FTTP installation - positioning of ONT

[#1]

We're having FTTP installed on Thursday and was thinking about where the ONT box should go.

The fibre will be run from overhead lines. We live in a mid terrace so realistically there is only really one entrance point for the cable into our house taking into account where the pole is, which is the front of the property into our kitchen.

The ideal ONT location is at the centre of our house where our current master socket is, which is in the living room (the room next along from the kitchen). It would be a straight cabling run of about 9-10m from the entry point. I'd ideally run the cables the same way as our existing copper cables (underneath our kitchen cabinets, and through a couple of internal walls (plasterboard). Albeit it would involve some holes being drilled, one in the side of a cabinet and again through the internal plasterboard walls. The access under the kitchen cabinets is very straightforward.

It's not a massive job but I really don't want the ONT at the external wall where the entry point is as it's not really a feasible location for us. I appreciate it'll depend on the engineer on the day but does this sound like a reasonable request for them when they install it?

[#2]

@jameshalfpenny 

Your router doesn’t have to be located with your ONT. If Openreach won’t run fibre around your property then simply locate the ONT in the kitchen. Then you can run a CAT5e or above Ethernet cable between the ONT and your chosen router location.

[#3]

@jameshalfpenny 

As pointed out the Router can go where you like.

Personally I consider it unlikely the installer would agree to your request- too much work. However, if you move fast there is one potential way.

Install cable ducts and leave a draw rope (string) in place. I see no reason why they wouldn't then simple draw the cable through. If it's the type of duct that you clip the front to it after the cable then it could be used for the ethernet cable if the ONT must go in the kitchen.

Brian

[#4]

@bmc @jameshalfpenny 

Yes Brian I was going to suggest a similar thing.   When our FTTP was installed I had already run some conduit under the eaves through the wall, under a floor and behind a plasterboard wall to where I want the ONT (as I was doing some other building wok at the time.) It was a flexible 20mm conduit, about 7m in length and I installed a draw string.

The OR engineer was very happy to just be able to draw the fibre cable through and out by a power socket, made his job much easier. the internal cable is pre-terminated at one end that plugs into the ONT and I am pretty sure he drew the unterminated end from the inside,  through the conduit and back to the CSP on the outside of the house.

I could have been lucky to get a good, friendly OR engineer, hopefully you will be too.

[#5]

@bmc 

Are there any bend radiius limitation on this internal fibre? If so these need to be considered when installing ducts. The great thing about CAT5e is that it will go around tight bends if need be.

[#6]

Good catch @Baldrick1 

Yes there is a restriction on bend radius, but I believe it is much more robust than you might think.  There's lots of stuff on the web if you google, the radius needs to be greater if you are pulling the fibre through a conduit rather than loose shaping it round a door frame for example.

When I did my conduit there were more than 3 90degree bends but they were all wide sweeping bends as they were hidden under the floor and behind the plasterboard.