topic Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging in Full Fibre

Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 19:54:24 GMT

Hi, I was recently forcibly removed from Talk Talk to Utility Warehouse. I have been doing some research about moving provider. I currently get 150 MB and have been quite happy with it but now understand that it is FTTC and G-Fast which I don't think is offered by anyone anymore. I currently pay £36 with a landline but can do without the phone I have been looking at Plusnet as they are apparently one of the best for customer service. Anyway, my concern is that about 10 years ago I had a resin drive installed and am not really sure how fiber would be installed. I have been on reddit and some say I could possibly use the duct that the copper is coming through but not even sure if it is a duct or just buried cable. I have attached some photos and would appreciate any advice. Would I be able to cancel if the survey suggests I have to have a dig or something I am not happy with. Would appreciate any advice.

Also, my current router in in my upstairs study. The phone line is brought in through my garage and through to the first floor and then through a wall into my study. There are to mains sockets here. If it has to be on the ground floor where the other phone line comes in, there are no mains sockets, would an extension lead suffice. Thank you

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

mwwagain — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:03:58 GMT

They will try to use the existing run, but avoid trying to pull with the copper cable in case it breaks and leaves you disconnected

Is your whole front resin ?

'Dig' sounds drastic but I had a tiny slit in the grass, then buried under chippings.

Once at the house they come in at ground floor, wherever you say is best (for ONE mains socket - the 'ONT' needs power at least initially)

You would then need to run ethernet from the ONT to your existing preferred router location upstairs.

Against the 'rules' but you could extend the fibre from where it comes in, and thereby move the ONT too.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:15:42 GMT

thought I had attached pics so trying again

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:33:00 GMT

@Grother

I'm not an expert but that could well be armoured cable which gets buried in the ground. If so, it's bad news as it means no duct.

There is a way to check. Use the following and post an image of the results (after hiding your details).

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:40:51 GMT

@Grother

Forgot to add you should include the narrative below the rsults window.

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:48:34 GMT

Thank you, hopefully the attached will work

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 21:56:54 GMT

@Grother

Thanks for the information.

Good news and bad news. It states the install process is KCI2 - this means a survey is required. While it speaks of a "congested duct" it doesn't say "buried direct in ground"

It also states you're in a FTTP Priority Exchange which means you can't order anything but Full Filbre if it's available (which it is).

The long and the short of it is you won't know until you place and order and they do a survey.

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

LatencySlayer — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:14:03 GMT

@Grother

If FTTP installation turns out to be too difficult, it appears that you could move your existing G.Fast connection to Cerberus Networks for a reasonable price and possibly upgrade to 300/50Mbps !.

A Google search told me this -

Cerberus Networks offers G.fast broadband services with competitive pricing, particularly for businesses. As of recent updates, the Cerberus G.fast Pro service (up to 300 Mbps down, 50 Mbps up, unlimited usage) is priced at £40.00 per month + VAT. This represents a reduction from earlier pricing and is part of Cerberus’s strategy to make ultrafast broadband more affordable. For smaller businesses or those needing lower speeds, options are available: Up to 160 Mbps down / 30 Mbps up: £30.00/month + VAT Additional costs may apply: Free activation with a 24-month contract. £104.00 one-off fee for a 12-month contract. A £126.00 installation charge if a new phone line is required. All packages include 1–8 static IP addresses, NetSTATS monitoring, and 24/7 UK support. The service is available where G.fast is deployed, typically in areas with short copper lines to the cabinet. For the most accurate and up-to-date pricing, contact Cerberus directly at 0345 257 1333 or sales@cerberusnetworks.co.uk.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

mwwagain — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:41:44 GMT

@Grother wrote:

thought I had attached pics so trying again

Would it work if they come in the left side of the garage, soft dig following the edge of the drive and in the side wall by your brown bin ?

Set up a socket somewhere suitable inside - noting that the ONT PSU has a 1m lead and then run ethernet up to the office.

At instal time they might like the router next to the ONT (to see both sets of lights), but that can all be temporary.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:51:26 GMT

Thanks, my main issue is, if I dont like the option after the survey, could I cancel at that point and stick with what I have?

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:03:34 GMT

Thanks, only issue is that everything to the left of my drive is my neighbours property. I could see if they would have any objection. Also, if it went in the garage, would the internet work ok throughout the house?

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

LatencySlayer — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:15:41 GMT

@mwwagain wrote:

Would it work if they come in the left side of the garage, soft dig following the edge of the drive and in the side wall by your brown bin ?

Just a thought ...

If that flower bed on the left is your neighbours, instead of digging a trench through it, you could hire an impact mole, and put in your own ducting from your garage to the edge of the pavement UNDER the flower bed or driveway. Hopefully Openreach could feed their optical cable through your pre-prepared 'water pipe' ducting from the open end adjacent to the pavement.

I once used an impact mole to put in a 50 foot mains water pipe under a solid concrete patio and pathway.

This video will give you an idea of what I'm talking about -

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9gYXAvPXnAs

... although the mole I used was much shorter than that, and was able to work in quite a small hole at each end of the pipe run. Once the initial bore hole is made, you can feed the mole through a second time and drag the plastic water pipe ducting along the new route.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

LatencySlayer — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 23:25:10 GMT

@Grother wrote:

... if it went in the garage, would the internet work ok throughout the house?

The Openreach ONT would be located in the garage. You would then run an ethernet cable from the ONT, across the garage and into the house, with the other end plugged in to the WAN port of your broadband router.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Terranova667 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 07:50:00 GMT

@Grother If the ONT was in the garage (as long as there is a power socket there for it to use) you would still get internet for the house as it's the router Plusnet Hub2 should you place the order that provides Wi-Fi / Ethernet for your devices.

Only thing is the ONT must be connected to the router by Ethernet cable so it would mean getting one long enough to go from the garage to where ever the router will be in your home, Ethernet cables can go up to 100m (328ft) before needing a repeater,

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:26:13 GMT

@Grother

You're not in a good place. Because you're in a Fibre Priority area you cannot change ISP without ordering Full Fibre. Until you order FF, then you don't know what is required to install the fibre optic cable.

As I understand things, if digging is required then you need to sign off on it - if you refuse then this should cancel the order but I don't know. Perhaps one of the more knowledgable members of this Board may chip in.

Looking at the pictures it appears OR have already run a trench from a Chamber to your neighbours property. Do they have FF? if they allow you to use the strip of grass then they would be required to sign a Wayleave. Although it's not entirley clear there may be bushes in the way of digging here.

You speak of two phone lines - do both arrive at the property at the same point (which you pictured)? When FF was being installed on my street they checked the House ducts where they could get easy access. The check was from the house to the Chamber. Looking at your picture, it could be difficult to get a rod though to the duct (assuming there is a duct).

Using the wall of the garage is a possibility but the brown bin appears to be on a resin covered area. If so, this might have to be dug. The router is connected via ethernet cable so can go anywhere you're happy to run said cable. Short term you could put is beside the internet ONT and use extension sockets while you sort things out. Normally I would mention the possiblilty of running external grade ethernet cable up the outside wall to your study but the overhang of the roof appears to prevent this. This would also prevent running the fibre cable up the wall to an internal CSP beside the ONT.

I don't know if surveys are scheduled for someone to be present but you would need to be there to discuss options.

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

Grother — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:44:00 GMT

@bmc Thank you Brian. this is appreciated.

I think the trench you can see is Virgin Media- they dug a trench all around the street and there are hatches outside most properties.

Yes both phone lines arrive at the same terminal which is pictured. I am not sure what OR did a few years ago but the original phone socket is on the ground floor front room but they then put a new master socket in my study which goes up through the garage wall and into my study (terminating in an Open reach /Gfast box).

I've added some more pics to show the border and the area behind the bin .

I really would like to have the option of cancelling if the survey is not favourable but I know I am stuck as there will come a time when my current setup will not be supported.

Thanks again.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 17:30:59 GMT

@Grother

You have two questions that need answering. Do OR make an appointment for the survey so you can be present and what happens if you decline permission for any digging required.

You probably need to phone PN and ask.

FYI the "hatch" you speak of will be a Toby Box.

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

mwwagain — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 18:29:21 GMT

I had KCI2 and did not get an appointment.

However the guy did knock, I was in and we did the tests, survey, and sign off there and then.

The phase 1 dig folks (I was not in) went a different route anyway having had a bit more luck finding my inward duct, and more interest in avoiding extra digging.

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

bmc — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:48:42 GMT

@Grother

If you go ahead do let us know how you get on.

Some thoughts to consider.

While the ONT may not end up in a "good" location you can run ethernet cable to get the Router to the desired location. For example the phone wire that goes up to your study could be used to "pull" through an ethernet cable. It would need a plug fitted afterwards. You could get someone in to do the work and perhaps other cables to spead the wired connection around the house.

From time to time it has been mentioned about using phone cables for ethernet but I have no idea how this works. I know someone on Forum does but I forget who.

From memory at some stage in the appointment process I believe you can text Access to Openreach and someone will contact you to discuss matters. Perhaps someone on here knows more. I do know you can text to delay an appointment to a more suitable date and time.

Brian

Re: Looking to Upgrade to full fibre- Worried about digging

MisterW — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 15:05:54 GMT

For example the phone wire that goes up to your study could be used to "pull" through an ethernet cable. It would need a plug fitted afterwards.

If doing that, much better to fit faceplates, then use standard patch cables to connect from faceplate to device.

From time to time it has been mentioned about using phone cables for ethernet but I have no idea how this works

Decent phone cable (CW1308) is normally 4 core twisted pair and so will work adequately up to 100Mb.