Hi all
My VM broadband install is next week and I was wondering if anyone might be able to comment on a few questions I have about the install. I’m in a Victorian house converted into 4 flats, with three other flats that have existing telco/broadband installations (some of which may be redundant – don’t know which). Please excuse the long windedness, but hopefully any answers might help anyone else in my position.
Starting at where the Siamese cables enter the property from the pavement outside, there are multiple exposed cables without mech protection, prone to being damaged by the public. I can’t even see a swept tee/cover on the pavement. The cable pulling guys came on Monday and have grouped a length of cable (my new cable) with some existing ones, squashing them all between our failing brickwork and next door’s. They’ve coiled the remainder of the new cable up, ready for the installers.
>>>Please see pic1.
All the existing Siamese pairs (I counted 3) have been run from the street, through the front border wall (with my one now added - as above pic1) up to the external wall of the house 6M away. They run along the fence boundary with next door. As there are a few trees along the boundary, (but no fence) all the cables, including some that look like BT’s, have been pretty much laid above ground and woven through the trees by previous installers. One of the Siamese runs (in green conduit), has then been taken to about 1/3rd of the way across the side path (access to the back of the property) and buried alongside the other badly run cables and then cemented in. This is a trip hazard.
>>>Please see pic 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
There are two Nynex Omniboxes installed (odd, considering there are 3 Siamese cables into the property – one too few?) and the state of their installation/neglect is laughable. The Omnibox doors are open and they’re filthy and wet and have haphazard cable routing. I can guarantee that none of the other flat owners have ever touched them (such is their interest in IT), so I can only assume that they were left in this state by the last cable engineer that visited.
>>>Please see pic4 and 6.
My pre-install visit is this Saturday and the install date is the Friday after. I’m hoping to discuss all of the points set out below, on Saturday, to get it sorted. I really need to work out what the guys are contracted to do mandatorily (e.g. sort out trip hazard), what they are obliged to do for a standard install and what they are able to do if I ask nicely and say pretty please
.
Ideally, I would like to change the following, or at least find out how realistic my wish list is before the VM visit:
1) Make the exposed cable disappear from the pavement (pic1) at least by protecting it with a steel cover.
2) Remove the trip hazard (green conduit that joins cable burial half way across path).
3) Remove any unused cables or redundant Omniboxes and reinstate or replace those that need to be.
4) Prepare a sensible route/method of protection for my new install’s Siamese cable, ready for when the installer livens it up and connects it to my new Omnibox.
OK, so here goes, these are my questions:
1) Looks like the cable pulling guys have declared their work ready for the install guys to go ahead. Surely the brief isn’t to leave it as it is?
Would the install guys be able to tidy this up on the day or do the pulling guys need to visit again to sort it first? I’ve seen loads of other installs with this issue, but don’t understand why the customer puts up with it.
2) This looks like a bitch of a job for anyone to break up the concrete covering, find enough slack for all the parallel cables to be side by side (adding my new one) then re-bury it all to leave a clear gangway. Is this a “do it on install day” job? I’m going to clear the mound of earth to left in the picture (pic1) before the visit to help out.
3) Anyone know if there should be one Omnibox per customer. Shouldn’t each one be an individual customer’s demarcation point? Surely if that’s not the case, my neighbours in other flats might suffer service down time while this spaghetti is tidied up? Is it unreasonable for me to ask that I have an Omnibox solely for my service to avoid this? Do you reckon the guys could either get shot of the old unused gear on the day, or let me know what is now redundant so that I can uninstall it myself?
4) Regarding my new 6M run of Siamese from the front border wall (closest to pavement) to the house, I would like it to be buried, safe and as out of sight as possible (as you do). My understanding is that this run should be either stapled to a convenient fence or buried about a foot deep. However, I also understand that if there is a concrete driveway or the like, that needs traversing, left to their own devices, a rough installer can get away with just leaving the cable in green conduit loose on the surface of the concrete or paving and use bubble gum or Blu-Tack to secure it (if you’re lucky). Bearing this in mind, if I dug my own small trench to facilitate a run from/to necessary end points, would the installers utilise it if I asked them nicely? Does anyone know if there’s a downside to me doing this apart from my swearing and sweating a bit whilst digging?
Anyone’s thoughts would be highly appreciated, thanks a lot,
Falkor
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