Copper pair, new build

Hey

My friend has nearly finished building his property in a rural location. There was no active line before he started. He wanted to put the copper in himself before it's finished as the location he wants it would otherwise be awkward. There is a pole on one boundary of his property so he was going to run to there, about 70metres.

What sort of cable should he be using? Standard bt? Or does uprated shielded stuff exist at a reasonable price?

I'm not sure if Openreach will be happy to just "tag" onto the end of some self installed copper. Why doesn't he arrange for Openreach to come out now and install the line where he wants it?

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't as Openreach are responsible for the connection up until the NTE inside the property. However, builders can put in cabling but I think they would need direct contact with Openreach to confirm the specifications and requirements - I'm not sure though how a man on the street building their own house can contact Openreach (usually it is the big estates that lay their own cable).

What might be better would be to install some conduit from the property boundary into the location where they want the BT socket with a couple of draw wires and then BT could use that to install their cable.

They won't adopt any copper you install, but may supply the ducting if you install it to the specification set out in the handbooks at http://www.newdevelopments-openreach.co.uk/

Needed to be talking with Openreach some months ago really.

In situations such as this I've always done the internal installation of cabling and then runs cables (cat5e/6) to the front/side of the property and left them in a -78-p.jpg"]BT66 type box and then Openreach have connected on to them, fitted master socket at other end and then tested.

I normally opt to have the master sockets as close to the front of the property if not the other side of the wall from rising/dropping cable from BT network, this means that Openreach can changed the cable (if they wish) to there own and it won't impact any dectorating or add too much 'lesser quality' abling to the installation.

you have a long run of cable 'hidden' to the master socket an engineer may get a bit weary about using it, specially if its not higher grade cabling such as cat5/6.

Openreach will not use any 3rd party cabling or ducting external to the property, they have strict guidelines on that...

Also if your lines are fed overhead then consider terminating any cabling leading the master socket on upper level rather than lower level (minimise lengths and also external cabling)

They are happy to supply ducting and small jointboxes. If you can run the ducting to the very edge of your property as close to some visible network as you can then they'll dig on the public land to connect into the rest of the network (source-I've been involved in just this very thing only two weeks ago).

They can't use your cable so you should put rope in the duct and then can pull their own cable through the duct

Failing that, he can just order the service and an engineer will come out and explore solutions with him. I think the limit on overhead drop wire length is something like 62m, possibly 68m. Something around that figure anyway, so the existing pole may be too far away from the property. If that's the case the engineer that attends would have to send back the job to planners. That should trigger a site visit from a local planner who will come out and make suggestions on how to serve the house, some of the suggestions would be chargeable of course.

Edited by deleted (Tue 22-Mar-16 14:46:43)

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They'll allow you to dig in your own ducting to the property boundary and then anything on public land Openreach will arrange for the civils and traffic management if required.

As someone previously said put in blue pull rope from one end to the other with enough slack so Openreach can attach to copper cabling to pull in. If you dig to the sort of location to where you want the NTE socket on the other side of the wall then they can terminate UG cable direct on the end of it.

These request do take a while so as previously said this should have been requested a few months back. Expect to pay a considerable amount depending on how much work is required.

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll pass on the info as well as the handbook.

In the case I'm thinking of the planner who came out subsequently returned with the ducting. The individual who was building the house then dug the duct in and put a rope in there. An underground engineer from Openreach then pulled a 5 pair cable through the duct and terminated it on a BT66 box on the front of the new house.

Sometimes it's cheaper to just put in an additional telephone pole if the house is too far from the existing pole. In my case it was cheaper to duct it.

Edited by deleted (Tue 22-Mar-16 17:21:07)