Planning for an ONT

PiKe · 4 Aug 2020 at 21:50

My house had its master socket in the garage and an extension internally to the lounge, when I had VDSL installed they bypassed the socket in the garage (basically blanking it off) and made the socket in the lounge the master.

When FTTH arrives, what will happen? Will I not be able to have the ONT in my lounge but rather it will have to be in the garage then figure out how to pull ethernet through?

Avalon · 4 Aug 2020 at 23:48

They will install the ONT where you want it (within reason), as they presumably did with every previous install, eg when somebody decided to have the socket in the garage etc.

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 07:44

Avalon said:
They will install the ONT where you want it (within reason), as they presumably did with every previous install, eg when somebody decided to have the socket in the garage etc.

Precisely this. One of my work colleagues has just got the BT 900/110 package and he wanted the ONT in the attic. Which is a high ladder job. So they said no. But the alternative was on the other side of the building (about 30m cable) and they just cracked on with that.

PiKe · 5 Aug 2020 at 09:09

Surely they won't mess around trying to pull a cable through where the existing 2 wire goes though? Is it more run it round the building and drill a hole type job?

VaderDSL · 5 Aug 2020 at 09:13

When I had my ONT installed I ran some conduit underground along the front of the house (under a few cm of chippings) to where I wanted it drilling through, Openreach guy was happy enough feeding it through the conduit.

I think they're pretty amiable at where it goes. I saw someone's install on this forum recently where they fed it through an air brick and they pulled it through into an inside cupboard, lookd a great way to do it.

Caged · 5 Aug 2020 at 12:16

As has been said, Openreach want to bring the fibre up out of a duct / in overhead and then clip it externally to a CSP and then directly through the wall into the ONT - they aren't going to start running things through roof spaces or ceiling voids. If you have specific route requirements then your best bet is to run flexi conduit if the route is tricky, and leave a draw string in place.

pepp77 · 5 Aug 2020 at 12:22

And if the home installs start becoming more like business ones they will be allowed to run to a point a maximum of 5m away from their demarcation point on the premises. Has caused lots of hassles in some buildings, where BT would only install a socket into a basement and then you have to privately pay for a cabler to run a link to your actual floor (could be 5th floor!). This is why there are often very high charges for installation and ECCs with leased line installs as they will get them to exactly where you want in the building. On a normal line or broadband, the margin just isnt there for BT to have their engineers doing more.

WJA96 · 5 Aug 2020 at 17:47

PiKe said:
Surely they won't mess around trying to pull a cable through where the existing 2 wire goes though? Is it more run it round the building and drill a hole type job?

Smile. Tell them where you want it. Say please. Smile. They actually contact you at least twice before they install it. And usually you get a preparation visit where they leave a huge coil of fibre outside your house so the person who does the actual install won’t run out of cable. And at that point the person who visits will tell you if you have unrealistic expectations.