Will OR ever terminate in one of these?

When FTTC first started, Openreach used to supply a MODEM and the RJ45 socket was the demarcation point for their service. Then it became 'wires only' and the NTE again became the demarcation point.
Currently with FTTx it has back to an RJ45, this time on the ONT.

So, will OR eventually terminate the fibre at one of these (or similar) https://cpc.farnell.com/tuk/oc45wh/angled-fibre-modu... on a faceplate?

Cheers!

Heck no....

It's the wrong coloured sleeve and cap! 😂 (semi-seriously)

Actually properly seriously, I don't think they would; for Openreach, as a wholesale network, having 'control' of the ONT is quite integral to the operation of network. They aren't actuating leasing just a core of glass, but several upper layers of network service that make up the GPON network. What they resell to their customers, the ISPs, means that they must keep control of the lower layers of the network. In plain speak.

Relinquishing control would require a lot of changes to process, operations and maintenance. I cant ever see them doing it.

I was thinking that when I started with FTTC, the Huawei EchoLife Modem was part of the installation, when the PSU failed it was replaced with an ECI Modem which was not as reliable. The Openreach decided that after all, they were not going to maintain the Modem. Eventually purchased a DrayTek.

I also wonder whether BT will maintain a DV compatible Home Hub after a few years. Although that will not affect me.

Cheers!

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Heck no....

It's the wrong coloured sleeve and cap! 😂 (semi-seriously)

Actually properly seriously, I don't think they would; for Openreach, as a wholesale network, having 'control' of the ONT is quite integral to the operation of network. They aren't actuating leasing just a core of glass, but several upper layers of network service that make up the GPON network. What they resell to their customers, the ISPs, means that they must keep control of the lower layers of the network. In plain speak.

Relinquishing control would require a lot of changes to process, operations and maintenance. I cant ever see them doing it.

As you say that's an unangled physical coupler as apposed to an angled physical coupler. Though the couplers are as cheap as chips and are reasonably standardized so it would be perfectly feasible to swap the UPC coupler out for a APC one.

https://www.fs.com/uk/products/76115.html

Been discussed before but if Openreach where not willing to but the ONT exactly where I wanted I would rock up the moment they left with my own simplex APC SC/SC cable and coupler and just move the ONT to somewhere that suited me

Nice would be the option of an SFP ONT, and save on the electricity bill of running a separate power supply for the ONT.

https://store.ui.com/collections/operator-ufiber/pro...

Though I could live with an ONT that took PoE, and had the option of the Cat6 and fibre being fed from the back out of sight.

Imagine if they ever let you supply your own ONT though, people would be watching the DOM readouts of the light levels to obsessive degrees.

Hehe. Yes I dare say some of the more technically savvy folks out there have probably cottoned on that you can go to fleabay or fs.com and buy a factory made SC/APC singlemode patchlead for a tenner and a green SC/APC coupler and without too much bother…voila instant “optical extension lead” to lift and shift the ONT.

Its worse.... some even more savvy person has bulk purchased said parts from fs.com and then is re-selling extension kits on EBay for nearly £40

I personally found it easier to route a cat5e cable to the ONT, at least I don't have to play the put it back to stock dance if something goes wrong and OR pay a visit!

Edited by kjwkjw (Fri 11-Jun-21 14:43:12)

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I was thinking that when I started with FTTC, the Huawei EchoLife Modem was part of the installation, when the PSU failed it was replaced with an ECI Modem which was not as reliable. The Openreach decided that after all, they were not going to maintain the Modem. Eventually purchased a DrayTek.

I also wonder whether BT will maintain a DV compatible Home Hub after a few years. Although that will not affect me.
Cheers!1

Likely not as it is a very different proposition to FTTC, and the ONT is integral to the way it is setup.

Personally, I hope they never do change it either, they should never have changed it for FTTC either.

Edited by therioman (Sun 13-Jun-21 14:23:01)

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Hehe. Yes I dare say some of the more technically savvy folks out there have probably cottoned on that you can go to fleabay or fs.com and buy a factory made SC/APC singlemode patchlead for a tenner and a green SC/APC coupler and without too much bother…voila instant “optical extension lead” to lift and shift the ONT.

I'm sure the odd technically savvy person has cottoned on to all kinds of things that may be done with GPON ONT and the fibre.

You’re teasing us now Carl….🤣

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

I'm sure the odd technically savvy person has cottoned on to all kinds of things that may be done with GPON ONT and the fibre.

I think someone in Spain figured out how to extract the relevant ID/serial numbers from their version of the ONT and then program those into an SFP ONT. GPON is presumably standards-based and designed for interoperability between manufacturers.

For a while at least the enterprising chap was buying the SFPs in bulk from China and selling online with instructions.

There are three authentication methods in the standard for an ONT, and by all accounts Openreach are just using the serial number which is handily printed on the ONT

There was a feature request for the Ubiquiti SFP ONT asking if they would allow some of the parameters could be "modified" as a configuration option so it could be made to work with other vendors OLT's. No idea if that was actually implemented but it is only a matter of time before such SFP ONT's are on the market.

At the end of the day as you say GPON is standards based and being inflexible is fighting a loosing battle IMHO.

That said an ONT that can be hardwired (so no cables showing) from behind and powered using PoE makes most of the issues go away.

I am sure however there are a bunch of gamers that would mess about with SFP ONT's plugged directly into network cards on their PC to shave a millisecond off their latency.

In reply to a post by jabuzzard:

I am sure however there are a bunch of gamers that would mess about with SFP ONT's plugged directly into network cards on their PC to shave a millisecond off their latency.

I'd do it just to make things neater!

It's one fewer box and PSU, so likely very slightly more energy efficient.

You might get DOM data which would be interesting.

And a part of me would be happy to say that there was no copper in the signal path between my desktop and the Internet. Yes, I know it makes sod all difference, and yes, I know the SFP connector and the PCB traces are not made of fibre...