FTTC Ties and other new bundles

So, this has been sort of mentioned as an aside now and again, but I haven't seen a solid answer (say, from one of the people who has been shown to know their stuff, or a staff member). Maybe I'm in the wrong forum, in which case staff please feel free to move / point me in the right direction.

When BT / Openreach installs new bundles of copper phone cable, such as to connect the FTTC cabinet to a PCP, or indeed when laying copper for a new estate where nobody splashed out to do FTTP - what sort of cables are those, in terms of shielding (presumably none) twisting etc. ? Is any thought given to trading the cost of the cables versus their ability to carry current and reasonably foreseeable future non-voice signals?

Those of you in new builds, or who've done major renovation will probably have noticed that contractors will often put Cat 5e (unshielded twisted pair suitable for Gigabit Ethernet) in the walls when the plans only call for "phone cable" and the face plates are standard UK phone extensions. Cat5e makes for a perfectly nice phone cable, and presumably it's easier to carry one reel and not sweat the difference than to ensure you use the (very slightly) cheaper phone cables where those are requested and Cat 5e only where it's specified.

This is very convenient - I don't use analogue phones so I put standard network faceplates on the Cat5e provided by the builders and instantly gained half a dozen Ethernet ports around the place without untidy cables tacked to the walls, but it seems as though if Openreach took the same approach there'd be a lot of higher quality cable in the ground and dangling from poles above our heads. But I get the feeling they don't. Am I wrong?

Twisted pairs to cw1308 spec

This twisted but not as many as cat5e so lower noise rejection cat5e is rated to 250Mhz and vdsl2 only uses up to 17Mhz currently

The wires are in large bundles so image 50 cat5e cables in a tight bundle without the individual 50 outer sheafs

Cat5e is overkill for voice but its dual purpose makes it better for builders to install

We be bought our place off plan and have done a similar thing to you. I also got the electrician to run a cat5e cable from the drop line to the loft. That's where my master socket and modem/ router are now. So the only wireless devices I have are the portable ones. Everything from the Sky box to the AVR are hard wired via cat5e.
As you've eluded to, £40 or so for a 305m reel of lszh utp cat5e cable is peanuts for the convenience and benefit it could give down the line.

Paul

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-Jul-14 09:34:27)