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[timdf911]

Hi,

I live in a semi rural area (post code PR4 1HG) and our VDSL provoded by Vodafone is slow (10-20M) and erratic.
However lately there's been a lot of Openreach activity around the village, even at the end of our lane and having spoken to an OR technician they are installing fibre and have now started to install distribution boxes into the pavement easments - so  all looking promising despite Broadband checker saying our exchange (Freckleton) is not a priority !

Questions

1. the distribution units I've seen them installing are always under man hole covers a few mtrs away from a pole - I was wondering how the run the fibre out to individual ONT's ?  Does each ONT have its own piece of fibre back to the distribution box or does it split at the top of the pole ?

2.  As OR are putting a lot of work into the cabling etc does this mean our exchange is 'FTTP ready' ?

3.  Assuming the exchange is ready how long before orders are accepted ? edit ok I see in other posts there is no hard and fixed schedule, could be weeks or months

4.  Related to 3 above, is order acceptance phased in as the network expands or do they wait till an  exchange is fully built out before accepting orders ?

5.  Our lane is fed by overhead poles and the cable passes thru' some tree branches - would this pose a problem / delay for OR ?  If so I could have them trimmed ready as it's our private road.

Regards Tim

[j0hn]

1. It's a single fibre from the exchange to the Splitter Node. At the Splitter Node that fibre is split up to 32 ways. They then feed the fibre distribution points, called CBT's (connectorised block terminals).
It then goes from the CBT to your ONT.
CBT's come in 4, 8 and 12 port variants and can be placed underground or on top of poles.
The actual Splitter Node where the fibre splits is always underground.

2. Your FTTC doesn't necessarily come from your local exchange. Smaller child exchanges are bypassed with fibre and it comes from larger parent exchanges.
Any exchange that had FTTC is FTTP ready.

3. It's enabled on a Splitter by Splitter basis. As soon as your particular splitter is ready, commissioned/audited and enabled then you and your neighbours will be able to order.

4. As above

5. No issue at all.

[timdf911]

Hi j0hn

thanks again for another detailed and informative reply.  As a now retired telecomms engineer (3g and 4g mobile phones) I'm interested in 'how things work' and how our installation will play out.

Our lane has about 10 houses spread out over about 1/2 mile with posts every 100 mtrs or so (at a guess) with over head copper between them.  Every other post or so supports one or two properties so I expect we'll see 4 way egg boxes on these posts with fibre between them.

Some houses are fed with overhead drops, others (like ours) have a short underground duct to the pole.

The splitter node will be where our lane joins the main road where there is a pole and man hole.  Indeed the OR team were down there last week and using a lap top to check something or other.  They had previously pulled the fibre through.

I think the above is all correct, so now we sit and wait for the CBT's and activation etc.

Best regards Tim

[Alex Atkin UK]

5.  Our lane is fed by overhead poles and the cable passes thru' some tree branches - would this pose a problem / delay for OR ?  If so I could have them trimmed ready as it's our private road.

While it wont stop them installing, I'm sure they would appreciate it being clear.