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Gigabit: poor fibre cable install?

DrLazyScot

Member
Hi,

Had Giganet installed about 9 months ago (Hampshire). They had to run the cable through the (short) front garden. I made it clear we work in the garden and was assured that the cable would be installed very deep (over a spade depth).

I was doing some work, and it looks like the cable is barely 5cms deep, and essentially just lying covered by gravel when it ran through the gravel path.

I've tried raising issues with them, and effectively had no response (beyond we've created a ticket and passed it on to the relevant department).

Any suggestions on next step? Move to a different provider with new cables? Or is it standard practice to have cables on the surface of gardens?

Thanks!
 
Unless you've got dedicated cable ducts that you installed yourself it's normal for most installers to directly bury it just beneath the surface. Openreach, Virgin Media and CityFibre have all done this at my house.
 
Unless you've got dedicated cable ducts that you installed yourself it's normal for most installers to directly bury it just beneath the surface. Openreach, Virgin Media and CityFibre have all done this at my house.
Thanks @Koda. Doesn’t that just mean cable is likely to get damaged? And if so, who’s responsible for repairs?
 
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I would put your own ducting down, and then when possible get someone out to repull/terminate it, or leave it like that and use ducting for newer installs if available
 
Do you mean Gigabit or Giganet? And is this on CityFibre or Giganet's own network?
 
If it does get damaged and they want to charge to repair it, threaten to leave or say they didn't install it deep enough and I expect they will change their tune.


Sadly, shallow depth cables are common. It's just the easiest way to install and becomes a problem so rarely it's not worth doing differently.
 
If it does get damaged and they want to charge to repair it, threaten to leave or say they didn't install it deep enough and I expect they will change their tune.


Sadly, shallow depth cables are common. It's just the easiest way to install and becomes a problem so rarely it's not worth doing differently.
Ah going off this you might able to call them up saying you were doing some gardening and hit the cable, it wasnt installed low enough etc, they might come rerun it?

definitly add some ducting though! can get the stuff for like £13 run a few wire pulls down it for future..
 
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The root cause here is economics, they have to do the minimum acceptable to get the job done to a minimum level of safety. Most of the time it will be ok but some will over time get snagged and damaged but responding to the few percent that do as a fix is cheaper than doing all of them properly.

Would you be prepared to have a sliding scale of install cost based on the make up of your front garden and the need to bury the cable properly. Maybe £50 for a survey and then between £100 and £200 a meter to dig at least 30cm, install in a duct, and reinstate and cart away any spoil.

Or it's done 'free' organised on the basis of which is quickly agreed onsite to get you live.
 
When I moved into this house, I started to cut back a hedge in the overgrown front garden to find a Virgin Media cable from a previous resident just strung through the branches of the hedge! I wasn't using Virgin, and had no intention of using Virgin, so I just cut it out of the hedge and threw it away.

The CityFibre installation I have now is a bit ugly, there's a black cable running down the wall of the house from the pole, but it's secure enough and I don't really mind it, it provides a technical and quality-of-life improvement and I'm not the one who has to look at it from inside my house!
 
When I moved into this house, I started to cut back a hedge in the overgrown front garden to find a Virgin Media cable from a previous resident just strung through the branches of the hedge! I wasn't using Virgin, and had no intention of using Virgin, so I just cut it out of the hedge and threw it away.

The CityFibre installation I have now is a bit ugly, there's a black cable running down the wall of the house from the pole, but it's secure enough and I don't really mind it, it provides a technical and quality-of-life improvement and I'm not the one who has to look at it from inside my house!
this is why prep work is so important I think >.< if any utility around here did fttp via groundworks, I would install the trunking/ducting etc my self, lucky or unlucky for me was via PIA, and i did internal prep work too so nothing is on show, all hidden under the stairs in the network area.
 
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The root cause here is economics, they have to do the minimum acceptable to get the job done to a minimum level of safety. Most of the time it will be ok but some will over time get snagged and damaged but responding to the few percent that do as a fix is cheaper than doing all of them properly.

Would you be prepared to have a sliding scale of install cost based on the make up of your front garden and the need to bury the cable properly. Maybe £50 for a survey and then between £100 and £200 a meter to dig at least 30cm, install in a duct, and reinstate and cart away any spoil.

Or it's done 'free' organised on the basis of which is quickly agreed onsite to get you live.
I'd have been happier if they'd been open an honest --- e.g. said that the install would be only a few centimetres down. There were four (!) people on site to do the install, and I was assured the cable would be buried deeper.
 
When I had my cityfibre connection done they asked me if I was happy with the depth, about half a spade.. which is under a gravel feature with a water proof membrane…. My neighbours on the other hand, they had to have it run through their front garden and he says he’s nervous to Shawn the grass because he may run into the cable it’s buried that shallow for him
 
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