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Openreach Remove 35ft Poles from Exeter UK Street After Locals Moan
Bowdon:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2019/01/openreach-remove-35ft-poles-from-exeter-uk-street-after-locals-moan.html
--- Quote ---Openreach’s (BT) attempts to bring “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband services to the suburbs of Exeter (Devon) have been met with anger on Armstrong Avenue, where residents complained that the new 35ft telegraph poles are too tall, “ugly” and some also appear to be bent. Thankfully a solution has already been found.
In this case Armstrong Avenue is already quite well served by Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) technology and Virgin Media’s ultrafast cable network. Instead Openreach were in the process of rolling out Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology to this street as part of their on-going “Fibre First” programme (3 million premises by the end of 2020).
However not everybody is a fan of wooden telegraph poles and if you haven’t had them on your street before then their appearance may not go down well, although equally they are still a fairly common sight in many parts of the United Kingdom (a lot of cables run underground but doing that is often slower, more disruptive and more expensive).
According to DevonLive, locals were less than pleased after the new poles appeared just before Christmas. Apparently the operator notified the council on 11th December and the works began on 15th, taking only five days to complete (Permitted Development Rights). Ward councillor Percy Prowse said: “The contractors told me that the poles they were erecting were too big and excessive considering they [need] to hold one cable.”
Residents will at least be pleased to hear that Openreach has agreed to remove the poles and better yet, the area will still be getting FTTP.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote --- A Spokesperson for Openreach said:
“In those small areas where there isn’t any existing infrastructure, we need to build brand new network, which can include poles. We look at ways of informing residents as early as possible about new infrastructure but retain the overall right to site poles to provide network where necessary.
We have worked closely with the Highways Agency and the local authority for all other relevant permissions.
We’ve listened to concerns from residents and Councillors regarding the new poles we recently erected and we absolutely agree that the poles in Armstrong Avenue aren’t in keeping with the local environment and we will remove them as quickly as possible.”
--- End quote ---
kitz:
Jeeze and only about 6 months ago Bournemouth residents were bitching about pavement trenching for cable. ???
sevenlayermuddle:
May be mistaken, and can’t find any evidence, but I vaguely thought there was a code of practice whereby new developments should have underground cables - overhead wires only being used in locations where they already existed.
If these poles in Exeter are appearing where there were no poles (neither telephone nor power) before, I may have sympathy with those who complained.
kitz:
I think there have been several conversations on here in the past about the cost of UG cables and some members have even suggested that they should use overhead cable.
However in this particular case it seems to be a moot point as quote
--- Quote ---Under the new plan Openreach said they intend to pilot a “new” type of Micro Trenching technology that has been developed in Germany.
--- End quote ---
Theres an MTT video here, but even so this will not be without disruptions that I'm sure someone will complain about. ???
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWryq2nOA3U[/youtube]
This comment amused
--- Quote from: CarlT ---Oh sweet! Wasn’t sure if Openreach were able to use microtrenching for fear of other operators complaining they don’t have enough passive infrastructure to access.
--- End quote ---
sevenlayermuddle:
Micro trenching looks cool, but I wonder how deep the trenches are. In particular, can we be sure the fibres won’t become exposed and damaged when potholes open in the tarmac? Or get damaged during pothole patchup/repair work?
Time was, I’d have taken the attitude that “They must have thought of that”. These days, I make no such assumptions about public utility works. :D
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