# fibre optical cable house installation



## archierex

When designing my house I included flexible pvc tubing to carry 'normal' telephone cable to :
Garage - the main cable entry is located at the same level in the boiler room as is the splitter - the garage also has a telephone:
Lounge;
Music room; also the computer room at the moment;
2 bedrooms upstairs;

These are all connected and operational.

The telephone in the music/computer room is separate and dedicated to the computers and a separate telephone number line. The computers are not Wi-Fi and are connected by cable.

I am considering re-locating the computers in a basement room and as it is likely that the service provider will be installing fibre to the outside in the future (indeterminate as to timing) WOULD IT PAY to re-wire in fire now or wait for the day when the total service is available?

I hope I have given enough information to elicite a reply but I am ready to add anything you consider approbriate!

Merci


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## rgsgww

It depends on your area, when the service will become available,etc. In my area, we won't see fiber for another 15 years probably. By then, I will not be living in this area.

You have the flex pvc, couldn't they use that to pull when the service is available?

Fiber will probably be much cheaper in the future, so it might not pay to have it done now...unless there is already a trench...

Might be more of an electrical forum question...


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## archierex

I am not holding my breath waiting for the external fibre installation!

I mentioned the pvc tubing as being flexible because I understand that "pulling" problems can exist with optical fibre which would have been lessened if a solid tube pvc system had been installed with correctly spaced pull-in points.
Yes! a type of electrical cable installation problem but then they are much more robust cables (I believe).
The existing telephone cables would have to be used as pull-ins as there are no pull-in points only one entry (splitter end) and one exit for each line (telephone end).

All of the existing telephonic installation is tubed so no trenches.

The basic question is whether I would gain, technically, from having a house wired in optical fibre rather than the present standard telephone cable and what and how would I gain.

Thanks


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## rgsgww

There is no point to wire the entire house with optical, only thing they do today is run optical to a "signal converter" near the house, or in it. This converts the signal to one that you can use, like coaxial. The advantage to fiber is the high bandwith, like uncompressed HD tv or high speed internet (15+mb download). If your not a high-bandwith internet user, or an HD junkie, than fiber is not for you.


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## archierex

Understood !

I use, when it is supplied, 18 mb down load but it flucuates worse than the stock exchanges.
It seems I might accrue some benefits from an installation with optical fibre. This leaves the mechanical problem with pulling in using the existiing telephone cabling through flexible tubing - one cable only with no sharing of the conduit.
If this is a feasible proposition then the connector between the external cable and the 'splitter' needs to be defined and there I am at a complete loss as to what physical characteristics it should have and what difficulties I can expect in making the varied and various connections and whether these nimble fingers could cope with the work and whether my pocket can also stand the strain!

All ideas welcome for a decision to be made.

Thanks a lot


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## rgsgww

How big is the conduit?


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## archierex

rgsgww said:


> How big is the conduit?


16mm but as I did not do the pulling in I have no idea of the amount of strain taken by the telephone cable.
Perhaps I should leave well alone?


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## rgsgww

archierex said:


> 16mm but as I did not do the pulling in I have no idea of the amount of strain taken by the telephone cable.
> Perhaps I should leave well alone?




Fiber can, and usually does some with a armor jacket.

Does the conduit have any sharp bends?


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## archierex

rgsgww said:


> Fiber can, and usually does some with a armor jacket.
> 
> Does the conduit have any sharp bends?


Flexible tubing will bend in all directions and all this tubing is in floors and walls plus roof and all is hidden.
I can only presume that the electricians (not telephone company employees) overcame all problems during installation and that is as far as I can go.

Perhaps, as I am going to relocate my computers and as there is no telephone output in the new room I could run a solid pvc conduit with pull in points, if necessary, to take a new optical cable dedicated to the computers? The rest could stay as it is.

How does that sound?

Thanks


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## rgsgww

archierex said:


> Flexible tubing will bend in all directions and all this tubing is in floors and walls plus roof and all is hidden.
> I can only presume that the electricians (not telephone company employees) overcame all problems during installation and that is as far as I can go.
> 
> Perhaps, as I am going to relocate my computers and as there is no telephone output in the new room I could run a solid pvc conduit with pull in points, if necessary, to take a new optical cable dedicated to the computers? The rest could stay as it is.
> 
> How does that sound?
> 
> Thanks



I was under impression you had flex running to the house as well.

Fiber could be dedicated to the computers, but what about television, etc? It might be easier to use the telephone wire as pull wire and pull cat 5 and cat 3 for your internet and phone in the bedrooms, etc.


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## archierex

The telephone cable from the street was pulled into a separate cable duct by the telephone company at 40 cm depth protected signal cover and sealed. This cable appears in the garage/basement in the same room as the main electrical board. 
The cable duct is about 2" diameter.

I have tried all of the offers for television over the years and now have
1) Multiple digital via satellite to our dish antenna
2) Multiple digital via "land" to our 'rateaux' antenna
3) Multiple (less than number 2!) via land to our 'rateaux' antenna (this is free and would be used if others failed)

The house distribution is to Television outlets :
1 to each bedroom (type 2 and 3)
3 to the lounge (2 N° type 1 and 1 N° type 2 and 3)
1 to the music/computer room (1 N° type 1)

Tried TV by telephone outlet but the commercial side was divided off and became unstable.

This might sound complicated but it works !

So, the telephone system is used for the computer and is also used for two lines of telecommunication.
The TV is separate.
The TV cabling is in the same size (in general) flexible ducting as the telephone and electrical installation.

Moving the computers will require a new run of "solid" conduit for the telephone cables - a necessity if dampness arises but which I have planned against with pumps and insulation.

How is that for a summation?


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## rgsgww

The cable duct going to the house could be used for the fiber in the future.

I'd say that if you have the drywall down, it would be a good idea to install conduit now, but if you don't...it might not pay.

Is this from a detached garage? You mentioned dampness. I would run, if going underground, a burial rated cable. But they are filled with a sticky silicone.


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## archierex

The garage is underground under the house and no damp has ever been seen but with the weather that we have to anticipate I try and plan for all evenualities.

It seems that I could benefit from running an optical cable in non-flexible conduit from the junction box in the boiler room - this is where the external cable arrives.

Question 1 the junction box at the moment is a standard box for normal standard telephone cable. What type of junction box would I need to accept the incoming standard cable with a connection to an optical cable and its resultant exit as optical going to the computers but also having standard cable outlets? Perhaps two boxes?

Question 2 What size conduit?

Question 3 What type of connector for the telephone + computer?

With answers to those three I think I could come to a conclusion!

Thanks


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## rgsgww

archierex said:


> The garage is underground under the house and no damp has ever been seen but with the weather that we have to anticipate I try and plan for all evenualities.
> 
> It seems that I could benefit from running an optical cable in non-flexible conduit from the junction box in the boiler room - this is where the external cable arrives.
> 
> Question 1 the junction box at the moment is a standard box for normal standard telephone cable. What type of junction box would I need to accept the incoming standard cable with a connection to an optical cable and its resultant exit as optical going to the computers but also having standard cable outlets? Perhaps two boxes?
> 
> Question 2 What size conduit?
> 
> Question 3 What type of connector for the telephone + computer?
> 
> With answers to those three I think I could come to a conclusion!
> 
> Thanks



The most popular optical service around here is Verizon FIOS. They install a box outside that converts the optical to coax, Ethernet and phone.

This is what I would do is run solid cat 5e (6?) from the optical converter to inside your house, there you would install the necessary Ethernet switches and run more wire your computers. At the computers you can use what we call "keystone jacks" these have inserts that range from telephone to rca connectors. So you can pop in phone jacks and ethernet in one plate.

I would run 2 inch pvc, make sure to install pull boxes at bends. Your electrical code may tell how many bends you can have.

By the way, make sure you have an electrical outlet for the optical converter box. Again, code may require use of ground fault circuit interrupters for such outlets outside. To further help you on codes, what country do you live in?


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## archierex

I live in France near Versailles.

I can check out the installation codes for here and in Europe.

Thanks for all your help!

I will post a comment when I get down to installing any part of the system as it might be interesting to others.

'bye Archierex


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## rgsgww

archierex said:


> I live in France near Versailles.
> 
> I can check out the installation codes for here and in Europe.
> 
> Thanks for all your help!
> 
> I will post a comment when I get down to installing any part of the system as it might be interesting to others.
> 
> 'bye Archierex



Don't ask me about wiring in your country, like ring circuits ,etc. In the USA and Canada it is very different...even simple things like voltage.

There is an electrician on this forum who is located in the USA and France.


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## archierex

No fear of that !

I have started looking at the rules for France and they will take a while to assimilate.

Thanks again for your help

All the very best


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