In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Didn't BT stop doing aluminium dropwires because of exactly that? The action even of light wind blowing a dropwire back and forth soon eroded the thin copper coating, and if it was one of the pure aluminium ones, eventually moisture would get in there via similar methods, and possibly even physically break the pair completely.

Semi-related: I noticed recently after helping someone do a Freesat installation that a lot of the co-ax cable you can buy online which is about half the price of the stuff you can get in the big-name stores, is listed simply as having a copper core, but it's actually aluminium dipped in copper. We sent two sets of cable back because of that.

Edited by deleted (Sun 17-Feb-13 02:16:17)

Didn't BT stop doing aluminium dropwires because of exactly that?

There never have been aluminium dropwires.

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Aluminium doesn't rust .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Aluminium doesn't rust .

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

In reply to a post by don0301:

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

Aluminium actually burns extremely well as I once saw demonstrated by a lecturer who told us that some one else performing the demonstration had killed some of his audience.

The aluminium cable in my telephone line is underground (AFAIK)

In reply to a post by don0301:

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

Acid wit indeed .

What did the OP mean then? BT did try non-copper (or copper coated) wire back in the 70s or maybe 80s I think, and the results were terrible. I was obviously wrong about the rusting and/or the material. This thread:

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/btsupplier/3727764-...

I think has the answer, so copper-coated steel then, as the pun implied. I've never felt so stupid for temporarily getting a compound mixed up with an element

Edited by deleted (Tue 19-Feb-13 05:32:45)

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

I've never felt so stupid for temporarily getting a compound mixed up with an element

Don't be daft . My post about not rusting was just a joke. After all, rust is just a special case of corrosion.

As for the others discussing how the non-pure-copper cables are constructed, I've no idea.

Okay here's some pricing based on the way Openreach treat businesses.

If you're getting fibre to your property they will generally send a surveyor round to decide upon the route the fibre would take, if there are any hazards, and they will also make a decision wether other people adjacent or in the same block/building will be likely to use fibre in the near future.

If they decide that no one else will require fibre nearby, then you will have to cover the whole cost of the engineering installation from the start to finish. If they are running it to a big block of flats, BT may subsidise part of the cost as they will get a return on cost through future customers and ISP contracts. They apply this to business installations, however I'm not sure if this will apply to home users or not.

There is a fixed planning charge of £350.

For the start of the installation they will run a black pipe from either a cabinet or the nearest fibre terminal to your building, providing there are no blockages if it's going underground they will blow the fibre through the black tube using air compressors. I would assume the technique will be the same for FTTP.
The blown fibre cost is £4 / metre. (100m = £400).

Then there are any additional costs for making an entry to the building for the splice tray and NTE. Various costs here, especially if they need to run extra fibre up walls etc. The network equipment is generally owned by BT for business installations. Depending on the equipment they will provide for FTTP this may completely vary.
Any drilling Openreach will charge a fortune for. Generally £330 per hole!

I had a discussion with engineers about FTTP On Demand for home users, and they said there's issues being finalised in regards to how the fibre is to be run from telephone masts etc. but it's all moving ahead.

Please note these points and figures are only based on a dedicated fibre line for business. FTTP for the home will likely vary and I'm not even familiar with the equipment they would provide for home users. I believe it still requires the same components but they are a lot smaller.

So in regards to Michael's post about running a connection 5km to your property. It is completely possible to have this done. However if Openreach decided that you are the only person in your area that will be using fibre in the near future, you would have to cover the entire installation cost. If the pricing is similar to how they treat businesses, this would come to around £20,000.

Thanks,
Alan

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Feb-13 13:49:11)

Or if you can persuade enough of your neighbours to join in, get Gigaclear to install FTTP for everyone.
They charge £100 per household to install the 1Gb symetrical fiber to the edge of your property AND provide 25m of fiber and the modem/router as a kit.
You can then install the equipment yourself at no extra cost or a local contractor will do it for £85.
Slightly cheaper than BT methinks!
If it was going to cost you £20,000 for BT you'd be better off paying for all your neighbours installations!