FTTP - router placement

bazzabear

bazzabear

bazzabear

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I wonder if anyone has experience in this area?

Getting FTTP in the next couple of weeks. Currently, my master socket, and therefore my router, is quote a distance from where the phone line comes in to the property. In fact I paid to have it relocated so I could easily have my main PC connected by ethernet instead of wifi.

My question is - are they likely to match this when they upgrade me? Or will they be unwilling to put the new master socket / fibre access point anywhere but inside the property right next to where the phone line enters?
 
It depends to an extent on who you get on the day, but I think technically a standard Openreach FTTP install allows for 10m of internal cabling. Anything more than that and a different type of installation needs to be booked.
 
bazzabear said:
Thanks! Sounds promising, I don't think it's further than 10m.
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My ONT was installed about 6 months ago, I asked the Openreach contractor to bring the cable from the pole on the roadside to the top left side of the house. He then ran a cable to the side of the house (front section) and installed a grey box there. A cable was run from there to the back side (same wall) and drilled inside the house (Room behind the garage). The Openreach contractor (from Kelly) did say that they, as contractors, are only allowed to drill one hole to cable. He did say Openreach are much more flexible but would not commit himself. Overall the guy was quite accomodating.
 
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Guy that installed mine says they prefer it to be shorter as there’s less risk to the fibre optic cable to be damaged if there’s less of it in the house.

I wanted mine in the hallway anyway where the feed comes in the house, as I’ve got an Ethernet port which then goes off to my router upstairs.
 
Consider that you don't need the router to be near the point where it enters. Mine enters the kitchen, which is really an inconvenient place for a router, but the installer fits a small white Openreach box on the end of the cable (which does nothing but convert the optical to Ethernet) and I run an Ethernet cable 15m to my router, so it is placed in a spare room in the house.
 
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SpellowHouse said:
Consider that you don't need the router to be near the point where it enters. Mine enters the kitchen, which is really an inconvenient place for a router, but the installer fits a small white Openreach box on the end of the cable (which does nothing but convert the optical to Ethernet) and I run an Ethernet cable 15m to my router, so it is placed in a spare room in the house.
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Agreed. This is the best way to do it. I wanted the ONT in the Garage and then run an ethernet cable to the room where the Router is. For me, there was a need to drill too many holes in the internal walls.
 
SpellowHouse said:
Consider that you don't need the router to be near the point where it enters. Mine enters the kitchen, which is really an inconvenient place for a router, but the installer fits a small white Openreach box on the end of the cable (which does nothing but convert the optical to Ethernet) and I run an Ethernet cable 15m to my router, so it is placed in a spare room in the house.
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Currently the phone line comes into the house where the old master socket was. It then runs around a room fastened to the top of the skirting, including around a door frame, before going through a wall to the new master socket on the other side - which is right by my desk.

Certainly you could do exactly the same with an ethernet cable instead - but I suspect it would stand out more. And it would have to have a new socket fitted to one end in situ to get it through the wall. I wonder whether the engineer will be willing to do all that?

An alternative route would be around the outside of the house. But if anything that surely makes the cable more vulnerable to damage not less.

We will have to see what he says when he arrives.
 
bazzabear said:
Currently the phone line comes into the house where the old master socket was. It then runs around a room fastened to the top of the skirting, including around a door frame, before going through a wall to the new master socket on the other side - which is right by my desk.

Certainly you could do exactly the same with an ethernet cable instead - but I suspect it would stand out more. And it would have to have a new socket fitted to one end in situ to get it through the wall. I wonder whether the engineer will be willing to do all that?

An alternative route would be around the outside of the house. But if anything that surely makes the cable more vulnerable to damage not less.

We will have to see what he says when he arrives.
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I don't think the engineer will have anything to do with your Ethernet cable. I had mine in place for his arrival, so I didn't ask him, but I think the assumption was that you place the router within 1 m of the ONT.
The optical cable is not very flexible, but at least it's smaller. I would worry about trying to get it round a door frame. It's not going to turn those sharp angles.
 
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bazzabear said:
Currently the phone line comes into the house where the old master socket was. It then runs around a room fastened to the top of the skirting, including around a door frame, before going through a wall to the new master socket on the other side - which is right by my desk.

Certainly you could do exactly the same with an ethernet cable instead - but I suspect it would stand out more. And it would have to have a new socket fitted to one end in situ to get it through the wall. I wonder whether the engineer will be willing to do all that?
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Assuming the ONT box is placed next to the existing pphone socket, you can run an ethernet cable (Flat type, available in different colours) along the same route as the phone cable to your Router by the desk. As I said, the Kelly contractor would not drill more than one hole inside the house. You can always sweeten the guy up with tea/coffee etc!

I use flat white cable from Amazon. Works great!

 
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That looks good - but how do I get it through a wall!?

From my own point of view, I think I have to hope they will be willing to put the ONT box somewhere more convenient than right next to where the phone cable enters the property. Not only is that in the wrong room, it's also on a wall of the room where there's no furniture, so I'll end up with the router sitting on the floor by the dining table!
 
bazzabear said:
That looks good - but how do I get it through a wall!?
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With a drill... :D

Does your line come in overhead from a pole, or is it all underground out of interest? (overhead could make altering install location potentially easier)
 
Sorry, missed this thread for a while!

Drill a hole big enough for the ethernet socket to fit through you mean? Our line comes in underground.

The outside bit has been done now. Inside is due today. The guy who did the first bit reckoned there'll be no problem with the 'inside' guy routing a cable around the outside of the house and in through the lounge wall.

One question - how does the ONT connect to the router? Phone type cable? Or Ethernet cable? I ask because they have not sent a new router, but they have sent an ethernet cable to us for some reason. But the existing router does not have an ethernet input. The only ethernet connections are the 4 for devices. So I'm slightly worried they've cocked up in what they've provided.
 
Here's a question though. PC connected to the router by ethernet is reporting 150Mbps download speeds.
But an iPhone connected by wifi, but right next to the router, seems to start the speedtest at a similar figure, but quickly drop down to 60-ish.
And that said, doing another test while I wrote this it did the same thing, except only dropped to 78.

Now this doesn't really matter - there's nothing I'm going to be using my phone for which needs better speeds than that. But intriguing! Any theories on the cause?
 
What speed service have you signed up for? As far as I know none of the kit that Sky hand out is well known for being high quality or performing well, so you might just be getting Wi-Fi performance that is as good as the router can give you.
 
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