The fibre used is remarkably flexible for what is in essence a (very fine) glass rod. It will happily follow a a bend of around 50mm radius, with a limit of nearer 30mm.

The equipment needed to joint fibre can be quite cumbersome, as it requires a steady jig to mount the fibre ends, which need to be aligned with microscopic precision before splicing.

BT are total experts at blown fibre.

After all, they got the patents. Blown fibre is a BT invention. One that you will need to pay royalties on if you wanna do it yourself.

The challenge with overhead fibre tubes is not blowing it or reasonable bends. It is ensuring that the overhead fibre tube and the fibre can move independently on a windy day.

Overhead tubes have been around for many years. Overhead jointing with no platform at the eaves of someone's house still requires humping the kit up a ladder which the HSE would have kittens about.

Sort that one out at a price that is cheaper than a ladder and taking it down to the ground and you could win the patent.

Edited by deleted (Wed 07-Sep-11 21:59:58)

The first time I saw fibre blown, I was very impressed

In reply to a post by RandomJointer:

BT are total experts at blown fibre.

After all, they got the patents. Blown fibre is a BT invention. One that you will need to pay royalties on if you wanna do it yourself.

So that's the plan then - they're waiting to collect all the licence fees from other telcos around the world before applying it in this country!