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Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

drw
Grafter
Posts: 124
Registered: ‎08-08-2007

Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

In the next 4 months I will be having some work done on the house, specifically replacing the barge boards.
The telephone line from the telegraph pole to the house is attached to the barge board at the front of the house.
I will need the telephone wire to be detached from the barge board while the barge boards are replaced.
The people doing the barge boards are saying they cannot touch cables or wire so I assume that I will need Openreach to be involved.
How do I contact Openreach and arrange for the work.
How much lead time will they need.
I do not want to be disconnected from the telephone/internet any longer than required.
Thanks for any help
16 REPLIES 16
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

My bargeboard fitter just did it
HPsauce
Pro
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Registered: ‎02-02-2008

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

If possible it's best to have the fixing point moved to the wall of the house, depending what it's made of.
BT just did that on mine when they replaced the old-type overhead cable. In my case this cable crossed a road, but one man did it all quite quickly.
What sort of fixing is it? The newer ones IIRC are just a sort of pigtail that the cable is "twirled" around and no disconnection is required to take it off and restrain with something else temporarily.
(My old one was a solid cast metal bracket with big ceramic cap covering a joint. The new joint is a black plastic "torpedo".)
Does the cable cross any roads, rights of way or other properties? If so you probably do need BTOR to do it.
I know someone near me who had a similar problem, but the cable didn't cross any public land, so the workers on site just untwined it briefly and moved the "pigtail" restraint to a better location. Took a few minutes and didn't affect anything.  Wink
Oldjim
Resting Legend
Posts: 38,460
Thanks: 787
Fixes: 63
Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

mine was a pigtail fitting and it did cross a road but they were careful
drw
Grafter
Posts: 124
Registered: ‎08-08-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Thanks for the replies:
The wire crosses part of the neighbours front garden.
The connection at the bargeboard is "torpedo" shaped.
So far the barge board company have said that they do not touch cables, as there is a burglar alarm and some security lights fastened to the soffits I will next contact the burglar alarm people  (who are also electrical fitters) to see if they can do it as part moving the alarm.
If I use  OpenReach I fear that is that my schedules and their schedules are difficult to synchronise.
2u2me
Pro
Posts: 355
Thanks: 100
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Registered: ‎27-09-2013

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

The torpedo connection is an above ground enclosure, and nowadays engineers try to avoid fixing to eaves or barge boards the recommended method now is to drill the wall and fit an eye bolt if you can achieve enough height. 
drw
Grafter
Posts: 124
Registered: ‎08-08-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Re the wall it is tile clad so it would be a challenge to get to the timber panel behind the tiles.
2u2me
Pro
Posts: 355
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Registered: ‎27-09-2013

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Like I say the recommended method, but on some properties an eaves bracket or bracket 22 positioned onto the barge board where it is fixed to sound timber  i.e.rafter will do, the old dropwires like number 6 used to snap when stretched//put under stress,but the newer dropwires like number 10 take a lot more strain and can pull the brackets and sometimes weak wood off the property.   
drw
Grafter
Posts: 124
Registered: ‎08-08-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Thank you - do I need to get OpenReach to do the work and if so how do I get hold of them.
Plusnet receive the line rental fee.
2u2me
Pro
Posts: 355
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Registered: ‎27-09-2013

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

A competent tradesman should be able to remove and fix the bracket back to some solid sound timber, in my day when having building work done or trees lopped you could ring BT/ Openreach and make an appointment for the engineer to come out drop the wire then re-fix it, I think now you may have to ring openreach to report damage to line plant and tell them the work you are having done and they will advise you, someone posted their contact number somewhere on the forum recently if you do some searching
HTH  Smiley   
HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
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Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Hi drw,
If you'd like to discuss this further with Openreach, I'd recommend getting in touch with their 'External Network Relocation Team' Here.
I hope this helps.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
drw
Grafter
Posts: 124
Registered: ‎08-08-2007

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Thank you all for your help
I think I have enough information to proceed.
summers
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎01-06-2014

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

Strange thing is, one time when I had OR/BTWS round, they looked at my 1970s cables in the house, and said "If you ever have the floor boards up I'd change those", so I asked "Its before the master socket, would you be happy me doing it?". He just said "If you know what you are doing it wouldn't be a problem"
HarryB
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 5,199
Thanks: 1,466
Fixes: 256
Registered: ‎25-03-2015

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

This page may also be of some use in this situation.
Although I'm sure third parties could carry out the work with no problems it's more a case of should they. The Openreach website does suggest you contact them.
Quote from: summers
"Its before the master socket, would you be happy me doing it?". He just said "If you know what you are doing it wouldn't be a problem"

Seems to go against the advice given on the website. Unless they were referring to internal wiring and I'm just looking at the "before the master socket" from the wrong side Grin
Quote
What happens if I alter your network in any way or don't contact you?
If you don't contact us and an incident occurs because you or your contractors have altered, interfered or tampered with our network you will be held responsible and could face serious consequences. These could include compensation claims, investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and possible criminal charges.
If there is any Openreach plant on a property you'll be working on we're the only people who can move it for you. If you don't contact us and make any alterations, remove or replace fixings, remove drop-wires or lead-ins (temporarily or permanently) or do anything which adversely affects our network this would be classed as trespass and we would take appropriate action against any third party who trespasses on our network.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Harry Beesley
 Plusnet
2u2me
Pro
Posts: 355
Thanks: 100
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Registered: ‎27-09-2013

Re: Moving physical telephone cable from pole to house

If at the end of the day by paying a contractor a substantial amount of money to have work done on my property I would expect them to organise the safe removal / fitting of the telephone cable as I`m sure they find this situation crops up frequently.Grammar was never my strong point and as pointed out I should of said could and not should be able to  thanks Harry B