National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

Yes - I think that’s exactly what I’ll have to do. I’ll get the new fibre cable as far as the ETU and will then have to surface mount it to the wall in some sort of suitable conduit, then bring it into the attic. From the attic it’s a handy route to where I want to position the new ONT. Also considering hiring a cobra reel some Saturday to check my ducting is ok. As from what I’ve read the installers just need any excuse to abandon a job, although the NBI site does say that the installers will rectify any broken / blocked ducting. I would have my doubts though !!

Don't mention the war! I've just realised that the ducting bringing the existing telephone cable from road to ETU is actually 25mm blue hydraware and not the 50mm red ducting that appears in the ETU. Another short cut taken by builder that I was unaware of.

Can anyone advise if possible to rod a fibre cable through 25mm hydraware?

How long is your ducting run ?

I would think you should have no issue getting the fibre cable through the 25mm hydrodare. It might be a bit tight though and you may lose your existing phone cable though !!

If I were you I would get my hands on a cobra reel and rod from the pole to the ETU. Then tape a good strong string to the cobra reel and reverse it back to the pole. You will then effectively have the duct “roped” for the installer and that exercise should also identify if you can actually fit your existing phone line and the new fibre line side by side in the same duct, as it’s going to be very tight for space.

The only other issue I could see is if these two cables being so close together would cause interference??

We had a similar situation in our install. In my case, the fibre was pulled into the ETU in my gable wall, then we drilled a small hole in the top of the box and ran the fibre outside the external wall through the soffit, and into the attic, then across the attic and down into the room where I have my networking gear. We didn't use any conduit on the run up the wall, just secured the cable to the wall using cable clips like this:

I did the attic portion with the installer pushing the cable up through the soffit from the outside. We sealed the drilled hole in the top of the ETU with a lot of silicone.

Our ducting was causing issues as well, so we ended up taping the fibre to the existing CAT5 phone cable, and using the existing cat5 to pull through the fibre (I don't use my phone line at all). Did the job!

I mentioned this to the installer and his reply was "Where is that coming from, because it's not so".

He proceeded to get up in the attic and do everything there that I thought (from reading this thread) I had to do myself.

What type of surface is there between the pole and house?

I don't have a landline telephone as Eircom wouldn't install the poles to bring line 500m from main road even though there are 5 houses on the road we live on.

Builder installed the phone line in a duct during build and I subsequently used it to run the electric gate.

my house has no landline connection, its 1km from the nearest pole,up a lane,and approx 700m as the crow flies.......the nbi site has given us a date for likely connection am wondering would distance from nearest connect be a disincentive for them?!

Hoping someone might be able to answer my questions relating to installs - couldn't find anything in the thread.

I live in a ~100 year old cottage that's been renovated, it's pretty small but now very modernised and is about 30ft from the roadway. Currently have Imagine fixed wireless. I have a telephone line installed but it was never activated as Eir could only offer me a 3mb or less DSL connection. The telephone comes overhead from a pole outside on the roadway and into the cottage via the porch 'gable'. I am the last house connected to that telephone line as I have no neighbours for 700m or so each direction.

Currently, I have built a new annex/studio that has my network rack in it and where I work from home. There is CAT6 going from rack in studio back to house and the house itself is wired with CAT6. I've actually got my fixed wireless antenna on the house, then CAT6 to studio rack to a pfSense firewall, then a CAT6 back to a switch in the house for LAN there.

Does anyone know if, firstly, will they bring fibre into the house without underground ducting (i'd have to destroy my front garden/paths etc), and if so, what is the process?

Also, if I wanted them to bring the fibre straight to the studio, and not the house, do you think they'd accommodate this too? Again, no ducting available.

Many thanks in advance for any replies.

The KN installers in general are sound and will position the ONT anywhere you need as long as you have a power supply near the entry point

ESB have shut off the electricity today on my road to install fibre which is positive. October is roll out date apparently

General being the operative word 🙄

The two I had the other day were anything but sound.

My story starts back in Oct 2021 when I rang Vodafone about renewing my contract as they were putting the price up.

I was told I could now get fibre.

I signed up & was given an engineer appointment. On the due date the engineer turned up as promised & proceeded to rod the various ducting leading to my house. He found a problem at one 90 degree junction where the ducting cover was buried under earth on the right of way behind my house. He said a K & N civil crew would have to bring the cover to the surface & he would make the necessary arrangements. Fair enough I said as I didn't know how far under ground the cover was.

The fibre cable would finally be entering the house here at this cover. (See photo)

I told him that the cable would have to go up the wall,into the attic which is boarded & drop down into the hall where the existing modem is. This is because the route that the existing copper cable takes has since been lost & would be impossible to follow. The existing copper cable was brought in when the house was built about forty years ago.

He said this would be no problem & was glad because he said some customers were difficult to deal with because where they wanted the fibre cable to go. He departed.

Fast forward ten months & five missed deadlines before the ducting cover was finally brought to the surface. The cover was actually only about 9 inches under the hard core surface & the civil crew took only about an hour to raise it & put a new cover on it.

The original engineer came back two days ago about 2pm but had to go away again to locate his colleague to help him lift the ducting cover that the civil crew had installed. The engineers phone had no service because EIR mobile was down in the area. Fair enough he was back in about fifteen minutes with his mate in another van.

They pulled the fibre cable through he various ducting until they reached the ducting cover at the gable of my house (photo shows the cover in question) It was now about 4.15pm.

Then the trouble started.

Theres about 18" length of sand & cement a few inches deep under which the existing cable pipe is buried which they refused to take up. (see photo)

"We'll have to get the civil crew to do that"

The first fellow then says "where will the cable go after that ?"

Up the wall I said, into the loft & drop down into the hall where the modem is.

"Oh we can't do that"

I replied that's not what you said the last time you were here. If you wanted this work to be done you should have told me & I would have done it for you.

The second fellow pipes in with "We're only allowed to take the cable a metre into a customers house" to which I replied "Where are you going to get with a metre ? That would hardly take you through the wall."

I was this close to telling the two of them to piss off but I bit my tongue & said that they could take the cable the easy way that I had pointed out to them or they could bring it in whatever way they wanted.

I walked away before I said something I might regret.

I came back about ten minutes later & said to the first fellow "Have you decided what way you're going to go"

He said "I have made arrangements for the civil crew to take out that length of pipe & reinstall it again.They will tell you when they are coming.

We will bring the cable up the wall,into the loft & drop it down into the hall where the existing modem is"

I thought to myself isn't that what I suggested to you ten minutes ago 🙄

At that stage I left them & went back inside as I'd had more than enough of the two of them. It was like dealing with a couple of sloths.

I await a call from the civil crew as to when they're going to come.

Probably another ten months time.

The two boys had no longer left than I had a phone call from who ever sets up the appointments asking if I was happy with the work that had been carried out outside. I'd say she's sorry she phoned as I was not complementary on the two K & N fellows. She said she would prioritize the work which could mean any time in the next decade.

Its no wonder nothing ever gets done in this country 🙄

 The box is the ETU, as above in heavydawson's post, and they will use it if possible to bring in the fibre cable.

Is the main fibre line on the road overhead on a pole or underground in ducting/chamber?

As regards the existing ethernet cable in the ETU it probably/possibly goes back to a central point where it meets the 3 cables from the telephone sockets (star layout) in the attic/utility/etc. or is looped from 1 socket to the next etc. (daisy-chain loop). If looped there may be 2 cables behind two of the telephone faceplates or if all have 2 or more cables they could be from a central point, difficult to say for sure behind my keyboard.

Depending on the layout of the cable, if star, it could be used to feed each socket from the router via the existing ethernet cable, e.g. ONT -> router -> switch -> RJ45 sockets. The ONT is the point where the fibre optical signal converts to an electrical signal for the router.

That could indicate a daisy-chain loop. Are the sockets with the 2 cables both wired into the back of the socket? This was the recommended telephone wiring scheme maybe 10-20+ years ago and may have been used in more recent times too.

Seems I was wrong , Ground work team from KN have arrived and all will be sorted today , I really have too much time on my hands 😀

Big take up of NBI connections in our small area , of the 10 homes within 100m , 9 of the 10 have been connected .