Openreach and positioning new ONT

[robinc]

Our long awaited house move is limping slowly over the horizon and so I need to think about provision at our new home. It is 10 years old but the build included cable.The Kitz web site shows ducting is present and iDnet shows 1 meter to the cabinet (which is odd...) Both show a new ONT is required.
So, OR rock up on the day and go to install the ONT. No, I do not want it in the hall so I have to balance my router on the radiator thank you....
Anyone got any words of advice/experience over how flexible they are at this point. Frankly I have no idea where to put it at this stage but it's probably going to be towards the middle or rear of the house.
Do they do some kind of survey first???

[Postal]

From discussion on other web-sites it will probably depend on the provider and then on the installer on the day.  Some ISPs use both OR and alt-net backhaul so it is not as easy as knowing which ISP you are using.

If the provider is provisioning on the OR infrastructure the OR employees are reported as being helpful and amenable to fitting the ONT wherever suits the customer best.  One of the provisos is that electric power is available near the ONT which you seem to be able to get round by using an extension lead if you are waiting for the electrical work to be done.  If you are on the OR network but the installation has been sub-contracted to Cowboy Communications the situation is more problematic and the contractor may walk away as the job has been but in the "too difficult" box.  You would then need to re-book and hope you get an OR installer.

If you are connecting through an alt-net there are too many variables to be able to give a definitive answer!

[goldberg]

Hi robinc,
My experience of having FTTP / ONT installed just over a year ago was that Openreach did not do a pre-install survey. They turned up on the date of the install and pulled the fibre across from the pole across the street to a fixing point on the eaves at the front of the house.

However, the cupboard where all of my telecomms equipment sits, is on the first floor and at the back of the house.  So, some weeks before ordering the install I pulled 30mm flexible plastic duct through my loft space, to the point where I wanted the ONT to be.  At the front of the house I left a short section of the duct projecting through the soffit.  I made sure there were no tight bends in the duct.

On install day the Openreach engineer was very happy to use my duct, and it ended up saving him a lot of time.

So, if you can create a route for the fibre to your chosen position for the ONT it will help speed up the install process.

goldberg

[nowster]

In addition, you do not need to have your router next to the ONT. It can be anywhere else inside the house that a CAT5A (or better) network cable can reach.

[robinc]

Interestingly I have discovered that these houses were all built with a Sky outlet point in one room. That is as far from the road as you can get. Wondering if that would have been ducted or just hung under the floor....
From what I understand fibre does not take kindly to tight bend radius so it's a question of getting it to the desired destination, on the surface, without looking odd.

[Postal]

Interestingly I have discovered that these houses were all built with a Sky outlet point in one room. That is as far from the road as you can get. Wondering if that would have been ducted or just hung under the floor....
From what I understand fibre does not take kindly to tight bend radius so it's a question of getting it to the desired destination, on the surface, without looking odd.

The anecdotal evidence is that the smallest practical radius for a bend in the fibre is round the circumference of something about the size of a 50p piece.