Openreach FTTP, Internal CSP possible

I'm in a fibre first area and they are in the process of cabling my street.

We are currently fed by an aerial cable from a pole and the cable goes directly into the eaves then into a services room in the loft where the NTE5 is located along with my switch, server, ethernet patch panel etc. The loft area is fully fitted out with rooms and a standard staircase, it's really no different from the first floor of a house.

The short 2m or so section in the eaves from entry point of the aerial cable to the room with the NTE5 is partially boarded with restricted head height, and is directly accessible via a door into the eaves from the services room.

So my question is when I do get FTTP installed will I be able to get the fibre drop cable to follow the same route directly into the eaves and then into the services room, with an internal CSP instead of being forced to have an external CSP?

An external CSP would be a bit of a pain as the drop cable would need to be routed down to ground level, then presumably I'd have to route the internal side back up inside the house to the services room?

Cheers,

MH

Yeah so the point of a CSP is to transition external grade cabling, to internal grade cabling mostly from a fire and smoke safety perspective. External grade cabling has a tough PVC sheath and worse yet can be gel filled, which can be flammable, so fuel to a fire. Hence CSPs are an outdoor located device.

The alternative would be a CSP-less install. My own install is one of these.

However I’m led to understand that these are no longer in vogue with Openreach - so they may no longer be done even if requested. The method here is slightly different in that the cable from the street is a “dual” grade cable - that is, it has a tough external grade outer sheath, which is stripped away to reveal an internal grade cable which is then run in the indoor spaces as soon as the cable passes through the external wall of the premises.

Unless something has changed I don't see why an internal CSP wouldn't be possible.

I wanted my CSP indoors, and when I read the regulations before my own overhead FTTP install back in 2015 they stated that no more than two metres of external grade cable could be used internally UNLESS it was enclosed in metallic conduit.
Although my install was the old 2-stage type (so different than most of todays) it involved running approximately 17 metres of the old 'external' BFT indoors which was pulled through 16.5 metres of flexible metallic conduit I'd pre-installed.
Entering through the eaves, the conduit was routed through the loft, down a chased out wall, under floorboards to enter a downstairs services cupboard via its ceiling, then a CSP fitted on the wall of the cupboard.


Edit: clarity

Edited by Rastus (Mon 08-Mar-21 11:06:35)