Fibre Connection to the ONT

[#1]

Is it possible for the fibre connection to the Openreach ONT to be brought in via the back of the ONT box - ie completely hidden from view?

I don't currently have access to Openreach FTTP, so I'm just thinking ahead for when it does become available.

When my house was built in 1980, provision was made during construction for the old Cable TV system which used to be run by BT, later sold to Virgin and then closed down completely.

The front wall of the house has a removable panel to give access to the cavity between the exterior and interior walls. Currently, my FTTC connection appears in this from the cabinet and then routes through a hole in the wall to the lounge where the telephone master socket is located. There is also a tube, approx 18-20mm diameter, that goes underground from this location to the lounge adjacent to the TV, that currently carries a redundant coax for the Cable TV - a distance of approx 3 to 4 metres I would say.

If I removed this coax and the existing single faceplate that it connects to in the lounge, would Openreach be able to route the fibre through this tube and straight in to the back of the ONT, with the ONT mounted over the hole where the faceplate was?

This would save them drilling another hole into the lounge and routing the fibre around the walls. The fibre would also be out of sight. This is in our main "TV corner", and has plenty of spare 13A power sockets available as well.

[#2]

You might be able to get the ONT fibre cable routed through your conduit, however the connection to the ONT is via a pre-formed connector, which is inserted into the lower edge of the ONT.

The fibre 'cable' is fairly stiff and might not pass round sharp bends - I do not know what might be the impact of the length of the 'cable' travelling through a tight bend.

If this is viable, note that the unterminated end of the cable will need to be inserted into the conduit from the location of the ONT.  I would not withdrawn the redundant coax cable - it could be useful for drawing through the fibre 'cable'.

I had a FTTP installation on Wednesday done by Kelly Communications - they we very accommodating! 

[#3]

@Townman 

Thanks for the reply.

"I would not withdrawn the redundant coax cable - it could be useful for drawing through the fibre 'cable'."

Yes, if I was going to remove the coax, I would have used it to pull through a suitable rope instead - though I will probably just leave the coax in-situ until the installation.

"The fibre 'cable' is fairly stiff and might not pass round sharp bends"

Although the route of this tube is underground and cannot be seen, I am fairly certain that there are no sharp bends in it. TV type air-spaced dielectric coax should not be bent sharply even though physically it can be, the coax used here had a solid dielectric and is much harder to bend sharply.

My main question was if the ONT's case allows for the fibre to be routed in through the back of it?

[#4]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to Everything Else

[#5]

@Mr_Paul 

I'm pretty certain the answer is no. As stated the fibre cable plugs into the ONT. See attached link - of the 3 cables power is white, ethernet is yellow and the incoming fibre cable is green.

https://support.aa.net.uk/Openreach_FTTP_ONT

Brian

[#6]

@dvorak - Ouch was in the middle of posting when the ground moved from under me!

@Mr_Paul 

"the connection to the ONT is via a pre-formed connector, which is inserted into the lower edge of the ONT"

The fibre cannot be connected through the back of the ONT.

I did not see the installation of the ONT (I was busy configuring the new router) - I do not know if it has a back plate of if it just hangs on the wall  or is a-fixed by 'dropping over a protruding screw head'.

So the first consideration is can it be a-fixed over a standard cavity box?  You might need to consider wedging a block of wood into the box to provide something to mount the ONT on to cover the hole.

My internal fibre 'cable' had a sturdy black outer sheath which the engineer hinted could be stripped back if I would prefer a thinner white 'cable' internally.  IIRC within that was an even thinner white cable.

I suspect that it might be possible to strip back the outer layers so that the fibre can emerge from behind the ONT (between it and the wall) and connected into the bottom edge.

See here - https://images.app.goo.gl/Tno1KqST5mCJD1jTA - the white 'wire' with the green end on the right is the inbound fibre.

[#7 · Accepted solution]

No I don't believe it is possible to bring the Fibre Cable into the back of the ONT...  the ONT is designed to mount onto a flat surface (wall.)

You can use this sort of thing (Access Terminal Box) to mount onto a single or double gang back box to mount the ONT inside and the fibre would come in through the back box. The Fibre Cable and the ONT would be concealed inside the Access Terminal Box.  It is quite a bit bigger than the ONT, but conceals everything and looks quite neat - depends on how you route the ethernet cable to the router..!

(edited to add picture of my installation..)

[#8]

Thanks to all for the replies.

@Ian06 I think that has answered my question.

I have just found this on the Openreach website which gives a bit more detail:

https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/images/fibre-broadband/fibre-for...

It has a picture of the outer box, without the ONT fitted, being mounted on the wall. The box seems to have a number of holes in the back of it, one of which will hopefully be suitable for bringing the external fibre through, (I think that is the idea of it?).

To clarify, the link you gave shows the box on eBay. Did you have to buy the box in advance, or do Openreach supply it as part of the installation?

[#9]

I was not offered a casing, but my installation was not onto a wall box.

[#10]

@Mr_Paul Openreach did not supply the box - I had already bought my own....  I think OR stopped using them years ago.  The OR engineer who fitted my FTTP had never seen one before.

The box can be mounted vertically on a single gang back box or vertically on a 2 gang back box.  It has a large hole for the fibre to come through from the back box and a spool to wind spare fibre round.

Note - as mentioned elsewhere the inside to outside fibre cables are pre-terminated at one end with the green plugs so the engineer will pull the cable from inside the house to the outside where they would joint it to the external cable and leave spare cable wound up in the CPE that would normally be on the outside of your house.

[#11]

@Ian06 

That's interesting - does it mean that current new Openreach installations are just the ONT fixed directly to a wall, without any protection for the fibre-optic connector? Having worked professionally a lot in the past with fibre-optics, I know how fragile they can be - particularly push-fit plastic connectors!

"The box can be mounted vertically on a single gang back box or vertically on a 2 gang back box."

The existing Cable TV coax socket is a single gang socket - do you know if the box can also be mounted horizontally?

I've just ordered one of those boxes, (from your link), and will hang on to it until Openreach finally get around to connecting us up to FTTP. Today their website says "by December 2026", but it seems to change regularly - always put back, never sooner! Frustrating because CityFibre has been available here for 4 years.

[#12]

@Mr_Paul  Sorry I mis-typed:  The box fits VERTICALLY on a single gang box and HORIZONTALLY and a two gang back box assuming the screw holes are horizontally spaced.

I have a template somewhere if I find it I'll post a picture.  There should be one with the box when you get it.

I think they normally put 2 screws in the wall and mount the ONT on those (key hole slots in the back of the ONT.)  Not sure they do much to protect the cable other than clipping it to the wall/skirting - I assume there is also a cover where it comes out through the hole in the wall.   But I am sure other will comment on a standard installation....😃

[#13]

Here is the template for the box I bought....  Hope it helps.

[#14]

@Ian06 

Thanks for that.

Once my box arrives, I'll investigate if I can drill another hole or two to enable it to be mounted horizontally on the existing back box. It won't matter if it is not symmetrical.

[#15]

Reason that the OR engineer has never seen one is that they are made 'Huawei Openreach Access Terminal Box'. So with all the electronic bits preinstalled in the box, OR cannot use them in case they report back to China.

Cannot see the parts, it's covered in the plastic moulding 😁