here who have had experience with the installation that can tell me what sort of fibre Openreach will use?

I'm guessing 50/125 OM4 or 9/125 OS1 or OS2?

What connector would be used at the modem end and joining the other end to the street feed would be a splice? I understand this could also be spliced and coiled inside a wallbox outside. Some of the diagrams I see are not the most ideal so I'd rather have the splice point outside and all the equipment you see under the stairs.

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/a494/n00dles71/O...

If you see here I have drawn in brown where I would rather the Customer Splice Point and run duct down through the wall on an angle to the duct can then bend at a lesser angle to head off under the floor. I'm planning on hiring a wall tracker which will cut the channel in the brick so it should hopefully come up all tidy in the end. This would make Zarjaz's idea the cheapest one I guess without the problem of future clutter.

Is it worth running the tube the same time? I found a place that looks like it will sell tubing by the metre so for 10 metres cost is irrelevant;
http://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/8-core-loose-tube-fibr...

I'm guessing this down some ducting will make for a happy Openreach install engineer (if they ever make it) and a much happier wife with less cables and clutter.

Openreach will own the connection until it's terminated on an active ONT and converted to copper so the type of fibre and connectors used aren't really a worry to you, just ensuring there's a viable path for the fibre from the splice point to where the powered ONT will live which fits your requirements is all you need.

EDIT: Have a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gUBw8gh90

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-Feb-13 13:38:21)

The splicing stops at the outside of the property. After that pre made runs of fibre that will survive the home environment are used, with connectors already on the ONT end, and a single splice is done outside to connect it to the fibre from the street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gUBw8gh90&feature=p...

The information is all in http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/network/develop...

Openreach will not use any fibre you install, so you just need the right size ducting

In reply to a post by gnoonan:

I'm assuming that an Openreach installer would be able to polish and splice a fibre when and if we ever get offered FTTH. I'd

just need to make sure of two things, the type of fibre and termination to the BT fibre router if I a.

Are there any people here who have had experience with the installation that can tell me what sort of fibre Openreach will use?

Zarjaz is an Openreach FTTC & FTTP/H installer!

Zarjaz

I gather you're an Openreach FTTC & FTTP/H installer, so I'm hoping you can help... I've recently started a fairly major project to split our family home in two, and having previously thought about gas, electric, and water, realised the heinous omission of phone & broadband only last week. We now have a set schedule with the drive being dug up next week, national grid putting in a new gas connection the week after, and western power distribution putting in electric the week after, with water works underway somewhere in the midst. The date for BT to visit (since emergency phone calls starting on Friday) is right at the end, and to make matters harder, the drive is also a public footpath, so the council will only allow the footpath closing for three weeks. Hence we need to re-fill the driveway trenches 2 days after the BT OpenReach survey!! I think it's going to be too late to get ducting/cables sorted at that point, so I'm desperately trying to find out what we need so we can get them ordered ahead of all this.

We don't currently have the option for a fibre connection, but I'd like to lay the duct/cable whilst the drive is up. However, I guess I also need to lay the copper duct/cable for a real connection to last until fibre becomes available. I've looked at the video posted on this thread (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_gUBw8gh90), and I've reviewed the developer guide, but I'm not sure whether/where I can get the materials, and how critical it is that they're what Openreach would use themselves.

I appreciate this is a huge ask resulting from my own lack of planning (oh, the benefit of hindsight!), but I'd be extremely grateful for any assistance you can give re what I should lay (just duct? duct and cable? what end points) and where I can get it.

Thanks

Ducting of the spec for copper phone line is sufficient for the final drop fibre to a home

Openreach have a department called "New Sites" that help with developers, and ought to be able to answer your questions.

Do these links help?

http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/conne...

http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/conne...