What cables to pull through?

[WWilts]

New build in progress.

 

Two rigid ducts buried in trench with drawstring, going from public footway to near new house. The ducts were put in to help future proof for
a) telecoms
b) fibre to the premises

No cable in them. What cable(s) to pull through before the end of the trench is backfilled? Nobody knows less than I do about these things.

Further, within the house want data points in each habitable room
plus TV points.

What wiring/cabling to use for
c) data points (previously someone suggested 3 Cat 6a cables per data point)
d) TV points

 

[joth]

You won't be able to get the correct fiber that a future installer wants so you'll just need to leave that as an empty duct.

For telecoms now I'd get the provider (virgin or openreach) in now to do the installation. I actually signed up to a rolling one month virgin contract, they turned up a few days later and left a giant coil of cable in duct at our boundary, so I immediately cancelled the contract and then pulled that cable through the garden and house to the AV cupboard, then contacted them 6 months later to terminate and commission it.

 

Internal wiring I'd suggest 2x CAT6/CAT6A to each data point and up to 4 to the TV (especially and main TV location, for future proofing) 

I did cat6a everywhere but cat6 is more than likely fine.

 

Also consider pulling data cable to other useful places like the PV inverter, heating system, outdoor equipment, doorbell, CCTV camera points, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

[Conor]

No point pulling anything through as you don't know what the provider will want. And you can't normally share ducts. Just leave the draw ropes there. Fire a couple concrete blocks around the ends of the ducts so they are easier to locate and dig up in the future. Same for your own ducting.. I'm putting one all around the house and just leaving access points at each former of the house and draw rope in place. I'll be pulling an electric cable through one section for the car charger bit that's it for now.

[Bitpipe]

We got an OR quote to pull cable from pole, duct across road and pull through the ducting we had laid to the plant room - was expensive so we got another contractor to trench across road to pole and pulled through our own 5 pair gel filled cable from TLC which meets the OR spec, left 10+m of cable coiled at foot of pole.

 

Paid for a new BT connection and when the OR guys came along they were more than happy to terminate the cable either end.

 

Only issue was we did not leave a spare draw cord in the duct and there is now fibre to home being laid in area (they are using whatever means OR currently use to each prem, duct or overhead) so not sure what we'll do when they roll past ours in a few weeks time.

[Mr Punter]

33 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

not sure what we'll do when they roll past ours in a few weeks time.

 

Cobra duct rod?

[Bitpipe]

12 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

 

Cobra duct rod?

 

At present they're only laying bare duct to boundary of premises or to base of OR pole (depending how house is currently served). We have a duct at bottom of the pole but it's a bit clogged with mud, I'm just concerned that they may not be able to loop a fibre back down it.

 

If I can catch them when they're digging then maybe I can get them to figure something out - however they're ripping through town at a fair pace at present !

[TonyT]

Get some string, tie a plastic bag to it.

stuff it down the pipe.

go to the other end, put hoover in pipe and suck string through duct 

then pull in larger diameter rope 

[Nickfromwales]

1 hour ago, Bitpipe said:

We got an OR quote to pull cable from pole, duct across road and pull through the ducting we had laid to the plant room - was expensive so we got another contractor to trench across road to pole and pulled through our own 5 pair gel filled cable from TLC which meets the OR spec, left 10+m of cable coiled at foot of pole.

 

Paid for a new BT connection and when the OR guys came along they were more than happy to terminate the cable either end.

 

Only issue was we did not leave a spare draw cord in the duct and there is now fibre to home being laid in area (they are using whatever means OR currently use to each prem, duct or overhead) so not sure what we'll do when they roll past ours in a few weeks time.

They'll use the gel-filled cable as the draw wire  

[Bitpipe]

2 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

They'll use the gel-filled cable as the draw wire  

 

Wasn't planning on decommissioning it just yet

[Nickfromwales]

11 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

 

Wasn't planning on decommissioning it just yet

OK, obviously my advice is for when you go for the service alteration, assuming you then wouldn't want both.

TBH if you use the old hoover technique and some fishing line you can suck yourself a new draw wire in with ease.  

[WWilts]

On 02/05/2022 at 09:11, Bitpipe said:

5 pair gel filled cable from TLC which meets the OR spec,

Is it this cable please? 
Plan to order it today if so.

 

[Bitpipe]

21 hours ago, WWilts said:

Is it this cable please? 
Plan to order it today if so.

 

Yep, looks like the one.

 

Pull through an additional draw cord also (wish I'd done that).

[markharro]

On 02/05/2022 at 07:58, joth said:

nternal wiring I'd suggest 2x CAT6/CAT6A to each data point and up to 4 to the TV (especially and main TV location, for future proofing) 

I did cat6a everywhere but cat6 is more than likely fine.

 

Also consider pulling data cable to other useful places like the PV inverter, heating system, outdoor equipment, doorbell, CCTV camera points, etc.

HI @joth why do you suggest 4 x CAT cables to TV?

[MikeSharp01]

9 minutes ago, markharro said:

HI @joth why do you suggest 4 x CAT cables to TV?

Sounds like a couple too many, what will you need them for? We have 2xCAT6 and 2xHDMI going back to the AV cabinet (HDMI cables can carry ethernet if your devices are HEC compatible - not likely though as very few are, seems to have died a death).

[ProDave]

6 minutes ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Sounds like a couple too many, what will you need them for? We have 2xCAT6 and 2xHDMI going back to the AV cabinet (HDMI cables can carry ethernet if your devices are HEC compatible - not likely though as very few are, seems to have died a death).

I put 4 CAT6 to the main tv points.

 

Not because I wanted that many, but quite often when some new AV connector comes out (something some day will supersede hdmi) someone makes an adaptor that will convey that new signal type over a couple of CAT6 cables. 

[MikeSharp01]

2 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Not because I wanted that many, but quite often when some new AV connector comes out (something some day will supersede hdmi) someone makes an adaptor that will convey that new signal type over a couple of CAT6 cables. 

I suppose it makes some sense but the WiFi speeds, and frequency groups, are now such that you should not even need CAT6 cabling for 8K video you do need to assume that the next technology for moving video around won't be looking for cat 7/8/9 or fibre - perhaps more likely. Usually you are not watching two TVs at the same time so unlike audio coming from different places you won't ever be worried about latency, which is a problem already with HDMI over cat6, and they will sort that over wifi anyway if needs be like they have with audio 

[joth]

49 minutes ago, markharro said:

HI @joth why do you suggest 4 x CAT cables to TV?

I suggested up to 4. I.e a reasonable upper limit, not a definitive goal.

HDMI extenders can work over 2x CAT6, and that leaves one for internet and one redundant spare. 

 

However in the 15 months since I wrote that I tried various hdmi over cat6 solutions and disliked them all, so I'd probably aim for 2 or 3 max in key locations these days. 

[jayc89]

We've just changed from BT to NowTV for our internet. I had no idea how good the BT HomeHub WiFi signal was. It reached every corner of our, solid wall construction, house. The NowTV in comparison is pants and doesn't reach more than 4m through our thick walls. I'll get around it by putting a WiFi mesh in, but I am somewhat relieved all our TVs etc are hardwired, so they haven't been affected. 

 

My house's network looks, or will look, something like this;

 

 

I'm only using Cat6a for the backhaul; between routers, switches and Mesh Leafs, which means anything within our boundary could, theoretically, communicate at speeds up to 10Gbps, but in reality, nothing we have has the physical capability to do so; the mesh leafs have AX3000 chips, so support up to 3Gbps over 5Ghz, but all our consumable devices have BASE-1000-T ports at best, even the latest iPhone "only" supports up to 1.2Gbps over 5Ghz. (I suspect wifi technology will outpace physical cables for domestic and SMB use over time)

 

Our internet supply is 67Mbps FTTC, even if/when we get FTTP, we're not going to exceed 1Gbps for a very long time, I can't imagine typical TV streaming ever will, at least in my lifetime, so running Cat6 elsewhere is a risk I'm willing to take. 

None of us are console gamers, so a single run to each bedroom has worked fine, if we really needed more, a 5 port switch would hide neatly behind the TVs. The only place I'll run more than 1 cable is to the living room, where we plan to have a media wall, and even then I don't know what I'd do with the additional ones yet, but they'd be there if needed. 

[Temp]

Did BT demand the Modem back? I'm not familiar with the BT Modem but it might be possible to set it up for use with NowTV.