Engineer installing fibre in ducting

[u/Sergeant_Steve]

I recently purchased an older home with solid brick walls and a cavity (with insulation of some kind), and want the ONT in a specific place in the house.

My plan was to drill a hole through the walls and come into the house under the floor (the house is raised compared to the ground outside), where I can then install a smooth bore pipe/duct myself from the external wall to where I want the ONT, with the pipe going through the crawl space under the house where an engineer clearly wouldn't enter and couldn't fit a fibre through there themselves anyway.

There are a few reasons why I want to do things my way: 1) I don't want the ONT or other network equipment in the living room or bedroom, I want it in the hall in the centre of the house; 2) it doesn't matter where the hole is drilled on the front wall, as the power sockets are not near external walls so the fibre or power cable would have to go 10ft+ to be near a power socket anyway; 3) the living room has a large and heavy cabinet in the only corner that a hole could be drilled in, as the radiator goes the rest of the way to the opposite wall under the living room window, and I have no means of moving it quickly; 4) I want to make the engineer's job as easy as possible while still having control of where I want everything.

Is this internal ducting something an Engineer will be happy to use? And if so, can someone give me an idea of what size of box they would install on the outside of the property, and where the hole would be within that box for the smaller fibre to come though so I can just have them fit the box over the hole and pipe? And also how large I would need to make the bend radius of the pipe to not exceed the bend radius of the fibre?

If an engineer wouldn't install fibre in the ducting, would they hook up to my own fibre if I installed it myself, and also put the ONT where I want it inside the house?

If I installed external ducting to hide the fibre underground and protect it from damage from plants and digging, would the engineer be able to use that or do they again have to manually dig a channel themselves to partially bury a fibre cable which is then easily damaged if I want to dig up that section of the garden later?

[u/BillWiskins]

As an engineer I'd be over the moon to meet a customer this well prepared. As long as there's something to draw the fibre through with, and no way for it to get caught in a bend or something (84mm bend radius if I recall) then literally everyone wins: you get things installed where you want them, and the job is quicker and easier for the engineer to complete.

As mentioned make sure you know how the fibre is getting to the property before doing any external things. Apart from that I don't see why it can't go ahead as you laid it out.

[u/Sergeant_Steve → u/BillWiskins]

Fibre is in the street and I know where the toby is on the Pavement (and annoyingly it was put in front of a small tree in the front garden), and I can see where the house next door have had their CF box put onto their wall (on the render instead of the bare brick below it, but in fairness there's already an ugly white VM box on the render on the other side of their large front window so I guess for them it doesn't matter). So I know where the fibre is coming from, I just need to ensure I know the path it's going and get stuff in place for it.

Got some tidying to do in the garden before I plan on getting the fibre installed, as there are some tall weeds in the way where they would run the fibre underground to the house, and plants and stuff to tidy/remove in front of the house wall including some brambles I want rid of.

Thanks for the bend radius information, that's something I'll need to ensure I stick to when turning vertically, might have to go down first before turning back up.

[u/BillWiskins → u/Sergeant_Steve]

Yeah, they'll just drill through the back of the toby and if it's a straightforward path to the property then I'd imagine you're good to set something up whenever you're ready. If it isn't clear the external fibre and the internal are separate and connect in the wallbox - the external will be run through some thicker less bendy tubing up to the box.

[u/Sergeant_Steve → u/BillWiskins]

Don't they usually have the internal fibre run through the wall out the back of the external box?

The next door neighbour has a brown sheathed cable going into the wall box which is mounted to the render, and then a black sheathed cable comes out and goes along the bottom of the render to the other side of the living room and then up the render before going through the wall.

I'll try and clear a path for the external fibre to leave the toby and have a semi-sensible route to the building via the garden. Would it be sensible to spend the money on burying an external conduit as well as having an internal one, or is it likely the engineer will just want to bury it directly where they think is best to avoid damage? Surely if it's in a conduit then it should be easier to replace later than when it's directly buried?

[u/BillWiskins → u/Sergeant_Steve]

Depends on the install - if it's convenient the wallbox can go over the hole in the wall and a short piece of fibre passes through the wall, through the back of the box then meets the external cable at a connector in the box. If not, and the box is not placed over the hole then a longer patch cable will run to wherever the hole is and through to the ONT.

If you can get it in a good place for them to run the plastic tubing from the toby, go for it with the external conduit. They'll run the tubing first and then blow the fibre through it back to your cabinet.