My Fibre Installation experience...

Hi,

may I just write up my experience today (not great) for benefit of others and hopefully I might get some advice too.

the property is a Victorian stone and bath-stone fronted serviced by pole to the front.
my installation preference is to have the ONT in the loft where the current NTE5c copper line is, that's where all the comms gear is.

today I still have a professionally constructed scaffolding tower from where the front of the house has been restored (including removing cables and ivy from the front). The tower is quite significant and would have provided a perfect platform height to install the new fibre cable.

I couldn't get the installation completed today because:
1). open reach engineers (MJ Quinn) are not allowed to use anything other than their ladders. They are not permitted to use any scaffolding.
2). the CSP can not be installed any higher than 600mm from ground level. To have the internal grade cable enter the loft means two runs of cables up and down the front of the house.
3). cables can't be clipped to my walls because it's rough stone, and the cables are not flexible
4). Ladder requires 12mm bolt to be fixed into wall. it can't go in stone, shouldn't go in bath-stone. and if you think it will hold in 120year old lime mortar then there is something wrong with you.

They could forgo the ladder with a cherry picker... no idea how that get's arranged though.

I really need an internal CSP... or no CSP?

I was told the reason the CSP must be at ground level is because they can't use the £4k splicer up a ladder. shame, because i'm sure it would have been easy enough to use it on proper scaffolding platform.

so disappointing, and not really sure what the solution is..

I'm not just disappointed that I can't have faster internet, there's something unfix-able about my copper line that causes it to have a 30second glitch 2/3 times a day. only notice it with meetings, which is like all the time.

argh!

They are very correct about the height of the CSP, not being allowed to use a customers ladder/scaffold and that to use a ladder they need to install a temporary anchor bolt.

You can read about the last securing system they use is on page 28 of this Openreach document

Subcontractors are there to do the quick, easy, standard installs. It will now get passed on to an Openreach engineer who may be more accommodating.
If they insist on an external CSP then it's a cable going to and down the property.

I was told the reason the CSP must be at ground level is because they can't use the £4k splicer up a ladder. shame, because i'm sure it would have been easy enough to use it on proper scaffolding platform.

It sounds a good idea. That scaffold won't be there if/when they need to resplice it. That's definitely not an option.

In reply to a post by umbramalison:

I'm not just disappointed that I can't have faster internet

You can: you just can't have it installed in the non-standard way that you want.

The CSP is there to provide a point of access for testing and repairs. It needs to be accessible externally and safely.

As I see it, your choices are:

1. cable down and up to the CSP
2. put the ONT on the ground floor - although you'll still have one cable going down the house, instead of two down and up.

You could consider trunking if you don't like the look of a bare cable or pair of cables. It's available in different colours.

If the aesthetics are more important to you than fast and reliable internet access, that's your choice. In a few years time you'll almost certainly have to migrate from copper to fibre. However perhaps you'll have moved house by then; or you could switch to 5G/6G to avoid the external cable (albeit at lower reliability than FTTP)

Do you not just need an ethernet cable going from the ground floor to the loft?

I can understand why someone wouldn't want to use scaffolding that someone else put up - for all they know it could have been put up by cowboys and not be safe. I suspect their insurance wouldn't pay out if they used scaffolding that someone else had put up and something went wrong.

Could you run the two cables up/down the wall behind a gutter downpipe to hide them?

Thanks,
I've spoken to my ISP and they are looking into arranging an installation with the fibre specialist in the hope that they can be more accommodating.

I don't understand why the CSP needs to be accessible without my presence, I don't want anyone touching it without my permission as that would certainly cause a loss of service, and so I've also asked my ISP for an internal CSP in the loft. They are looking into it...

You might be right that I can't have it installed the way I would like, but i'm still in the process of that being decided.

you might have missed some of the info in my post, but I don't have flat walls, it's irregular stone and the external grade cable is not very flexible. it would be impossible to clip this to the wall. it won't be any easier with a conduit either, as this would have to stick out on legs off the face of the wall.

I have seen this comment about the CSP being there for testing and repairs before, and others have contested it. where are you getting that from? I can't imagine any testing or repair work that would be done without home owners permission and presence.

the aesthetics is not just a whimsical thing, it's a love and respect for Victorian character, and there are covenants about changing the frontage.

I'm hoping that I will get fibre in without defacing the house, so I won't need to make that decision. but i put my experiences here for others so that they can be better informed than I was.

Edited by umbramalison (Fri 06-May-22 15:34:08)

In reply to a post by smouty:

Do you not just need an ethernet cable going from the ground floor to the loft?

that might help, but I still have to find a route for the external grade cable to the CSP.
it's also quite a bit of work to place a new ethernet cable internally down from the loft, but not impossible.
I'd also have to run power as well so that the ONT gets UPS.

UPS is another reason why it would be so much easier if the CSP and ONT could go in the loft. Everything is there waiting for it.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I can understand why someone wouldn't want to use scaffolding that someone else put up - for all they know it could have been put up by cowboys and not be safe. I suspect their insurance wouldn't pay out if they used scaffolding that someone else had put up and something went wrong.

That's exactly the situation.

but it's frustrating because:
1) if every trade took this approach you would be constantly taking down scaffolding and putting up their own. This scaffolding has so far served Stone masons, roofers, stove/flue company, glaziers and decorators.
2) there isn't a safe way to secure the ladder.

the ladder isn't safer. but the ladder is what they are told to use.