Requesting alternative location for ONT

Hi All,

I am contemplating upgrading to fibre. My issue is in the vicinity of where BT would install it by default (immediately opposite the entry point into the wall) there is no power. It would also not be practical in terms of connecting to my existing data cabling. I also do not want cabling on show, no matter how "flat" and "flexible" the connectorised fibre cable is.

If I was to install a straight-ish run (no nasty bends) of flexi conduit/ducting buried in the stud wall from the anticipated entry point to the location of where I would like the ONT and also a drawstring, would the Openreach engineer likely be happy to draw their fibre through it and install my ONT where I want it? What diameter ducting should I look to install? I was thinking around 20mm diamater, should this be wide enough to acommodate the connectorised fibre? Something like THIS

Also, my network centre where all my data cabling around the house terminates is in the loft which is where I'd like the ONT. I've read somewhere that Openreach won't let their staff work in lofts, which I can understand, but my loft is boarded out with ladders and lights and you can stand up straight. Would that still preclude them from working in the loft?

I know a lot of this depends on who you get on the day..

Thanks

Edited by ste__ (Sun 15-Nov-20 23:41:08)

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Thanks... Changed

Edited by ste__ (Sun 15-Nov-20 23:43:00)

There is no “default” location for the ONT. It is usually installed where the customer wants it subject to access, internal cabling limit (still 30m?), time required etc.

That all sounds completely ’doable’

Just a thought, as its flexible conduit how will you prevent it from sagging in the wall? my experience of flexi conduit is that its very flexible and hard to keep straight.

The default installation is to strip off all the excess sheath and run the fibre fixed to along the skirting board. However my experience and that of others is that the installers are usually quite accommodating to any reasonable requests for where to route the fibre as long as it doesn't cause them extra work. Around here it is actually an external contractor rather than Openreach themselves that do the installation.

In my case it was run under the floorboards from the cupboard at the top of the stairs to the front of the house and then through the ceiling of the open porch down to the splice box near ground level. It helped that I had appropriately loose floorboards (and no fitted carpet) so I could feed it through the hole single cross joist alongside the cable for my for my upstairs ring-main for the engineer to pull through.the rest of the way. This saved him having to strip off ~10 m of fibre and the fix it to the skirting board as well as being easier than drilling through the external brick wall (early 1900's bricks are much tougher than the modern ones).

If you have conduit with an appropriate draw cord available then they are unlikely to have an issue. The fully sheathed fibre is ~5mm diameter and they will pull the un-terminated end through from the ONT location down to the splice box.

In my case they probably cut off half the length both from the connectorised fibre from the telegraph pole and the ONT which seems quite wasteful but I guess it is cheaper to just stock one standard length of each that will do 99% of installations than to have multiple options with the added risk of picking up one that is too short.

Yet another case where an ONT that could be powered using power over Ethernet would make a lot of sense.

Said before I would just run some Cat 6a and get a PoE splitter to 12V with a 2.1mm DC centre pin positive to power the ONT, and then use an injector or PoE capable switch or router to provide the power.

When the openreach guy came to do ours there was a hole in the wall and a drawstring ready for him to use, if you do the leg work beforehand then I cant see them having issue with what you want to do?

The main thing for us was that there was a cable from the post already above the point of entry we had done for the cable to the ONT so it was a simple swap.

On my recent install i had pre-installed 20mm flexible conduit under the floor, with a drawstring. The openreach guy was perfectly happy using it and just drilling in from the outside under the floor. The cable is drawn from the inside out, the end without the connector on so 20mm duct is fine.

The flexi-duct was very flexi! I had to fix it to each joist under the floor to keep it straight so I think you might have trouble unless you keep it taught by fixing it both ends.

I wanted the fibre to come into the loft of my house through an exterior gable wall and then be routed 4 m through the loft to the rear of the loft room wall, through that wall and into the ONT on the other side. This run included a 90-degree turn. Having read the suggestion of moosekebab. I ran a 4 m length of 20 mm flexible electrical conduit clipped to the top of the ceiling joists. I used a 4 mm rope for a drawstring through the conduit. I inserted the conduit through the exterior wall so that its end was flush with the outside brickwork I pushed the other end through the interior wall so that its end was flush with the inside wall. I used a 22 mm masonry drill to drill the walls.

When the BT guys came, I showed them what I had done and asked if they would be able to use it. Their reply was best summed up with the comment "Norrarf! You've saved us half an hour work time"!

BT Ultrafast
300Mbs down, 50Mbs up

Edited by deleted (Fri 19-Feb-21 22:55:20)

So I've been busy with work and personal stuff and only got round to looking at this this weekend.
The wall I want to run my conduit down is dot and dab (I assumed there was some sort of stud as well due to the thickness and hollow sounding of the wall.. obviously I was wrong).
The gap between the breeze block and drywall is 15mm at the smallest point I can measure (I am slightly assuming this is as narrow as it gets) Ive made a route from the loft to the ground floor where the existing line comes in and I should be able to navigate round the dot n dab.

As my original idea of 20mm is now too big, I will look to use 15mm conduit, but for the connectorised cable what is the smallest internal conduit diameter I can get away with for drawing it through? Ive seen pictures of some sort of black capping on the splice end, does this need drawing through as well or is that cut off beforehand?

Thanks again.

Makes no odds. They won’t draw a connector(ised cable) through any conduit. It would be fecked in seconds. They just pop the connector on the end once the cable is in situ.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

They won’t draw a connector(ised cable) through any conduit. It would be fecked in seconds.

That seems at odds with the experience of others on this thread who've preinstalled a route??
I know they draw the cable from the ont to the outside, just wondered if it's drawn with this black capping and what the diameter of the connectorised cable is..

Also do we still need to provide a double backbox for the ONT?

In reply to a post by ste__:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

They won’t draw a connector(ised cable) through any conduit. It would be fecked in seconds.

That seems at odds with the experience of others on this thread who've preinstalled a route??
I know they draw the cable from the ont to the outside, just wondered if it's drawn with this black capping and what the diameter of the connectorised cable is..

The "inside out" method doesn't use the connectorised cables but splices instead.

It's drawn from the ONT to the outside with no connector on the end of the cable. It's then spliced outside.

In some areas they may still be older install methods. These tend to be pulled from outside to inside.
My install was like this and again it had no connector on the end of the cable. This was fitted inside the property to connect to the ONT.

I don't think the preterminated cables will fit inside such a small conduit comfortably, especially if there are any tight bends.

Also do we still need to provide a double backbox for the ONT?

That's never been a requirement that I'm aware of.

They are only needed for the new enclosures which I've not actually seen used on anyone's install.
I'd assume they are used in new builds and the backbox will be there already or fitted by OpenReach.

Edited by j0hn83 (Mon 08-Mar-21 12:13:20)