They are here

Zzoomm have just arrived in my street, well they have put road signs up saying path is closed, so I presume they are starting today.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Zzoomm have just arrived in my street, well they have put road signs up saying path is closed, so I presume they are starting today.

Have you any intension of ordering from Zzoomm?

In reply to a post by dect:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Zzoomm have just arrived in my street, well they have put road signs up saying path is closed, so I presume they are starting today.

Have you any intension of ordering from Zzoomm?

i did think about it when I first heard they were coming to our little city, but I did wonder who paid them to come here.
But over the last few months I have looked at the pros and cons and decided and I pretty sure now that I will not bother. Even so, for people who want a fast broadband it is good, and they will eventually get that, also being here now, means they will be done quicker if the weather stays nice, and it will be peace and quiet again, well almost.

They have just come up the road digging out a trench, well they cut the outer lines of the trench, I presume they have to come back to dig the rubble out, my next door neighbour have already been out looking at her car as there is water on it, I presume the machine they use have water to cool it down. Myself, if I had a car I would have moved it if I could not park it on a drive.

i still have 12 months on my broadband contract, so I could change my mind by then.

The water is to suppress the dust from the cutting device

"They" ? Aliens? The word "zzooom" would have been useful in the subject

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

The water is to suppress the dust from the cutting device

I presume it would also be used to cool it down as well, but I could be wrong, I don't know how it cuts, but if it is a disk, then that is going to get very hot.
At least it is covered now, so I don't have to pull my bike over a rough channel like this afternoon going to work.
But to be fair to the bloke on a JCB type thing, he was willing to get down and give me a hand, but i was ok, I said if I fall over then you can help and we both laughed .

My bike is heavy as it is an electric one.,

I did notice coming in this evening that they have large covers over a few places, not sure why that is, the trench have small covers on.
ah, it could be to cover the part that goes to the Toby box. I will be out tomorrow morning and most of the afternoon, so I will not hear muchj.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

"They" ? Aliens? The word "zzooom" would have been useful in the subject

why would i want to do that?

To clarify your thread's meaningless title.

In reply to a post by Realalemadrid:

To clarify your thread's meaningless title.

Ok, just to make you happy


They have just started digging again, not here, but down the road, I don't know how long it will be before they start laying the fibre.

I am going out in just over an hour anyway, so not going to bother me, going to do some socialising

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Ok, just to make you happy

Too late now as the thread list in the forum only shows the title of the opening post. Still looking for that mind-reading add-on utility.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Ok, just to make you happy

Too late now as the thread list in the forum only shows the title of the opening post. Still looking for that mind-reading add-on utility.

When you find it, let me know

Typically it’s a diamond-tipped toothed blade (for wear resistance). They come in various grades/types for cutting concrete or bituminous surfaces.

The water is a dust suppressant (and possibly slight cooling too) but they can also be used dry - don’t know if you’ve ever had the misfortune of walking past someone using a Stihl-saw to cut up blockwork or paving slabs without a water can / hose attached - the dust can be immense.

Edited by Pheasant (Wed 03-Aug-22 10:12:38)

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

don’t know if you’ve ever had the misfortune of walking past someone using a Stihl-saw to cut up blockwork or paving slabs without a water can / hose attached - the dust can be immense.

Yes, they were digging for traffic lights near a customer and didn't have the water. The public on the pavements scattered as the dust looked like something from the Sahara !

Yep. It’s pretty antisocial if they don’t use water. Can leave a load of mess on peoples parked cars etc.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Typically it’s a diamond-tipped toothed blade (for wear resistance). They come in various grades/types for cutting concrete or bituminous surfaces.

The water is a dust suppressant (and possibly slight cooling too) but they can also be used dry - don’t know if you’ve ever had the misfortune of walking past someone using a Stihl-saw to cut up blockwork or paving slabs without a water can / hose attached - the dust can be immense.

No, I have never walked past one, but I can imaging what it would be like. I know my next door neighbour on the one side complained about the mess her car was in. it got a little dirty, she should have moved it.

Anyway, they have gone now, so it did not take long, the trench is filled in, they must have done that today as when I went out this morning the temp covers were still on it. I presume they have some sort of lining in it and will either blow the fibre in or it is already in place.

We now know about how the fibre is going to get to people's houses, it is going via the poles and not underground. I think that may be due to the fact a lot of houses here are lower than the path, I have to go down steps to my house, but then the other side is the opposite, so I don't know why they are using poles here when in parts of the city they have dug up peoples drives and gardens. I prefer the pole idea to be honest, less hassle.
It also seems that openreach fibre is not coming here as yet, I presume open reach are the only ones that can put the equipment on the poles.
So i am still a little confused, but not so much.

But I must admit , I am surprised how quick they have been., they are still going down the road.

They may have installed bundled microduct - through which they’ll blow the fibre bundles at some later point. It’s very fast to blow fibre once the infrastructure is in place.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

But I must admit , I am surprised how quick they have been., they are still going down the road.

Things have changed a bit since the coax cable days of 1990/91/92…. But those using Openreach PIA will be faster than the likes of CityFibre installing their own ducts. Unless of course Openreach has no duct (D.I.G. Areas)

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

They may have installed bundled microduct - through which they’ll blow the fibre bundles at some later point. It’s very fast to blow fibre once the infrastructure is in place.

Went out this morning as I had to pop into town, so I walked down the street and the trench goes from the pole by me, down the street a bit, then crosses the road, where it looks like it goes into an old G.P.O manhole and then there is another small trench from that to another pole. They have made no other trench in the street.

I presume open reach are the only ones that can put the equipment on the poles.

Any altnet using PIA can put their equipment on Openreach poles.
Openreach also use contractors for much of their fibre build.

Edited by witchunt (Thu 04-Aug-22 18:40:46)

Looks like it will be an aerial drop cable from the Openreach poles then - so not very much trenching required at all.

As said, there’s nothing stopping Openreach from deploying their FTTP in the same way. You would then, in the fullness of time, have an Openreach CBT on the serving pole quite possibly alongside something like a HellermannTyton AFN as the distribution point for Z.

That’s pretty normal where Openreach and one or more AltNets are serving in the same area.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Looks like it will be an aerial drop cable from the Openreach poles then - so not very much trenching required at all.

As said, there’s nothing stopping Openreach from deploying their FTTP in the same way. You would then, in the fullness of time, have an Openreach CBT on the serving pole quite possibly alongside something like a HellermannTyton AFN as the distribution point for Z.

That’s pretty normal where Openreach and one or more AltNets are serving in the same area.

I see, I have just had a look at bidb.uk, and it says on there for my road, Openreach
22/08/2022, 00:00:00 - 24/08/2022, 23:59:59
Status: Granted
No description

So is openreach coming here after all?

Right, i must get off to work now, sadly,

All that confirms is that Openreach have some roadworks planned. When BIDB shows no description then you have to do more detective work on either the local council roadworks database or the National one where the description should be more detailed. Any mention of duct clearing, PON's or fibre will be good news.

In reply to a post by kommando:

All that confirms is that Openreach have some roadworks planned. When BIDB shows no description then you have to do more detective work on either the local council roadworks database or the National one where the description should be more detailed. Any mention of duct clearing, PON's or fibre will be good news.

No mention of anything to be honest, just says they are doing roadworks.
Who knows.

In your future I can see a visit to roadworks nearby on 22nd,23rd and 34th Aug .

For my locality they forgot to notify the LA, stopped work after 2 days when they got caught and then booked it properly for 2 weeks later. It is for FTTP and was a moleing crew laying ducting in a verge plus a blue pull rope. Mark 1 eyeball cannot be beaten.

In reply to a post by kommando:

In your future I can see a visit to roadworks nearby on 22nd,23rd and 34th Aug .

For my locality they forgot to notify the LA, stopped work after 2 days when they got caught and then booked it properly for 2 weeks later. It is for FTTP and was a moleing crew laying ducting in a verge plus a blue pull rope. Mark 1 eyeball cannot be beaten.

I don't think the roadworks have anything to do with openreach FTTP to be honest, maybe they are sorting out a blockage for zzoomm, after all it is openreach ducts, so surly it should be their responsibility top clear them. There are a few roadworks in the city going to happen by openreach and they all seem to be close to where zzoomm is working.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I don't think the roadworks have anything to do with openreach FTTP to be honest, maybe they are sorting out a blockage for zzoomm, after all it is openreach ducts, so surly it should be their responsibility top clear them.

Zzoomm or anyone else wants to use Openreach ducts they pay to clear them, either paying Openreach, which isn't smart, or their own contractors. Very limited amount of clearance per kilometre of duct that Openreach are responsible for so almost certainly Openreach FTTP work in response to the Zzoomm build.

In reply to a post by XGS_Is_On:

Zzoomm or anyone else wants to use Openreach ducts they pay to clear them, either paying Openreach, which isn't smart, or their own contractors. Very limited amount of clearance per kilometre of duct that Openreach are responsible for so almost certainly Openreach FTTP work in response to the Zzoomm build.

Around here Openreach have been in underground chambers, and installing poles, a few weeks before Toob install fibre using PIA. Maybe Toob are “not smart” and paying Openreach, or they have something in their PIA contract?

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Around here Openreach have been in underground chambers, and installing poles, a few weeks before Toob install fibre using PIA. Maybe Toob are “not smart” and paying Openreach, or they have something in their PIA contract?

Don't known the specifics but can't think of any reason why Toob would have a more favourable PIA contract than Virgin Media, CityFibre or other altnets spending far more than Toob. If they're paying Openreach the logical thought is that they, either by plan or circumstances, don't have the resources to do the work themselves. Paying Openreach to do it means paying Openreach to pay civil engineers instead of going straight to the civils guys. I can't see that being the case for Zzoomm given how civils-heavy their build is.

Edited by XGS_Is_On (Sat 06-Aug-22 23:59:04)

In reply to a post by XGS_Is_On:

Zzoomm or anyone else wants to use Openreach ducts they pay to clear them, either paying Openreach, which isn't smart, or their own contractors. Very limited amount of clearance per kilometre of duct that Openreach are responsible for so almost certainly Openreach FTTP work in response to the Zzoomm build.

There are a few of these road works dotted around the city, I hope they are not openreach FTTP,. well not yet anyway, let Zzoomm get a foothold, after all openreach had little interest before zzoomm started.

The bit of roadworks in my road or should I say avenue, anyway it is a bit down the bottom of the hill, just at the turning into my road, surly they would need to work up the top of the hill by me to pull the fibre up? This is the thing, all these roadworks by Openreach are just bits, nothing big.