Sponsored Links

FTTP install this week - unsure what to expect

Evening,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Recently ordered full fibre 300Mbps with BT, they're coming to install later this week.

OR finished whatever they were doing to set up the street a month or so ago. No poles, everything they were doing was underground.

I've attached a couple of pictures, as unsure what they will need to do to install the boxes.

On the outside picture I've put a red dot where my line goes in currently. Somehow this then goes through my garage and up into my house, and the master socket is the red dot on the inside picture. Was already set up when we moved in, so not sure exactly how it gets there!

The house is offset terraced so there's no way in from the side of the house.

Will the engineer try to get the new line in through the same route? If the current outside entry point is the only way in, I'm not sure what other options they have to get the ONT up in to the house, I don't want it down in the garage!

Any help appreciated, or if any other details of the layout would help explain.

Cheers,
Dave.


Outside.jpg
Inside.jpg
 
I doubt they will use the same route, unless there is a conduit or the existing cable could be pulled to pull the new fibre cable. I doubt they will be willing to drill from below the garage as they could risk damaging power or water lines. If I were you I would try to have a hole drilled from the garage into the Living Room so they can use that. But of course you risk doing the same and you will need a long drill bit. Can you see the existing wiring? Is it using a conduit or or just embedded in the walls?
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the reply, appreciated!

So, I found where the wire comes in to the garage (yellow dot), then disappears up into the house (red dot). This is at the front of the house, so don't think they're going to be able to easily follow this same route up to where the current socket is :(

Screenshot_20240318_142829_Photos.webp
 
Sponsored Links
So the run inside the garage is not an issue since you probably don’t care about looks and the fibre can just strapped to the wall near the ceiling. The key to your install is the hole from the garage to the living room. I don’t know for sure but I doubt they will be happy doing that for you as per the reasons I stated above. I would move the install to another date and get that sorted first. If you are not into DIY then hire a handyman to do it for you. That will guarantee the installer will be able to perform the install and it will save you time. If it was me I would run conduit from the outside box to the living room and pull a string in the conduit so the installer can pull the fibre easily. But in this case the conduit is not critical. But without being able to reach your living room from the garage the installer wont be able to leave the ONT in a reasonable place.
 
There is another solution if you don’t want or can’t get a hole from the garage to your living room. Let the installer use the existing path and terminate the fibre at the front of your house. Then when they leave use this kit to “extend” the fibre to your desired location. This kit uses a a very thin white fibre cable which is easy to still to walls and provided your walls are white should be almost invisible. This is also something your could easily DIY so aside from the kit cost it should be cheap.

 
the more prep you do before your install the nicer / more likely they will put it where you want it, I'd recommend doing a bit of work to make their live a bit easier and where you phystically want it. I wish i had your setup, I would 100% setup a little rack in the garage and network the whole house out haha
 
Sponsored Links
Why not install ont in garage and run in a cat 5 or 6 cable to your location ,this could be done before your fibre has been installed
 
Well running fibre or running Cat 6 from the garage to the living room is pretty much the same isn't? The issue is doing the hole and not breaking any utilities.
 
Well running fibre or running Cat 6 from the garage to the living room is pretty much the same isn't? The issue is doing the hole and not breaking any utilities.
Huge pain to do this in my house, from the router up three floors. Luckily I have a basement to run the cable from the living room, to the staircase, then I drilled out at the “top” of the first staircase and ran it along the wall up the second one to the room with the wired node. It’s a really janky install and I want to get a good cat 7 and do it under the floorboards before we get carpets
 
Don't get "cat 7", it isn't even a standard. Use one of the real standards:

Cat 5e = good for 1Gbps and 2.5Gbps at 100m
Cat 6 = good for 5Gbps at 100m, or 10Gbps at 55m
Cat 6A = good for 10Gbps at 100m

Cat 6/6A are thicker, less flexible and harder to terminate properly than Cat 5e.
 
Sponsored Links
Don't get "cat 7", it isn't even a standard. Use one of the real standards:

Cat 5e = good for 1Gbps and 2.5Gbps at 100m
Cat 6 = good for 5Gbps at 100m, or 10Gbps at 55m
Cat 6A = good for 10Gbps at 100m

Cat 6/6A are thicker, less flexible and harder to terminate properly than Cat 5e.

And on top of the very good advice above to avoid any Cat7 nonsense, get good quality cable - pure copper conductors rather than CCA (copper covered aluminium). And ideally solid cores of size AWG24 or better. Whilst patch cables with stranded cores would work, for a permanent install solid copper is best.

The problem is that the consumer marketplaces are littered with crap quality cable that is often misdescribed.
 
And on top of the very good advice above to avoid any Cat7 nonsense, get good quality cable - pure copper conductors rather than CCA (copper covered aluminium). And ideally solid cores of size AWG24 or better. Whilst patch cables with stranded cores would work, for a permanent install solid copper is best.

The problem is that the consumer marketplaces are littered with crap quality cable that is often misdescribed.
Can you link to some good cables?

I ran Ethernet up three floors with CAT6 from B&Q and the cable is pretty bad, ran into into another room and it just stopped working a few months later. Need to take up floorboards and do a “Permanent” solution before we get carpets over them

I was just going to buy some “CAT7” from Amazon
 
Thanks for the reply, appreciated!

So, I found where the wire comes in to the garage (yellow dot), then disappears up into the house (red dot). This is at the front of the house, so don't think they're going to be able to easily follow this same route up to where the current socket is :(

View attachment 12317
That looks like a decent sized hole. As long as it is clear and hasn't been filled with debris then likely to be able to get a cable through there.
 
I was just going to buy some “CAT7” from Amazon
Will be garbage.

Something like:
Outdoor rated:

Indoor:

Push through connectors will make this super easy - crimps are slightly different:

Just be aware the 23awg cable can be tight on passthrough connectors - so make sure you find ones that will take 23awg :)
 
I was just going to buy some “CAT7” from Amazon
That will be worse than cable from B&Q. Unless it says "Sold by Amazon" (not "Dispatches from Amazon") then it's from a third party, basically the same as E-Bay, and is most likely fake. If it says "CAT7" then it doesn't comply with any standard.

Go to a reputable network equipment supplier. Examples include www.comms-express.com, www.cablemonkey.co.uk, cpc.farnell.com, uk.rs-online.com. Even www.fs.com/uk/ - a Chinese supplier but very good for the price. e.g. https://www.fs.com/uk/c/cat6-bulk-ethernet-cables-1133 (very good for pre-made patch cables, copper and fibre)
 
Sponsored Links
Can you link to some good cables?
As previously advised Cat6 is the best option. The jump to Cat6A makes a lot more expensive. This is the on I used in my house:

https://www.comms-express.com/products/excel-cat6-cable-u-utp-dca-ls0h-305m-box/?Orange~-~LSOH/

Note Dca is the fire rating, nothing to do with covered aluminium (this cable is solid copper). While 305m may seem too much you can always offload the remaining reel in eBay. The cable comes labeled at each meter so you always know how much you got left. Once you buy 305m you also start to use additional cables for future proofing. I found this life saving many times where I didn't initially needed all the runs I did but in the future I used them all. If you move to Cat6A the prices jump and also the prices of the tools are more expensive:

https://www.comms-express.com/categories/cat6a-cable/
 
Top
Cheap BIG ISPs for 100Mbps+
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Vodafone UK ISP Logo
Vodafone £24.00 - 26.00
150Mbps
Gift: None
NOW UK ISP Logo
NOW £24.00
100Mbps
Gift: None
Plusnet UK ISP Logo
Plusnet £25.99
145Mbps
Gift: £50 Reward Card
Large Availability | View All
Cheapest ISPs for 100Mbps+
Gigaclear UK ISP Logo
Gigaclear £17.00
200Mbps
Gift: None
Community Fibre UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Virgin Media UK ISP Logo
Virgin Media £22.99
132Mbps
Gift: None
Hey! Broadband UK ISP Logo
150Mbps
Gift: None
Youfibre UK ISP Logo
Youfibre £23.99
150Mbps
Gift: None
Large Availability | View All
Sponsored Links
The Top 15 Category Tags
  1. FTTP (6026)
  2. BT (3639)
  3. Politics (2721)
  4. Business (2439)
  5. Openreach (2405)
  6. Building Digital UK (2330)
  7. Mobile Broadband (2146)
  8. FTTC (2083)
  9. Statistics (1901)
  10. 4G (1816)
  11. Virgin Media (1764)
  12. Ofcom Regulation (1582)
  13. Fibre Optic (1467)
  14. Wireless Internet (1462)
  15. 5G (1407)
Sponsored

Copyright © 1999 to Present - ISPreview.co.uk - All Rights Reserved - Terms  ,  Privacy and Cookie Policy  ,  Links  ,  Website Rules