Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => FTTC and FTTP Issues => Topic started by: bogof on December 10, 2020, 10:32:09 AM
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Does anyone have specs on the holes that Openreach or contractor's will happily use to get a fibre into a home?
BT have dug out a couple of neighbour's flowerbeds to get to / upgrade the underground boxes that come from the street - we now have some nice boxes with new concrete covers. From there currently it looks like my cable comes underground as armoured and emerges in mine and my neighbours garage (armoured cable) from where it goes through a tortuous route to the NTE5 in my hall next to power, which is on an inside wall round the corner from the staircase.
Assuming they're not going to bring the FTTP in that way as it looks like torture (and my hatch in my garage is actually blocked off now...!) then I guess they're going to distribute fibre from these 2 boxes to the 7 houses in the terrace.
There is really only one place that makes sense to bring the cable into the house - one area of an outside wall would allow access into the small corner of our staircase bottom few steps, and we could then get to the area under the stairs. it's a bit annoying as the bottom of the staircase is plasterboarded, but I figure a conduit from the outside wall emerging out of the plasterboarded under stairs to the main understairs opening would work.
How can I encourage such an install? If the conduit of the correct spec was already in place, could OR be encouraged to use it to get the fibre to the only location where I have power (under the stairs?) Or would they go to such faff as a matter of course, so actually I'd be wasting my time doing it in preparation? I don't really want them to bring the fibre in on any of the exposed wall sections in the hallway as it is still going to have to run all the way round the houses to get to the understairs area.
Hopefully attached plan of what they're doing may make some sense:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/ACtC-3f5HuidDvtmYKzKLi-2lFpbm4IWFeZ-uaRuarWLS6OtkBKWxe3KbpyBtHvd4xHP8MbOu9H1guehyxBriYDTwz5Zzk9y69UMwrzrv16ibJgbuT7HFzKe83AgFNPFTAEEivxD_VdEDZ5unYrIZb3t2Pz5Bw=w1214-h938-no?authuser=0)
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Couple of photos of the ideal entry inside and outside.
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My only concern is, to get from either chamber they'd have to go across an entrance to a garage, are you sure they aren't originally ducted into the garage's?
Normally the engineer will be happy to use a suitable pre installed duct, it after all saves them time and work, but you need to consider how the are going to get the fibre to the external entry point.
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My only concern is, to get from either chamber they'd have to go across an entrance to a garage, are you sure they aren't originally ducted into the garage's?
Normally the engineer will be happy to use a suitable pre installed duct, it after all saves them time and work, but you need to consider how the are going to get the fibre to the external entry point.
A couple of years ago the garage was converted to cinema and the hatch blocked up on my side, however at the time I got OR to update the terrible terminal block in there. It does just look like an armoured cable coming up between the properties, with the armouring taken back 6 inches. There was a thread about it here:
https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,20944.0.html
Even if they could get in (assuming it is ducted), the route from there into the house would be terrible. The cables come out of the corner of that wall box in the garage, go into the floorspace above, across the width of the house, then twist and turn and come out under the stairs, which is the only place with power at the front of the house.
Maybe they're doing all this work for nowt and were assuming they could come up into the houses. Or perhaps the assumption is they're going to have to come out of these new boxes in the flowerbeds and up the fronts of the properties. Not sure if they'd go across the front of a property above a garage though, which leaves the next option - that they come out of the flowerbeds and lift the paving to get across the garages.
The two boxes in flowerbeds serve 7 houses, and the flowerbeds are only in front of 4 of the properties, so there must be a plan for the other 3 (or maybe not, perhaps we're SOL and not getting it). Lots of my neighbours have done various vors or conversions in their garages so if the plan was to come into the houses between them in the garage, lots of us won't get service.
What is also a bit weird is that all through the various works ongoing the OR availabiity checker keeps changing it's mind. Sometimes it says FTTP coming soon, sometimes not. At the moment if I try to move my FTTC service and do the search for that with an ISP (eg BT, though currently with EE), it returns that FTTC is not available, and only offers ADSL! I guess that might be a symptom of them not wanting to do anything with FTTC given the forthcoming FTTP? I did check and it's not just me. Even the neighbour who's directly in front of the flower bed can now only get ADSL.
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A couple of years ago the garage was converted to cinema and the hatch blocked up on my side, however at the time I got OR to update the terrible terminal block in there. It does just look like an armoured cable coming up between the properties, with the armouring taken back 6 inches.
Why would you block a hatch you knew OR would potentially need access to if there was a fault? Seems perfectly reasonable that they would want to come in that way.
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Why would you block a hatch you knew OR would potentially need access to if there was a fault? Seems perfectly reasonable that they would want to come in that way.
I thought this too, but suspect that Openreach will just deal with it when the time comes.
:)
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Seems some people can't be bothered to read the history in that other thread, particularly Black sheep's advice.
Cinema room, I have one of those, just Google Ronski cinema room finally finished.
Looking at the thread you linked to it's clear it's not ducted, so they wouldn't be coming in that way. Perhaps they'll lift the block paving, or simply run the cable along the wall. So I would suggest installing a suitable conduit where you suggested.
When I built my cinema room I ran a length of 15mm plastic heating pipe from the external wall down under the floor and up in to my equipment room (shoe & cloakroom), at the time this was just in case we ever had Virgin or FTTP installed. Well virgin arrived first and the engineer was more than happy to use the pipe. FTTP is on its way in the near future hopefully, not sure if that will fit through as well as the Virgin cable.
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Why would you block a hatch you knew OR would potentially need access to if there was a fault? Seems perfectly reasonable that they would want to come in that way.
Risk / reward. I did it to death at the time.
https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,20944.0.html
Basically, there was no practical way to allow any form of >future useful< access at the time the work to convert the room was happening within what we wanted to do with the room. The hatch is a bit of a source of annoyance as it is one service cable and junction accessed from both of our garages, so we were both free to meddle with each others phone wiring at will. At the time the options really were leave it as is and block it, or pay OR to come and move the entry point before the works. While friendly with the neighbour access is available through their side. The view was that I could just defer moving the entry point to a point in time where it needed to be moved for access, which might be never. A few more knowledgeable folk on here thought this was quite a reasonable approach.
I'm not 100% sure though, but the cable is the grey sheathed outer with the SWA portion cut back and taped over, which was usually not used for ducted applications I thought, and more commonly used instead for direct burial. If is is direct buried I can't see how they could use it for access. And as I say, from there it is torture to get into the house anywhere useful, and probably not a route the fibre could easily follow anyway.
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For anyone interested, the attached are the boxes that have been installed in flowerbeds. Lucky homeowners with these in their flowerbeds, won't be growing much in there! They take up half the bed.
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When I built my cinema room I ran a length of 15mm plastic heating pipe from the external wall down under the floor and up in to my equipment room (shoe & cloakroom), at the time this was just in case we ever had Virgin or FTTP installed. Well virgin arrived first and the engineer was more than happy to use the pipe. FTTP is on its way in the near future hopefully, not sure if that will fit through as well as the Virgin cable.
Good shout, I think I'll do similar, if I can get the Pipe through from the outside, under the stairs return and poke it out of the plasterboard that covers the stairs return they can either choose a really hard time, or run the fibre around the house on the outside a little from wherever it comes out of the paving (hopefully) to the entry point.
Is anyone aware of any reg from BT I need to be aware of?
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Bend radius shouldn't be too tight, and the CSP needs to be at ground level so the fibre can be safety spliced, but neither of those will be a problem for you.
Everything I've seen suggests there isn't with the exception of the above, just a suitable diameter pipe, preferably with draw string installed, but if its a nice smooth pipe and straight then probably wouldn't be required.
I did see this post this morning https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/4667807-its-arrived.html?fpart=2&vc=1, Zarjas is a serving BT engineer.
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Risk / reward. I did it to death at the time.
https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,20944.0.html
Ah well fair enough, if Black Sheep advised to just do it then who am I to argue?
Seeing the pictures it does look like a really bad way for them to do it in the first place, meant a gap in the insulation between the properties and potentially a path for a fire from one garage to get into the adjacent one which seems bad to me. Surprised this is allowed under fire regulations.
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Bend radius shouldn't be too tight, and the CSP needs to be at ground level so the fibre can be safety spliced, but neither of those will be a problem for you.
Everything I've seen suggests there isn't with the exception of the above, just a suitable diameter pipe, preferably with draw string installed, but if its a nice smooth pipe and straight then probably wouldn't be required.
I did see this post this morning https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/4667807-its-arrived.html?fpart=2&vc=1, Zarjas is a serving BT engineer.
Thanks for the link.
In for a penny, if I'd going to go to the effort of putting a pipe through the wall it might as well have a bit of string in it. :)
The only thing I need to have a bit of a measure up of is how far above the soil in the flower bed my entry through the wall needs to be, I've a feeling the front of the house inside is lower than the ground level outside...
Ah well fair enough, if Black Sheep advised to just do it then who am I to argue?
Seeing the pictures it does look like a really bad way for them to do it in the first place, meant a gap in the insulation between the properties and potentially a path for a fire from one garage to get into the adjacent one which seems bad to me. Surprised this is allowed under fire regulations.
Yeah, it's pretty awful, so I'll be really glad if we get a new FTTP installation that ignores all this old cruft. The terminal block that was in there was the crustiest thing you've ever seen, and the houses have only been here 35 years. There are other little bits of excitement (!), like the gas from the meter cupboard also having been run in that cavity from the meter cupboard at the front of the house only to emerge out of the breezeblock a few meters into the garage (I had the plumber get rid of this when I did the conversion).
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The only thing I need to have a bit of a measure up of is how far above the soil in the flower bed my entry through the wall needs to be, I've a feeling the front of the house inside is lower than the ground level outside...
That's an easy one, get the floor level from the front door, then just follow the motor joint round, then measure up from that.
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. . . potentially a path for a fire from one garage to get into the adjacent one which seems bad to me. Surprised this is allowed under fire regulations.
At the time of the build, the steel hatch covers specified and installed then complied with all fire regulations.
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At the time of the build, the steel hatch covers specified and installed then complied with all fire regulations.
He he... And today, between my neighbour and I, we only have 1 steel cover and one polystyrene insulation block. I guess even those bits have done well to survive 35 years...!
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As of this morning there is a chap pulling fibre through from the road to the new chambers in the flowerbeds. He did say the existing cabling into the house isn't ducted and is buried so there will obviously be some works to get from the chamber in the flowerbed into out houses.
Not sure if they do that work as part of the rollout, or only on ordering. Anyone know?
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I believe it will be only on ordering.
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I believe it will be only on ordering.
I'm going to be ordering as soon as possible, looking forward to it going in. Sounds like might be available to order as soon as a couple of weeks. Not made my hole in the wall but looks like I'll have plenty of notice.
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And in other news... I'm glad mine so far is likely to run underground til it gets to my house in a private courtyard.
The flats in front of us are on the main road, and you can see this "installation" is going to last at most a few days before someone yuks the cable out of the ground...
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I don't think that is actually finished, it looks like it's just cable tied up temporarily, hopefully some one will be back pretty soon to finish installing it.
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Hopefully. They've been very trusting and left a bag of bits with each one of these too...
At least there's not too many folk around on the streets at the moment.
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Could someone talk me through exactly what we’re seeing in that image?
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Could someone talk me through exactly what we’re seeing in that image?
I see a fibre cable exiting a duct at pavement level. It is the same duct which is used by the existing metallic pathway. The duct end appears to have a plug fitted, to stop ingress of rain or anything else undesirable. There appears to be a joint closure, temporarily held by one (or more) cable ties to the existing metallic capping which covers the pre-existing cable(s).
At the time the picture was taken it all looks a bit of a pig's ear but, as Ronski has mentioned, it appears that the job has not been completed.
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What’s the perfectly straight vertical black line in the picture?
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The fibre tube.
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I see a fibre cable exiting a duct at pavement level. It is the same duct which is used by the existing metallic pathway. The duct end appears to have a plug fitted, to stop ingress of rain or anything else undesirable. There appears to be a joint closure, temporarily held by one (or more) cable ties to the existing metallic capping which covers the pre-existing cable(s).
At the time the picture was taken it all looks a bit of a pig's ear but, as Ronski has mentioned, it appears that the job has not been completed.
I'm not sure these are sealed at the bottom (any more) as it looks like where the fibre is, whatever was capping it has just been broken to get the fibre up. Wonder when they'll be back to tidy it up. The bag of bits that had just been left on the windowsill appears to have already walked, though I guess whoever comes next will have a ton of those bits. Piccy of another bag hung on a screw on the wall near another one of these.
The fibre tube.
Do you know if at this point these empty tubes waiting for fibres, or are they rough-cut cables including fibres which will be terminated? The guys putting this level in certainly weren't doing any "clean" works (!).
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For anyone interested, attached are a couple of pics of the contents of the chamber in the flowerbed.
I can finally see confirmation that 4 houses served by this chamber are direct buried armoured cable (including mine), which is great news as they're clearly not expecting to bring the fibre in via that route (as discussed previous, I can't access where this armour cable enters the property any more).
From the street via a duct under the brickweave I can see POTS and a fibre cable, plus a draw string left in.
The POTS from the street goes into a big junction box with sealed entries, with the feeds to the houses coming out of it. Does anyone know if that POTS junction box is likely to be original from when the properties were built ~35 years ago? I didn't see the new chamber being installed.
There is a duct running sideways with a POTS cable which I guess may be serving my other neighbour. There is another chamber in an even further away neighbour's flowerbed, but I can't see any fibre from here going to there, so I guess that is separately ducted to the main road maybe... or maybe not. Not seen inside that.
Interestingly, this sideways duct appears to run under mine and my neighbours brickweave drive, past the front of my house (about 1m away from where it probably needs to come in). If that duct is useable for fibre, then could they dig down to find the duct, and put in some sort of T junction - or don't they like to do that kind of thing due to risk to the POTS infrastructure? That could mean a very small amount of work to run my fibre underground, without disturbing the brickweave at all (or just at the edge). That would be a total win.
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My son finally had his FTTP installation completed last month after 3 unsucessful attempts at monthly intervals in running the fibre from adjacent chamber directly to the existing POTS/BB master socket in the hall, in this case the existing POTS cable was ducted.
One repair was made on a collapsed duct in the neighbours drive and the fibre made it to within a few feet of the master socket box (concrete floors) but would go no further.
Luckily the contractors, KN Circet, on their final visit persevered and dug down to the duct outside the front door, extracted the fibre and ran this along the bottom of the gable wall into the under stairs cupboard, quite a neat job in the end but did take 3 months from initial placing of the order.
My own situation is very similar to yours, UG feeds, area just being ducted for fibre at present, POTS distribution chamber just outside my front garden wall and fairly sure my existing POTS cable is directly buried across the garden but have not been able to look into the dist. chamber yet, will likely get a peek when the contractors start to pull the fibre this week.
I do know the power and POTS cable enter the house in the same duct, concrete floors, I remember the BT supervisor who I knew at the time ranting at the building site foreman, over 35 years ago now, I believe the ducting only extends to the front edge of the house.
As per yourself, I woud like to try and make some provision for a neat fibre transit from the dist. chamber to a house entry point of my choice but not sure as yet how this would be best accomplished.
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For anyone interested, attached are a couple of pics of the contents of the chamber in the flowerbed.
<snip>
Does anyone know if that POTS junction box is likely to be original from when the properties were built ~35 years ago? I didn't see the new chamber being installed.
I presume that the two images you have shown were captured at different times. "Chamber1" being the earlier and "Chamber2" being the later in time.
Looking at the physical construction of the chamber I see black, heavy duty, plastic. I'm not sure if that is what would have been used back in (approximately) 1986. Note the absence of any base . . . which indicates that having cut suitable access notches, it could have been "dropped" in situ over the pre-existing plant. (Armoured cables and/or ducts.) The joint closure (the "giant's thimble") could have been directly buried in the ground . . . so that could be pre-existing plant. To me, it looks as if it is openable by undoing the clamp.
The second image ("Chamber2") shows the good news. At the right-hand end there is a Connectorised Block Terminal (CBT) laying upside down. The black tube to which the CBT is attached contains pre-existing (i.e. factory installed) fibres. The other end of that tube would have been manufactured with an integral, solid, bung, allowing contractor (or direct labour) installers to push, pull, drop in mud (and all the many other grubby construction happenings) without harming the fibres within the tube. At a later date the integral, solid, bung would be cut off, along with an appropriate length of the the tubing, thus allowing the fibres to be fused to the next length of fibres back towards the aggregation node.
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I think they were both taken at the same time, in picture 1 the CBT has just been lifted out of the view, but you can still see the fibre tube and a plastic bag.
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I think they were both taken at the same time, in picture 1 the CBT has just been lifted out of the view, but you can still see the fibre tube and a plastic bag.
Yes, that seems to be the simplest explanation! A gap of, say, between 15 seconds and 2 minutes for the capture of the two images.
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My son finally had his FTTP installation completed last month after 3 unsucessful attempts... snip...
My own situation is very similar to yours, UG feeds, area just being ducted for fibre at present, POTS distribution chamber just outside my front garden wall and fairly sure my existing POTS cable is directly buried across the garden but have not been able to look into the dist. chamber yet, will likely get a peek when the contractors start to pull the fibre this week.
...snip...
As per yourself, I woud like to try and make some provision for a neat fibre transit from the dist. chamber to a house entry point of my choice but not sure as yet how this would be best accomplished.
Glad he got there in the end, good luck with yours!
I'm going to go ahead and drill and duct through the wall in the only place I can actually get into the area under the stairs from outside without the cable being surface mount around the inside of the hallway, which would be horrid. Fingers crossed that will be OK for them to use. My dad's lent me the world's longest drill (really it's ridiculous, like a 1.2m long SDS bit...). I might go and pick up something more sensible.
I'm pretty sure that duct to my neighbours actually comes under the flower bed that is immediately in front of where I want the cable to go through the wall, so I wonder if that might be an option. Would just be digging in soil to put another (maybe tiny?) chamber in the soil, instead of messing with the paving. I guess we'll see what they think once I can order it and they come out to try and do it.
I presume that the two images you have shown were captured at different times. "Chamber1" being the earlier and "Chamber2" being the later in time.
Looking at the physical construction of the chamber I see black, heavy duty, plastic. I'm not sure if that is what would have been used back in (approximately) 1986. Note the absence of any base . . . which indicates that having cut suitable access notches, it could have been "dropped" in situ over the pre-existing plant. (Armoured cables and/or ducts.) The joint closure (the "giant's thimble") could have been directly buried in the ground . . . so that could be pre-existing plant. To me, it looks as if it is openable by undoing the clamp.
The second image ("Chamber2") shows the good news. At the right-hand end there is a Connectorised Block Terminal (CBT) laying upside down. The black tube to which the CBT is attached contains pre-existing (i.e. factory installed) fibres. The other end of that tube would have been manufactured with an integral, solid, bung, allowing contractor (or direct labour) installers to push, pull, drop in mud (and all the many other grubby construction happenings) without harming the fibres within the tube. At a later date the integral, solid, bung would be cut off, along with an appropriate length of the the tubing, thus allowing the fibres to be fused to the next length of fibres back towards the aggregation node.
They were actually a few mins apart, just the CBT is held out of frame of the photo away from it's resting place to get a look at the POTS cables under it.
The chamber in it's current guise is new, my wife saw them putting it in and didn't have the good grace to call me to have a nose at the time (bad books for a few weeks for that crime...). As you say it looks like it was dropped in either over or in place of whatever was there as you can see soil in the bottom. The fibre was installed a month later, I did catch the guy at it then.
I hadn't realised that the CBT's were factory manufactured with internal fibres and the pigtail lead ready to pull through. That's great news. I guess that means when I next see the Openreach guys in the street with the splicing rigs connecting up the other end of the fibre to Mother that I'll know I'll be able to order soon.
Thanks for all the info!
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Yes, that seems to be the simplest explanation! A gap of, say, between 15 seconds and 2 minutes for the capture of the two images.
Something like that...! :)
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I can almost smell it, the guys were out today apparently testing the CBTs, they've got a load of the black fibres coming out of a nearby chamber, going into the back of a (closed door) transit van. I've seen similar setups being used to make connections before by Openreach, but I didn't realise contractors were also doing it. Although the vans say RDJ Utilities, the sign around the manhole says Morrisons Telecom.
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Fusion splicing of the various fibres will be occurring in the relative comfort of the back of that van. Hence the reason why significant lengths of the fibre tubes are left, coiled up, in the joint boxes . . . a far better result is obtained when not sitting in a tent over the joint box, with feet down the hole, trying to make the fusion splices.
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Openreach / Wholesale site still not showing FTTP available to order at the address, but I did notice the FFTPOD line on the wholesale checker just got upgraded from 330/30 to 1000/220. So something is clearly on the move through the system.
In other news, the guys were back this week tidying up the hanging CBTs for the flats in front, fibres from the ducts all capped over to protect a bit and the CBTs themselves put up high, out of harm's way.
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More good progress has been made. :)
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I've seen similar setups being used to make connections before by Openreach, but I didn't realise contractors were also doing it. Although the vans say RDJ Utilities, the sign around the manhole says Morrisons Telecom.
The vast majority of our FTTP work is performed by our approved contractors.
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The vast majority of our FTTP work is performed by our approved contractors.
Hopefully I will be sampling their wares soon!
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Blimey, looks like time to order!
What's the best strategy with getting this up and running - I don't really mind running the phone line which has VDSL on it for a while too, so is it safer to order a new line from another provider?
Any suggestions for a good provider?
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Its certainly how I'm currently planning to go about it, my line rental is already with BT due to BT Basic and FTTC with Zen. So when FTTP comes around I plan to order FTTP data only, keep everything as it is and cancel the FTTC once everything is working smoothly.
My preference being to stick with Zen for FTTP.
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Yes, am considering Zen. I can't see any cashback etc on offer from them - do they do referrals? If they do and you have a code, ping it over :)
Is that definitely how the install will go if I just give my address and no phone number - they'll install FTTP and leave the copper pathway alone? What I don't want to do is order FTTP with no phone service, and find they cease my copper phone line and throw away my number...! My idea was to migrate my phone number to an IP service once FTTP is all working.
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As you have a 30Mb/s+ service from OpenReach you will be impacted by their lockdown rules suspending FTTP installs.
This is running till at least 1st March, but has built up delays running till April in some areas.
Yes if you give no phone number then your current copper service will continue.
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Thanks @j0hn, fair enough. It's funny as they've gone to all that effort to put in the street infrastructure - everyone who's had this FTTP fitted in this area is on top of the cabinet! :)
I'll get it ordered anyway, at least it is in the system then. I think they're still going to have to do a reasonable amount of work outside the house to get it installed, unless they drag it across the front of mine and my neighbours house (hope not).
Looks like due to some confusion with the address particulars (we're in a courtyard that isn't listed correctly on the online check that most ISPs use, but they can see it) I'll have to get a manual order placed over the phone. Probably going with Zen, I've tried Trunk's online chat and got no answer twice.
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Looks like due to some confusion with the address particulars (we're in a courtyard that isn't listed correctly on the online check that most ISPs use, but they can see it) I'll have to get a manual order placed over the phone. Probably going with Zen, I've tried Trunk's online chat and got no answer twice.
I PM'ed over the referral though not sure how that will work if you have to do a manual order. It seems their voucher is quite generous at the moment, its showing £40.
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Thanks @Alex Atkin UK, we will see what they say. It looks like it might work, it seems all you do is register your email first and then it all happens when the account gets created with that email. Maybe.
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Well, we're off the starting blocks.
Like a kid in a sweetshop, I want all the bandwidth, so order placed for the Zen Full Fibre 900 package. More than anything I want the upload - my office is across the road from my house (no easy Line of Site though, I don't own the building to stick a mast on it) and I have 80/80 symmetrical in the office, so hoping to get a nice boost to my home <-> work VPN... :) :)
Ordered over the phone. The guy said it's down as a single stage install which raised my eyebrow - either there's an assumption they can get in the way the phoneline goes (buried armoured, additionally buried behind a wall in the building by previous building works!) or they plan perhaps to come out of the chamber, up the front of my neighbour's house, round 4 90 degree bends (the brickwork juts in and out a couple of times) and into our house, as I doubt that the guy doing the ONT etc install is going to be digging down in flowerbeds to find ducting and installing new access to that.
I really hope they don't want to run it all along the fronts of the houses, I've rarely seen this done really well and to now the front of the property is nice and clean.
Or maybe they just don't know, and put it down as single stage in the hope they can do it, and go from there if they can't (maybe the single stage effectively becomes a bit of a survey then?).
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Please keep us updated as progress is made (or not, as the case may be).
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Brief diary of FTTP install in my area (Private courtyard off a mixed residential / business street in the heart of Norwich City centre). I'll add to this as time passes. If I get a mo I'll link to posts in the thread at various points.
27/07/2020 - Openreach survey, pavement markings appear in our courtyard off street.
31/07/2020 - Evening works in road, pulling stuff off huge drums through the street ducts.
10/12/2020 - Flower beds in front of neighbour's houses have new chambers installed using existing ducts to street.
20/01/2021 - Fibre CBT installed in flowerbed chamber by Openreach contractors RDJ Utilities.
24/01/2021 - A peek indicates thoughts that I'm on direct buried armoured copper seemingly confirmed.
25/01/2021 - Tails of CBT spliced in a large chamber across the road, in the back of an RDJ Utilities van.
31/01/2021 - Openreach wholesale checker still doesn't offer FTTP, but FTTPoD has been upgraded from 330/30 to 1000/220.
03/02/2021 - Openreach wholesale checker now offers WBC FTTP 1000/220.
04/02/2021 - Ordered 900/115 from Zen over phone. Status on order tracker "Wait for KCI-2". No date for install yet, but claimed single visit(!)
05/02/2021 - Noted OR checker says "Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Pre built to curtilage Hard." - usually 2 (or more) stage install...
08/02/2021 - OR engineer arrived to survey, looks like plan is to intercept duct either in our flower bed or at edge of drive. Duct proved clear.
09/02/2021 - Email from Zen, 1st stage external install schedule 27/04/2021, 2nd stage internal install appointment 07/05/2021.
14/02/2021 - DIY installed 22mm barrier pipe as conduit from outside wall to inside wall ready for fibre with a couple of draw ropes.
22/02/2021 - Email from Zen, civils work confirmed required and scheduled complete by 03/01/2021. I asked if we could improve on date.
01/03/2021 - Guys on OR flatbed did the civils work to intercept the existing duct in our flowerbed and lay a duct up to the front of the property.
09/04/2021 - Email from Zen, internal installation date pulled forward to 14/4/2021 AM. No mention of external works.
14/04/2021 - OR guy arrives and does internal and external install in a couple of hours, which is straightforward.
Around 9 months from spotting things happening in our street to actually being installed.
Now hitting 900/115 on speedtests with 7-9ms ping. Very happy.
[Moderator edited to replace with the full chronological notes, as requested.]
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Just noticed this line on the Openreach wholesale checker:
Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Pre built to curtilage Hard.
So I have no-idea why the guy on the phone thought this could be a 1 stage install, having found the following. From here:
https://support.giga.net.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/360013901358-Brand-new-full-fibre-installation-process
2 stage
+2 weeks
**Could be weeks.**
Tarmac / Slabs / Concrete
The fibre cable is routing underground, however there is no duct in place to your property, and the existing copper cables are directly buried in the ground.
There may be some works required to install a duct or the cable underneath tarmac/ paving slabs/ concrete.
Depending on the location of the works, this may require 3rd party permissions, local authority permits, and there are lead times with the planners and civil engineering teams.
The installation could take a long time depending on the complexity.
At least the above seems to match exactly my understanding of the scale of works involved, which is good, and that it is recorded as direct buried hopefully means I'm not going to have to try and justify the lack of access to the incoming cable.
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Openreach guy came to survey today, luckily I was at home. Initially was interested to know where the existing telephone cable came up and that it was blocked inside the garage elicited a bit of a perplexed "why would you do that?!" look from him (fair enough I guess).
I mentioned it's burried anyway, and that there is a duct running under our paving to the neighbour's and he seemed happy about that and said that he'll get the civils to either intercept the duct in the flowerbed infront of where I want the cable to come into our house (perfect and probably less work for them, "just" digging assuming the duct follows a straight line) or at the edge of the drive where the blockweave meets the building.
So seems we're making good progress. Not sure what the timescale will be, the guy said they're flat out (impressed there was someone here within 2 working days of the order though!).
Edit: as bonus, he just proved the duct was clear, so looking to be in a reasonably good place so far...
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...and X marks the spot! :)
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Sounds like it's going the way you need it to :fingers:
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Sounds like it's going the way you need it to :fingers:
Indeed. The lack of access into the garage, and the buried armoured, now sounds like a blessing. The OR engineer was a nice chap and was saying that if it had been ducted to there and that was a viable route in then that might have been where it would have been forced to come in for reasons of cost. The route from there to anywhere sensible in the house would have been extremely annoying as the original phone wire ran a silly route through the fabric of the building, and I'd have probably ended up having to have it surface mounted some significant distance.
He said they only need an 8mm hole through the wall for the fibre (that's all they would drill) but that if I wanted it somewhere in particular they'd gratefully make use of a hole with a draw string in it. Which is what I'll do. At the pace this lot seem to be going the race might be on...!
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You'll definitely need a draw string, if they just drilled an 8mm hole you'll end up with lots of coiled up fibre in the void under your stairs.
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You'll definitely need a draw string, if they just drilled an 8mm hole you'll end up with lots of coiled up fibre in the void under your stairs.
Or without a draw string, in the cavity wall. :lol: Speaking from experience trying to get cables from outside to inside without the right equipment.
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I forgot about the cavity, best way is a suitable rigid tube angled upwards from the outside to prevent ingress of water.
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I forgot about the cavity, best way is a suitable rigid tube angled upwards from the outside to prevent ingress of water.
I have a healthy collection of Super rods and accessories, so pulling a draw rope through is unlikely to be an issue. I keep ummming and ahhhing about sticking a conduit through though just because it makes it more of a job; got to go get the conduit, bigger drill bit that really I need an SDS for, etc...
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Well, I talked that up, installation dates have come through now.
Stage 1: External Installation
A fibre optic cable will be run to your property via underground ducts or telegraph poles.
Scheduled date: 27/04/2021
Scheduled time slot: ALLDAY
Stage 2: Internal Installation Appointment
The fibre optic cable will be extended inside your property.
Appointment Date: 07/05/2021
Appointment time slot: AM
Nothing to grumble about of course. I believe the groundworks in our flower bed have to happen some time between now and the 1st stage.
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At least its not FTTPod timescales.
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At least its not FTTPod timescales.
...or costs! I had an estimated build cost (desk based, without survey) of £4100 ex VAT from Cerberus around this time last year. And from what I understand, that's down at the lower end of what folk often pay.
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Just noticed when checking one of my neighbour's house (which is vacant and doesn't have a service at the moment) on the OR checker that our FTTC cabinet is marked as "waiting list" - I guess that might explain why they've deployed FTTP here, and why the availability checker on Openreach's website can't make it's mind up what is available - it must just change as and when a port in the cabinet gets freed up.
Feel a bit guilty now holding onto my copper line... Only a bit, though. As my router has 2 WAN ports I'm thinking about keeping it in perpetuity on some cheap FTTC service to have some redundancy (assuming they don't try and make me give it up once there is an FTTP service - can they do that?).
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I'm constantly thinking what I will do once I get FTTP. I think a mobile plan would probably make sense, maybe keep Voxi, as the mast fibre route is different to FTTC/FTTP which will take the same route back to the exchange so more likely to fail together. Obviously that doesn't keep a public IP for my NAS, so maybe moving back to Three at that point would make sense.
Either way it basically means no changes to my router at all, will just cancel the Plusnet line and the cost of the top FTTP package is only fractionally more expensive than Plusnet & Zen together right now - so its a win win really.
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It's a fair point, perhaps hogging a line that shares many possible common points of physical failure with the fibre isn't much worth it. I do have a couple of 4G routers I could stick a SIM in for similar cost.
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I'm thinking about keeping it in perpetuity on some cheap FTTC service to have some redundancy (assuming they don't try and make me give it up once there is an FTTP service - can they do that?).
No they can't.
the OR checker that our FTTC cabinet is marked as "waiting list" - I guess that might explain why they've deployed FTTP here
It won't have anything to do with port capacity on the FTTC cabinet.
The FTTP work comes under a few different fibre programmes,
such as BDUK work, New builds, Fibre First, Fibre Rural (towns and villages) or retro new site work.
It's much cheaper and easier to add capacity to the FTTC cabinet than it is to rollout FTTP (additional line cards or larger line cards, or a VDSL Sidepod).
Most FTTP rollouts overlap cabinet coverage areas or don't cover an entire cabinet.
Norwich is a Fibre First area. You can see how much is due to be covered by selecting Norwich on this page:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-first#fibrefirstlocations
They might still add more capacity to the cabinet that's full.
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Norwich is a Fibre First area. You can see how much is due to be covered by selecting Norwich on this page:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-first#fibrefirstlocations
They might still add more capacity to the cabinet that's full.
Thanks for the info. I'd tried to find details in the past but failed.
Not sure why they managed to miss almost all the population centres, but I guess it has to start somewhere, and I'm glad somewhere is in my back yard (or more accurately, my neighbour's flower bed :) :) )
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Been doing a bit more reading, and I think I might have been sold a pup with 8mm drill hole. This doc says 12mm:
https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks/oct-2020-update/Openreach%20Developer%20Handbook%20V9.3%20Oct%202020.pdf
Even has a useful piccy. Though I think some of the dimensions on this are to do with complying with current building regs, which may not apply to a retrofit installation.
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Norwich is a Fibre First area. You can see how much is due to be covered by selecting Norwich on this page:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-first#fibrefirstlocations
They might still add more capacity to the cabinet that's full.
J0hn I see from that link work is due to start in my area in the "next 3 months" do you know what that translates to in terms of availability timeframe
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J0hn I see from that link work is due to start in my area in the "next 3 months" do you know what that translates to in terms of availability timeframe
Not J0hn, but from my timescales it's been 7 months from seeing people in the street working to being able to order, and in the current situation for me anyway it is another 3 months to getting it installed. I reckon the delays for my install are part due to the civils work required and part due to the current COVID and my install not being priority (no COVID priority, already have 80/20 FTTC).
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And... We're through!
Had some time this morning and thought this would be a productive way to spend it.
Little collage of the works today in getting through the wall attached.
I've had to come into the house about 1ft sideways from where it looks like the fibre is going to pop out of the ground due to where the steps change level, which would have meant locating the hole below the recommended 300mm height above ground level. I guess they'll just run it over the surface.
I drilled to 10mm diameter initially with a slight incline, but my new Superrod magnet chain attachment won't go through anything like a 10mm hole, so I threw caution to the wind, and stuck the world's longest 22mm SDS drill bit in my 10.8V Bosch handheld hammer drill (I only had access to a borrowed 10mmx400mm and 22mm x lord knows how long without having to buy a new drillbit). Surprisingly the little Bosch didn't seem to much care and was through in a few seconds.
Put one Superrod with the flexible end and the magnet attachment through from the inside into the space under the stairs, and put the chain on the end of another couple of superrods pushed though the cavity wall and into the space under the stairs from the outside. It took literally two goes and about 2 minutes to pick up the chain with the magnet end. Once I'd pulled the rod through, attached a 3mm Nylon paracord doubled up and pulled it back through the hole (so effectively I have 2 pull cords in the hole. The SuperRod magnet / chain kit is awesome, well worth the £11 cost https://www.amazon.co.uk/Super-Rod-CRCM-Chain-Magnet/dp/B0018D7F6U - though you do need to have a set of SuperRods to use it).
Next up just got to get some 22mm OD flexible pipe and run it over the pull cord, which should be able to guide it well enough I think to be able to grab it inside.
I think we're all set.
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J0hn I see from that link work is due to start in my area in the "next 3 months" do you know what that translates to in terms of availability timeframe
There are no definites in FTTP roll out ..... but the rule of thumb is ..... the on-site survey is done by the OR FBC (1 week time-scale), it goes through Planning (2 week time-scale), the civils work is carried out such as de-silts, gully sucks, blockages, tree-cutting, new poles, D-poles, traffic management (5 week time-scale), cabling/splicing/testing/commissioning (2 week time-scale), RFS - Ready For Service - (10 day time-scale), CRFS - Customer Ready For Service - down to the service providers r, i'm guessing a 2 week time-scale minimum ??.
Some of the timings may be longer or shorter dependant on the level of involvement required - but in general, if you see an OR guy conducting a survey you should be looking at approx 14weeks before you can even look at ordering.
Just my thoughts and nothing concrete.
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Nice work Bogof, you can sit back and wait for the rest to happen now.
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Nice work Bogof, you can sit back and wait for the rest to happen now.
Thanks, almost. I nipped down to Screwfix today and picked up a 2m length of 22mm PEX pipe, which looks like it should be just the job. Probably run that in tomorrow then I can relax and know I'm all set for a quick install once the work outside is done and they get around to me :)
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All done for now. a single piece of 22mm PEX barrier pipe has been fitted, in which gives about a 17mm ID. The PEX has enough flex to be able to gently bend between the hole though the cavity wall, and where I made the hole on the plasterboard on the back of the staircase. Should be able to drive a bus down that, and I'm sure you could probably just push the fibre down it, but I've left a couple of drawer ropes in anyway.
I couldn't get the pipe quite as tight into the corner of the inside wall as I would have liked - drilling the hole there wasn't happening - but it looks like it will work fine. A little bit of paint needed to make good once the filler dries.
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You need more draw-rope, mate.
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You need more draw-rope, mate.
I dunno. These amateurs!! ;D
No - nice work!
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You need more draw-rope, mate.
Hehe. That was just me being stingy, I didn't really want to cut it, that way I've got a longer bit in one piece next time I need to pull some cable around the place.
I dunno. These amateurs!! ;D
No - nice work!
Thanks. I'm only doing this bit myself as I didn't think it's fair for me to expect the OR guy to be fishing around trying to follow a route to suit me and my odd house, and I can see why they might not like to be drilling into areas where they can't be sure what is on the other side... As it turns out it doesn't look like it would have been too much of an ask - though the rods with the magnet / chain made it much easier I'm sure, without them I'm sure it would have been much harder to get from one side to the other.
Anyway, it's all done now. Just a matter of waiting for my nice new fibre to turn up... :) Fingers crossed.
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Got an email today from Zen confirming civils works required, which are scheduled to happen by 01/03/2021. I replied and asked if this did happen whether there would be any chance to get the external / internal works brought forward at all. I'm not expecting anything, but if you don't ask you don't get. It will be killing me having everything in place except the last little bit of fibre! :)
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So this happened today... Judging by the size of the duct, I'm setting up Telehouse Norwich here...! :) Glad it is in the flowerbed, hidden by the bushes...
Nice couple of guys with a huge Openreach branded flatbed did the work, they were in and out in a couple of hours. Roped all the way into the chamber that has the CBT in so the following engineers should have a pretty easy time of it I think.
I'm going to ask Zen to see if there is any chance of getting the rest of the works pulled forward now that the civils work is done. I'm sure it's in their interests to get me onto service and billing as soon as possible. Edit: answer was a no to that. Oh well, it's going to seem an age now waiting for it to go live!
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That's certainly a big duct for one fibre.
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That's certainly a big duct for one fibre.
Does seem disproportionately big. I measured it at 54mm which I understand is the standard OR duct size, though I see from the various developer guides there is a smaller 25/17 duct that could have been used for just FTTP. At least this is nice and substantial and unlikely to meet an accident in the flowerbed.
I guess it will look a lot tidier once(if?) they fit a capping over it and then an external CSP above it, and then use my duct to enter the property. We'll see how it ends up looking once all done. It's not going to happen til the end of April now anyway.
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Bog-standard D54 is that.
It's not so much whats happening at 'this end' as what it's being attached to at the 'other end'. In other words in a lot of cases they will dig down to the existing D54 in the footway and then fit a swept tee to take the new duct it to the premises.
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We'll see how it ends up looking once all done. It's not going to happen til the end of April now anyway.
I'd expect it to be full of water by then.
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Bog-standard D54 is that.
It's not so much whats happening at 'this end' as what it's being attached to at the 'other end'. In other words in a lot of cases they will dig down to the existing D54 in the footway and then fit a swept tee to take the new duct it to the premises.
That's exactly what they did here from what I can tell. I wasn't able to snap a pic while they were working, and they'd already got the tee in place when I got home, but they'd dug down about a foot to get to the existing duct - which luckily was exactly where we'd hoped - and fitted a sweeping bend somehow over the top of the existing duct - I guess there is a way to do that (maybe they have a tee that splits in two, or has a slit up the back and clips over existing duct?)
Chap said it was a really nice job for them to get, just a little bit of digging in nice soft ground, and everything where they expected it to be. It only took them a couple of minutes to get the pull rope in.
I'd expect it to be full of water by then.
Perhaps, though the guy said it really doesn't matter and I'm inclined to believe them. The chambers built at either end is nothing like sealed - you can see dirt in the bottom of the chamber. I guess I could nip out and put a cap of some sort on it, but the water is likely to just run to one end or the other (or perhaps accumulate if the duct bows in the middle).
He was more concerned about the possibility of mud getting into it, which was the reason it was left tall, he said the next engineer can cut it back a little if they need to.
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We get water-ingress frequently into our boxes and subsequently our ducts, especially after a constant downpour. Fibre COF won't rust.
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No doubt, I saw the state of my E-side (aluminium) when they were re-crimping the whole bundle due to years of that. Its literally so short now (it broke while they were working on it) they would have to choose a different pair to reconnect me if it went again. Though odds are switch-off will happen before then, so the risk then will just be rogue backhoes.
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Thankfully the (hopefully copper, no idea) cable here is in a good state from what it looks - all the wire goes into huge "thimbles" which appear well sealed up. In any case, looks like I may not care for much longer about it! :) :)
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Email today from Zen confirming that the civils have been completed on their systems and that they'd ask OR to see if they can bring any of the first / second stage works forward.
In other news, FTTP on poles has been appearing in some adjacent areas where poles are serving phone lines instead of underground (just at the end of our road). I was surprised how much is served from one pole. There are no less than 28 ports at the top of one of the poles. They've even got some kind of bracket that two 12 port CBTs are mounted to, stood off the pole.
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Got email from Zen today, saying they've been able to pull forward the internal installation date to 14/4/2021, which is 3 weeks sooner than originally planned. No mention of an external visit now, and I still just have a raw 2" duct poking out of the soil with a pull rope in it, back to the CBT. Maybe now it's deemed an easy enough job that it can be a single stage install. Hopefully capping off of the duct will be included to tidy up the outside a bit.
Given the CBT is only about 6 metres away, I wonder if they'll go direct from inside the house to the CBT without a splice on the front of the house?
Do they tend to pull through another piece of pull rope in case of future need when the old one is pulled out? Or is the assumption if required they'd just end up using the old cable to pull through?
Anyway, finger's crossed.
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Do they tend to pull through another piece of pull rope in case of future need when the old one is pulled out? Or is the assumption if required they'd just end up using the old cable to pull through?
The normal Openreach procedure is to keep things as simple as possible. Therefore I would expect that the old cable would be used to pull in a new cable . . . if that need should ever arise.
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...and we have an engineer on site! Fingers crossed, pics to follow later.
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. . . pics to follow later.
Awaits sight of the images. :fingers:
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I'm almost certain it'll be fine. Relax.
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Well, all done and dusted pretty much.
The guy was here at 8am and done by about 11ish. I'd had some mains sockets put inside the "comms cupboard" (cupboard under stairs) and so I made another little hole with conduit through wall between the understairs area and cupboard, in the hope we could get the ONT sited in the cupboard if the engineer was amenable. Still a bit of making good to happen after putting in the sockets - and a lick of paint. The job getting pulled forward caught me a bit unawares.
The engineer was happy to oblige, started by routing the fibre from the inside to the outside, locating the ONT on the wall, a tiny little Nokia unit.
Then proceeded to pull the fibre through the roped underground duct from the CBT and fitted the CSP on the outside of the house. He said there wasn't enough room to get an elephant's foot over the duct due to where the duct had come out of the ground in relation to the hole in the wall, so I just have the duct with a bung in it. It's in a heavily shrubbed bush infront of the house so I'm not really fussed, it's not the very best, but I can live with it.
The fibre cable was clipped along skirting tidily using metal fireproof clips making nice swept bends and going straight into the bottom of the ONT.
A splice later and we were ready to go. I'm at -13dB on the light level, apparently it leaves the exchange at -11dB and is good all the way down to -26dB or so.
Connected up the Zen router (Fritz box) and... nothing, despite the ONT looking fine. Call to Zen support, they only activate the line once the engineer issues KCI3 for the job apparently. Anyway, he closed the job off, and a few minutes later the router had rebooted and connected.
Speed tests in the region of 900 down with sufficient download threads / 110 up no problem. Pings seem to vary between 7 and 9 seconds - I guess this depends on exactly what bit of kit the PPPoE session connects to. You can see the slight step between PPPoE sessions. Feels very nice and responsive
Won't be using the Fritzbox, but finding the Unifi USG4 Pro is proving a bit of a bottleneck, and am going to have to look into that. There are lots of options around hardware offload that all seem enabled, and I think I've disabled the things that disable offloading. More fiddling.
It's very responsive in use. Pleased with the upgrade.
Ping chart is a bit messy as the power in the cupboard has been up and down a couple of times.
(https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/thumb/5c7660731f60903240f16d59de2d04ae03991d8a-14-04-2021.png) (https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/5c7660731f60903240f16d59de2d04ae03991d8a-14-04-2021)
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Won't be using the Fritzbox, but finding the Unifi USG4 Pro is proving a bit of a bottleneck, and am going to have to look into that. There are lots of options around hardware offload that all seem enabled, and I think I've disabled the things that disable offloading. More fiddling.
What I'm seeing is smart queues need to be off as well as iDS/IPS so that everything gets offloaded.
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Yes, I had done that. It looks like it might have been an interaction with the fallback connection (FTTC) and / or the offload settings. I had disabled all those on the main connection. I disabled smart queues on the fallback connection too (didn't seem to fix anything), disabled the offload options for the router (same speed as with them enabled, suspicious....!) and then re-enabled them, which seemed to do it.
Getting very close now, so close it's not worth trying for more I feel given this is just with a standard Windows install on a laptop without really trying:
(https://www.speedtest.net/result/11264121575.png)
The AppleTV appears to be getting more or less to line rate give or take.
Real world seems Google drive is about the only thing so far getting close to saturating the link, manages to hit over 80 megabytes(!) a second for a large file download.
You almost have to say it again, seems a ludicrous level of speed to have in the home for next to no bucks.
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It is amusing compared to my first LAN which was 10Mbit over COAX. (not counting me playing with serial null modem cables)
I get the same amusement when ripping Blurays on a fast drive, seeing it usually slower than my current download speed. Then it annoys me because my connection is capable of streaming Bluray quality but I doubt the streaming services will ever do so, they will just move onto the next video codec and halve the bitrate again to save money.
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It is amusing compared to my first LAN which was 10Mbit over COAX. (not counting me playing with serial null modem cables)
Haha, I had a crazy parallel port based local network with mine and a mate's Commodore Amiga when he'd come over and bring his machine. Ah, the glory days...
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I was surprised how small the ONT was, had i known it was that small it could of gone in the hallway next to the master socket instead of the other side of the wall in the kitchen
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I was surprised how small the ONT was, had i known it was that small it could of gone in the hallway next to the master socket instead of the other side of the wall in the kitchen
Indeed, I think it's probably smaller by volume than the most recent VDSL wall mount NTE I have. Though I'm glad to have put it where it is, as less chance of it getting battered by kids, pushchairs, etc etc.
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Haha, I had a crazy parallel port based local network with mine and a mate's Commodore Amiga when he'd come over and bring his machine. Ah, the glory days...
As I recall I used parallel networking to get my Amiga floppies moved over for WinUAE back in the day, though serial was SO much more reliable but horrifically slow.
Indeed, I think it's probably smaller by volume than the most recent VDSL wall mount NTE I have. Though I'm glad to have put it where it is, as less chance of it getting battered by kids, pushchairs, etc etc.
Its probably not the ONT you have to worry about but the fibre. You don't want anyone unplugging it, EVER, as even a speck of dust can ruin the signal. So having it hidden away is definitely a good thing. Not to mention the risk of a kid staring at the laser.
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Its probably not the ONT you have to worry about but the fibre. You don't want anyone unplugging it, EVER, as even a speck of dust can ruin the signal. So having it hidden away is definitely a good thing. Not to mention the risk of a kid staring at the laser.
All good points. :)
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All good points. :)
Because I totally have never stared down a SPDIF cable, lucky that its own a weakling LED rather than an actual laser.
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What a difference a ludicrous excess of bandwidth makes...!
Today on FTTP, no smart queues enabled:
(https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/2b3468a9e153b3071c8f9bfba295ff3e38af2619-17-04-2021.png)
A week ago on FTTC, smart queues enabled:
(https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/f47d1aabff6c41c3074d7a9feb4db7430e68d5a7-10-04-2021.png)
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Have you got a typo there, shouldn't the second one say FTTC?
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Duh, yes. will correct now.
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I am reliably informed that CSPs look like this on the inside...
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The grey looks rather blue . . . ;)
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I had that problem a few years ago on a holiday to Canada, every single photo I took on my camera has a blue tint, turns out I had it set to fluorescent lighting. The photos are fixable, but there is an awful lot of them.
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I would imagine the photo might have been taken in a shaded area under the fading evening light... I think there may not have been enough reference for the Auto white balance algorithm to make much sense of the image... :)
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I had that problem a few years ago on a holiday to Canada, every single photo I took on my camera has a blue tint, turns out I had it set to fluorescent lighting. The photos are fixable, but there is an awful lot of them.
For what it's worth something like Adobe Lightroom should be able to batch correct those.
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Thanks, yes one day I'll have look into doing that.
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Well, 3 weeks in and I'm very impressed with the performance of the 900/115 service from Zen. Seems to be working really well. Most notice the performance on things I didn't think I would - like software updates that always seem to arrive at unhelpful times taking less time to download than I'm used to.
Only "outage" I've noted was a 4am maintenance I guess on something. Not going to complain though as I seemed to very slightly improve my latency afterwards, can just about make out a slight step in the TBB graph.
(https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband/monitoring/quality/share/acda1e63e4de43f9471e72d95fdfef74a4ef2e3c-02-05-2021.png)
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FTTP connection has been rock solid for 2 months. EE only want £20 to cancel the VDSL line contract (it was heavily discounted, so I owe them very little once they deduct their Openreach cost savings) so I've started a port of the landline number to A&A for VOIP which should initiate a cease on the old VDSL line. Now just shopping for an economic 4G backup service - doesn't seem any point using FTTC backup given so many common points of failure with my FTTP line. Discussion on that here: https://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php/topic,26059.0.html
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Nice. Thanks for the update and glad that it all worked out well.
Good luck with the landline transfer to AAISP
I need to start doing some serious research into VOIP and what can and cant be done. Its complicated by the fact I have a calls alarm.
On that subject, I was thinking we seem to be getting more discussions and queries about voice over IP and its a topic that I imagine that will only continue to grow when more people become eligible for FTTP. I wonder if its worthwhile starting a new section.
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@kitz Re ..' I wonder if its worthwhile starting a new section'
I will vote for that. :)
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Nice. Thanks for the update and glad that it all worked out well.
Good luck with the landline transfer to AAISP
I need to start doing some serious research into VOIP and what can and cant be done. Its complicated by the fact I have a calls alarm.
On that subject, I was thinking we seem to be getting more discussions and queries about voice over IP and its a topic that I imagine that will only continue to grow when more people become eligible for FTTP. I wonder if its worthwhile starting a new section.
Thanks :) We'll see how the process goes. Really only interested in keeping the number for the odd time an old hospital contact or similar uses it (most seem to use the mobile these days).
On the VOIP subforum; I think it might be worth it. I'll admit freely to knowing little about VOIP at the moment, and if there were a place with related threads it would be useful, I'd have certainly had a dig through it.
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I've started a port of the landline number to A&A for VOIP
I have ported my BT landline number both to and from A&A and both migrations proceeded without issue. I had the VoIP side already setup in advance so once the migration took place calls just appeared on the VoIP side. The only reason I moved the number back was due to the number of power cuts we experienced here at the time, sometimes exceeding the capacity of my UPS.
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On that subject, I was thinking we seem to be getting more discussions and queries about voice over IP and its a topic that I imagine that will only continue to grow when more people become eligible for FTTP. I wonder if its worthwhile starting a new section.
+1 for that, I think it could be a big topic over the next couple of years, and it really does have a different set of technical problems and challenges to deal with :)
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I think it could be a big topic over the next couple of years, and it really does have a different set of technical problems and challenges to deal with
My thoughts exactly.
New Board created for VoIP.