Confused

I went for a walk this morning and in the next road from me there was Openreach van and someone coming up the road with one of those measuring wheels. Saw another bloke in the road after, stopped to speak to him, and he said it was for FTTH. Shocked me as I thought it would be awhile before OR done FTTH here.

Anyway, on the way back I noticed that the bloke i talked to was on a lift pushing fibre/cable, what ever up to the pole and there was a box on the top of the pole. To me, if they started there, it is a strange place to start as it is in the middle of the street.

I went around the corner to the street next to mine, where I saw the men with the measuring wheel and some engineers were in the garden of a block of flats with a load of what looks like fibre.

So is fibre coming up via Open reach or is it just flat that decided to have fibre? i would be surprised if someone in that flat have paid to have Fibre on demand as that is expensive and to be honest the people who live in those flats I would not put as paying out a load of money for fibre.
i suppose there could be a duct in the garden there.


just confused,

I don't think MDUs (flats) are able to order FTTPoD, or I would have a while ago!

What does the block on the top of the pole look like? Is it a CBT with "teats"? That's a very strong indication of FTTP.

Otherwise, someone in the flat *might* have ordered a leased line. But otherwise, maybe it's just as it seems - OR are rolling out fibre. They plan to cover 80% of the UK by end of 2026, so they are cracking on at a pace. Keep an eye on bidb.uk

In reply to a post by candlerb:

What does the block on the top of the pole look like? Is it a CBT with "teats"? That's a very strong indication of FTTP.

Otherwise, someone in the flat *might* have ordered a leased line. But otherwise, maybe it's just as it seems - OR are rolling out fibre. They plan to cover 80% of the UK by end of 2026, so they are cracking on at a pace. Keep an eye on bidb.uk

I just went for a walk and it seems up the long street, which is the second street from my house, they have put this box thing on a few poles and have cable looped and tied to the side of it, with a label saying fibre overhead. So it certainly looks like fibre.
I took some photos, i have put the link below, and as i was taking them someone came out of a house and asked me if I was taking photos of their house, I knew it would happen, i explained what I was doing and showed them the photos. i would do the same thing. Anyway he told me he saw some people from Zzoomm there as well, which is strange since zzoomm is supposed to be going underground and why would Open reach be there?


Link for photos, they are not great, I had the sun shining and I could nto see the screen of the phone, I was going to take the other cameras out, but I could not be bothered, ignore the photos of the cabinet, that was for something else.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsjGwcUuY

Look like OR CBTs on a standoff bracket in the last photo. 3rd photo looks like a cable joint.

The dome-shaped thing is likely a track joint. The 5th and 6th photos do appear to show a CBT - you can see the caps with their retaining clips on the CBT ports - as well as what looks like some third-party fibre hardware.

It's quite possible you're getting both OR FTTP and Zzooom.

Zzoomm will most likely deliver via OR poles, if that's how OR are delivering to properties in that area (because there are no lead-in ducts)

Yep, the domed thing is a copper ‘universal clip joint’

The silver strips give the unique CBT ID numbers, so can be read from the ground. (It took soooooo long for some bright spark to come up with this)

Those cabinets pictured are, in my opinion, nothing to do with Openreach FTTP

Not seen Zzoomm provide overhead round this way. Trooli, Toob, yes

Those pole tops are going to get pretty busy when all those fibre drops from Zzoomm and OR start getting connected up!

In reply to a post by candlerb:

The dome-shaped thing is likely a track joint. The 5th and 6th photos do appear to show a CBT - you can see the caps with their retaining clips on the CBT ports - as well as what looks like some third-party fibre hardware.

It's quite possible you're getting both OR FTTP and Zzooom.

Zzoomm will most likely deliver via OR poles, if that's how OR are delivering to properties in that area (because there are no lead-in ducts)

Zzoomm seems to be doing the rest of the city so far via underground, so a bit of a surprise if they are going above ground, but they must have a deal with BT to use their poles, because surly they are not using the rest of open reach infrastructure? zzoomm is network suppose to be better than Open reach by all accounts.

We will wait and see, I prefer the overhead idea to be honest, no digging in the garden if I decided to go for it, but I am sicking with what I have said in the past at the moment, that I don't feel I need it. But still good to see it happening.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Those pole tops are going to get pretty busy when all those fibre drops from Zzoomm and OR start getting connected up!

Surly it will be either zzoomm or OR to each property, so it will be the same amount?

i presume the coiled up cable is going to be put down into the ground at some point, mind you it looks like they have put a connection from one pole to another. I presume a zzoomm cabinet will go somewhere.

It is interesting and as i said above, great for people who will get used out of it, the problem is with the way the cost of living is increasing, I wonder how many people will be able to afford FTTH.

Surly it will be either zzoomm or OR to each property, so it will be the same amount?

You’d think .. but imagine, you swap from one to another. So Zzoomm have no right to touch OR fibre, and vice versa. So you’ll end up with two fibre drops (well not Zzoomm who seem to be all UG) As Pheasant just noted, those poles are going to shockingly busy.

In years gone by I’ve advocated one company providing the whole fibre network, and then CP’s just connect at one central point to provide/change service. But no …

In reply to a post by candlerb:

The dome-shaped thing is likely a track joint. The 5th and 6th photos do appear to show a CBT - you can see the caps with their retaining clips on the CBT ports - as well as what looks like some third-party fibre hardware.

It's quite possible you're getting both OR FTTP and Zzooom.

Zzoomm will most likely deliver via OR poles, if that's how OR are delivering to properties in that area (because there are no lead-in ducts)

Nah, the ‘dome shaped thing’ is a copper joint. Track nodes look very different.

Zzoomm ALL UG round here, even in locations where Openreach is via poles

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Nah, the ‘dome shaped thing’ is a copper joint. Track nodes look very different.

Like this. (image nicked from a running thread at ISPR fora)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

You’d think .. but imagine, you swap from one to another. So Zzoomm have no right to touch OR fibre, and vice versa. So you’ll end up with two fibre drops (well not Zzoomm who seem to be all UG) As Pheasant just noted, those poles are going to shockingly busy.

In years gone by I’ve advocated one company providing the whole fibre network, and then CP’s just connect at one central point to provide/change service. But no …

Zzoomm seems to be underground with what they have done here so far, but they do use poles according to their website and the bloke that came out to me while I was taking the photos, told me he saw someone from zzoomm having a look.
There is no other company doing fibre here apart from zzoomm and maybe now Openreach. I am still confused, but for a different reason

i did see a zzoomm van when i went around to take the photos, but he was going the other way up the road.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Nah, the ‘dome shaped thing’ is a copper joint. Track nodes look very different.

Zzoomm ALL UG round here, even in locations where Openreach is via poles

Zzoomm is underground here, from what I have seen, but they do use poles. it says so on their website.

ok, i had another look on their site and it don't anymore, it says

How will you get it into my property?

We run your Full Fibre connection from a Fibre box, which is located on the road outside your property, into your home. When you order Zzoomm we’ll talk to you about where you want us to put your Zzoomm Hub so you get the best possible service.

I have a feeling this is nothing to do with zzoomm at all../

That’s the kiddy.

FTTP rollout; what typically goes up the pole as the distribution point...

This is the fibre termination that many AltNets will use - the HellermannTyton AFN - looks very much like the one shown on the right of your photos, but a bit hard to make out all the detail. All the connectors (typically standard LC/APC) are inside the box.

Openreach on the other hand will install either a 4-port (sparse rural setting), 8-port or 12-port (urban settings) CBT (Corning or CommScope) with the proprietary hardened 'OptiTap' fibre connectors. Each drop is connectorised and screws into the CBT. They start customer connections from the bottom left port and work their way up in a zig-zag layout.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In years gone by I’ve advocated one company providing the whole fibre network, and then CP’s just connect at one central point to provide/change service.

You mean: an Open fibre network, with a wide Reach?

This is basically what we have today, if you accept that OR light the fibres and wholesale the lit service.

If OR were to provide a dark fibre FTTH service instead, then the fibres would have to be spliced onto a different splitter for each service provider - or the splitters would have to be connectorised - and migrating customers would require field visits to repatch them.

But still it doesn't solve the underlying issue, which is that OR would be required to sell access to this fibre network at a flat regulated price. Altnets would still overbuild, because they'd still want to cherry-pick the cheap-to-build areas in order to undercut OR at wholesale.

It is done though.

Casting our gaze over at continental Europe, the Swisscom FTTH 'wholesale' model is actually....quite good.

Its all point-to-point too, so the ISP can choose to run PON or some ridiculous 25G dedicated symmetric service....😂

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In years gone by I’ve advocated one company providing the whole fibre network, and then CP’s just connect at one central point to provide/change service. But no …

That was only feasible if it was dark fibre, however that was never really on the table which is a shame as it has produced some really innovative products in Switzerland and elsewhere.

Once BT decided to go with PON parallel fibre networks were inevitable.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

If OR were to provide a dark fibre FTTH service instead, then the fibres would have to be spliced onto a different splitter for each service provider - or the splitters would have to be connectorised - and migrating customers would require field visits to repatch them.

No, the point to point fibres go back to an ODF and are patched to CPs as required. It's the CP's problem from there, but no need for splicing. CPs will have splitters on their side of the ODF if they want to use PON with splitters wired to the ports they lease on the ODF. They pay fees to collocate their equipment in the hubsite with the ODF and a block of ports on the ODF in advance then pay for each fibre tail as they are purchased.

Means the CP needs hardware near each ODF but works well.

No more of a field visit moving customers between than moving a copper customer between CPs in an exchange as has been done millions of times with LLU operators.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

FTTP rollout; what typically goes up the pole as the distribution point...

This is the fibre termination that many AltNets will use - the HellermannTyton AFN - looks very much like the one shown on the right of your photos, but a bit hard to make out all the detail. All the connectors (typically standard LC/APC) are inside the box.

Openreach on the other hand will install either a 4-port (sparse rural setting), 8-port or 12-port (urban settings) CBT (Corning or CommScope) with the proprietary hardened 'OptiTap' fibre connectors. Each drop is connectorised and screws into the CBT. They start customer connections from the bottom left port and work their way up in a zig-zag layout.

Yeah, sorry about the quality, the sun was shining in my face and I could not get around the other side. After one person coming out seeing what I was doing, I thought i better stop Also, I could not see the screen of the phone.

Anyway, I have sent a message to zzoomm on their faceache page and asked them if they are using poles in Hereford.

I know some people on here think I don't want fibre, but this is a good thing for the city, just a shame the rest of the city is a dump