Full Fibre Installation Problems

[net_chap]

I am receiving emails urging me to uprade from FTTC to FULL FIBRE. We are told it’s a simple process just routing the fibre cable through existing ducts. For neighbours, after waiting a month, they came and had to dig up the pavement and left without job done. Didn’t find what they needed to connect to. A week or so later the second team arrived and dug up payment and concrete inlet which lies beyond the pavement. They were on this over three days but I understand found what they needed to connect to. I believe someone else now has to come and do the drilling through house wall bit and fit socket. Thing is I don’t think this is an exceptional case. All houses in estate probably similar and many estates throughout South Wales and no doubt beyond too. So it seems to me the idea that full fibre can be easily installed is a myth as ducts cannot be easily accessed in thousands of cases.

[billhinge]

Alternatively single engineer (conractor) turned up on time, ran fibre from telephone pole across the road to top of our house, hid cable behind drainpipe, drilled wall and fitted the modem, waited for it to synchronise, all done in just over 3 hours.

I guess every case is different

[net_chap]

Nice that you had a good experience but it would seem that potentially thousands may encounter a more harrowing time. It is a little disappointing not to hear more about the situation where installation may be more problematic.

[Jayach]

---

@net_chap wrote:
 It is a little disappointing not to hear more about the situation where installation may be more problematic.

---

Perhaps that is because it is not as common as you seem to think.

[net_chap]

I had hoped for a more engineering based response. Being that full fibre has only just been made available in the area and people will be on existing contracts, the problem may not have really manifested itself yet. But I actually talked with the installers and they alerted me to the scale of the potential problem. Since this is not a vodafone specific matter, I might be better posting my inquiry elsewhere in the hope of hearing from someone knowledgeable on the installation side of matters.

[net_chap]

Update: they finally turned up last week to finish the two month job AND drilled through a power cable! National Grid had to come the next day and lay a new cable. Their garden is now a brown mess.

[ricardone · Accepted solution]

I can agree with you that  full-fibre installation can throw up problems.   Ten years ago my underground telephone cable  was dug through by a power cable maintenance team, and when BT repaired the telephone cable, they didn't  also repair the breach in the duct so the cable just ran underground between the broken ends.  Come this year when the fibre was to be threaded, it of course encountered this obstruction.  Pavement had to be dug up, after appointments arranged with BT, and permission given by local authority, and sub-contractor engaged,  and so the duct was repaired.  This put a two-week dent in the promised go-live date for my broadband service. 

 Can't blame Vodafone too much for this,  but it might be sensible to schedule the infrastructure install further in advance of  the promised go-live date,  so as to anticipate potential snags - which undoubtedly arise -  rather than have them impact on service delivery to the customer. 

[net_chap]

Thanks for great, informative post. I believe there are going to be thousands of cases of ducts which cannot be easily threaded and pavements dug up with much disruption and expense caused. Newer properties may of course encounter less problems. The area had virgin infrastructure installed about a year or so ago. Neighbours further down had that installed without problem. Maybe it's a pity other ISPs can't jut pay virgin and use their infrastructure where it is available.