Anyone know what this box is for?
<https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>

It was near the bottom of a telephone pole at the end of someone's drive
here. No other poles around had one - I looked at perhaps a couple of
dozen. As far as I am aware there is no FTTP here. All the copper wires
to the houses run from the tops of the poles (they also carry mains
power to the houses). There are pavement covers with "BT" on them, but I
have no idea what's in them.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:

> Anyone know what this box is for?
> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>

Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
would use ...

On 12/01/2024 19:57, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jeff Layman wrote:
>
>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>
> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
> would use ...

Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.

--

Jeff

Jeff Layman wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>
>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>
>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>> would use ...
>
> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.

A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.

Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
kelly/quinn bod to connect it up? Any wider photo? I doubt an actual
openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
dogs to piss into.

On 12/01/2024 22:06, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 12/01/2024 19:57, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>
>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>
>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>> would use ...
>
> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>
"All I had in the back of the van, mate"

--
I was brought up to believe that you should never give offence if you
can avoid it; the new culture tells us you should always take offence if
you can. There are now experts in the art of taking offence, indeed
whole academic subjects, such as 'gender studies', devoted to it.

Sir Roger Scruton

The Natural Philosopher wrote:

> Jeff Layman wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>
>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>>> would use ...
>>
>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>>
> "All I had in the back of the van, mate"

I could see that if it was kelly/quinn, or they'd nip to B&Q. BT only
have their own supplies on the van, where everything has their own P/N
such as a BT66B for the box, and BT8A for the jelly crimps, to be fitted
using BT8B pliers ...

On 13/01/2024 09:12, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jeff Layman wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>
>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>>> would use ...
>>
>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>
> A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.
>
> Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
> supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
> kelly/quinn bod to connect it up? Any wider photo? I doubt an actual
> openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
> dogs to piss into.

LOL!

I'll try to get a wider photo, but I doubt it will show anything more. I
think that the house was an almost complete rebuild in the last couple
of years from one around 50 years old. I'll try to see where the duct
comes out at the house end, and what might be on the wall where the wire
goes to if it's visible.

--

Jeff

On 12/01/2024 19:41, Jeff Layman wrote:
> Anyone know what this box is for?
> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>
> It was near the bottom of a telephone pole at the end of someone's drive
> here. No other poles around had one - I looked at perhaps a couple of
> dozen. As far as I am aware there is no FTTP here. All the copper wires
> to the houses run from the tops of the poles (they also carry mains
> power to the houses). There are pavement covers with "BT" on them, but I
> have no idea what's in them.
>

I did the same thing for a friend. His pole is on the very edge of his
property. Bought some grey 'BT' duct, and some
CW1128 cable, and we converted his overhead connection to an underground
one. The only difference was I also bought and used one of these
junction boxes, and didn't use a sparkie's Wiska box !

https://www.bcedirect.co.uk/products/dex-seal-2-4-external-telephone-joint-connection-box-for-overhead-cables

It was a really neat looking job, compared the mess that Openreach had
installed for his neighbours etc.

Amazingly about a year later his connection started dropping out. I had
a look and concluded his BT Hub was playing up. He reported the fault to
BT, they sent an Openreach bod round, who without even flinching
replaced what we had done with a continuous length of CW1128 from the
junction box at the top of the pole, right through to his master socket.
Made no difference to the fault at all, so BT then sent him a new hub.
Problem solved, and neither of us are locked up in The Tower of London.

On 13/01/2024 09:12, Andy Burns wrote:
> Jeff Layman wrote:
>
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>
>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>>> would use ...
>>
>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>
> A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.
>
> Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
> supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
> kelly/quinn bod to connect it up? Any wider photo? I doubt an actual
> openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
> dogs to piss into.

Mark's post below is most informative, but I'd just been out to have
another look. I took a couple of photos. The wider one showing most of
the pole is here:
<https://ibb.co/f08JbpY>

About 6m up on the road side is a grey box, which the wire /might/ go
into. Here's a photo of the box (it's somewhat distorted by the camera
angle - it's rectangular, but a lot squarer than it appears in the photo):
<https://ibb.co/Bg7Lj2K>

I couldn't see a box on the house where the ducting comes out, but it
was a bit obscured by a vehicle.

By the way, I was wrong about the BT and power cabling. About every
three or four poles BT wiring appears from underground, and runs up to
the top of the poles then along to feed a few houses. Ditto the mains,
but that appears every half-dozen poles or so.

--

Jeff

On 13/01/2024 15:20, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 13/01/2024 09:12, Andy Burns wrote:
>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>
>>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>>
>>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>>
>>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>>>> would use ...
>>>
>>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>>
>> A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.
>>
>> Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
>> supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
>> kelly/quinn bod to connect it up?  Any wider photo?  I doubt an actual
>> openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
>> dogs to piss into.
>
> Mark's post below is most informative, but I'd just been out to have
> another look. I took a couple of photos. The wider one showing most of
> the pole is here:
> <https://ibb.co/f08JbpY>
>
> About 6m up on the road side is a grey box, which the wire /might/ go
> into. Here's a photo of the box (it's somewhat distorted by the camera
> angle - it's rectangular, but a lot squarer than it appears in the photo):
> <https://ibb.co/Bg7Lj2K>
>
> I couldn't see a box on the house where the ducting comes out, but it
> was a bit obscured by a vehicle.
>
> By the way, I was wrong about the BT and power cabling. About every
> three or four poles BT wiring appears from underground, and runs up to
> the top of the poles then along to feed a few houses. Ditto the mains,
> but that appears every half-dozen poles or so.
>

Your pictures show what looks like what was the 'ring' mounted on the
pole where the overhead drop-wire 'flew' from to the house. It looks to
me as if the homeowner and/or his friend, have cut off the drop-wire at
the house end, and pulled it 'down the pole' also managing to get it
'inside' that 6ft bit of cable guard down to the ground (which is a bonus).

It's exactly (almost) what myself and my friend did, only we used cable
cleats from about 2/3rd up the pole (as high as we could get using a ladder)

The grey box on the pole is a BT66B junction box, very popular with
Openreach on poles (and high enough to be out of reach of drunks etc) or
on properties. I suspect this plays no part in the DIY redirection project !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261631844902

On 13/01/2024 14:14, Mark Carver wrote:
> On 12/01/2024 19:41, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>
>> It was near the bottom of a telephone pole at the end of someone's
>> drive here. No other poles around had one - I looked at perhaps a
>> couple of dozen. As far as I am aware there is no FTTP here. All the
>> copper wires to the houses run from the tops of the poles (they also
>> carry mains power to the houses). There are pavement covers with "BT"
>> on them, but I have no idea what's in them.
>>
>
> I did the same thing for a friend. His pole is on the very edge of his
> property. Bought some grey 'BT' duct, and some
> CW1128 cable, and we converted his overhead connection to an underground
> one. The only difference was I also bought and used one of these
> junction boxes, and didn't use a sparkie's Wiska box !
>
> https://www.bcedirect.co.uk/products/dex-seal-2-4-external-telephone-joint-connection-box-for-overhead-cables
>
> It was a really neat looking job, compared the mess that Openreach had
> installed for his neighbours etc.
>
> Amazingly about a year later his connection started dropping out. I had
> a look and concluded his BT Hub was playing up. He reported the fault to
> BT, they sent an Openreach bod round, who without even flinching
> replaced what we had done with a continuous length of CW1128 from the
> junction box at the top of the pole, right through to his master socket.
> Made no difference to the fault at all, so BT then sent him a new hub.
> Problem solved, and neither of us are locked up in The Tower of London.

Many years ago I had a similar situation where I had extended the master
socket wiring to a completely different room with some cat 5 and the
BT engineer took one look and fitted a new junction box to my bodge and
pronounced it all kosher.

My experience is that they are quite happy to professionalise a decent
honest attempt to do things properly and neatly.

--
You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a
kind word alone.

Al Capone

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 13/01/2024 14:14, Mark Carver wrote:
> > On 12/01/2024 19:41, Jeff Layman wrote:
> >> Anyone know what this box is for?
> >> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
> >>
> >> It was near the bottom of a telephone pole at the end of someone's
> >> drive here. No other poles around had one - I looked at perhaps a
> >> couple of dozen. As far as I am aware there is no FTTP here. All the
> >> copper wires to the houses run from the tops of the poles (they also
> >> carry mains power to the houses). There are pavement covers with "BT"
> >> on them, but I have no idea what's in them.
> >>
> >
> > I did the same thing for a friend. His pole is on the very edge of his
> > property. Bought some grey 'BT' duct, and some
> > CW1128 cable, and we converted his overhead connection to an underground
> > one. The only difference was I also bought and used one of these
> > junction boxes, and didn't use a sparkie's Wiska box !
> >
> > https://www.bcedirect.co.uk/products/dex-seal-2-4-external-telephone-joint-connection-box-for-overhead-cables
>
> >
> > It was a really neat looking job, compared the mess that Openreach had
> > installed for his neighbours etc.
> >
> > Amazingly about a year later his connection started dropping out. I had
> > a look and concluded his BT Hub was playing up. He reported the fault to
> > BT, they sent an Openreach bod round, who without even flinching
> > replaced what we had done with a continuous length of CW1128 from the
> > junction box at the top of the pole, right through to his master socket.
> > Made no difference to the fault at all, so BT then sent him a new hub.
> > Problem solved, and neither of us are locked up in The Tower of London.
>
> Many years ago I had a similar situation where I had extended the master
> socket wiring to a completely different room with some cat 5 and the
> BT engineer took one look and fitted a new junction box to my bodge and
> pronounced it all kosher.
>
> My experience is that they are quite happy to professionalise a decent
> honest attempt to do things properly and neatly.
>
I've moved the overhead phone line incomers on our house from one
gable window to the next one along. I re-did the twisted steel wire
'tensioners' at the end and moved the steel brackets. There have been
OpenReach engineers here since then and they haven't batted an eyelid.

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:

> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> > On 13/01/2024 14:14, Mark Carver wrote:
> > > On 12/01/2024 19:41, Jeff Layman wrote:
> > >> Anyone know what this box is for?
> > >> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
> > >>
> > >> It was near the bottom of a telephone pole at the end of someone's
> > >> drive here. No other poles around had one - I looked at perhaps a
> > >> couple of dozen. As far as I am aware there is no FTTP here. All the
> > >> copper wires to the houses run from the tops of the poles (they also
> > >> carry mains power to the houses). There are pavement covers with "BT"
> > >> on them, but I have no idea what's in them.
> > >>
> > >
> > > I did the same thing for a friend. His pole is on the very edge of his
> > > property. Bought some grey 'BT' duct, and some
> > > CW1128 cable, and we converted his overhead connection to an
> > > underground one. The only difference was I also bought and used one of
> > > these junction boxes, and didn't use a sparkie's Wiska box !
> > >
> > > https://www.bcedirect.co.uk/products/dex-seal-2-4-external-telephone-j
> > > oint-connection-box-for-overhead-cables
> >
> > >
> > > It was a really neat looking job, compared the mess that Openreach had
> > > installed for his neighbours etc.
> > >
> > > Amazingly about a year later his connection started dropping out. I had
> > > a look and concluded his BT Hub was playing up. He reported the fault to
> > > BT, they sent an Openreach bod round, who without even flinching
> > > replaced what we had done with a continuous length of CW1128 from the
> > > junction box at the top of the pole, right through to his master socket.
> > > Made no difference to the fault at all, so BT then sent him a new hub.
> > > Problem solved, and neither of us are locked up in The Tower of London.
> >
> > Many years ago I had a similar situation where I had extended the master
> > socket wiring to a completely different room with some cat 5 and the
> > BT engineer took one look and fitted a new junction box to my bodge and
> > pronounced it all kosher.
> >
> > My experience is that they are quite happy to professionalise a decent
> > honest attempt to do things properly and neatly.
> >
> I've moved the overhead phone line incomers on our house from one
> gable window to the next one along. I re-did the twisted steel wire
> 'tensioners' at the end and moved the steel brackets. There have been
> OpenReach engineers here since then and they haven't batted an eyelid.

A very long time ago, when it was still Post Office Telephones and the
penalties for any sort of DIY were severe, I helped a friend move her
'phone from a building she wanted to sell to a cottage where she
intended to live. The length of drop wire from the nearest pole was the
same but the direction was completely different and the stay wire on the
pole was pulling towards the cottage, in the same direction as the
relocated drop wire.

We managed to get hold of a well-matured curly wire anchor and welded up
a long rusty bar with a peg at the end, that looked as though it had
once held a standard open-wire china insulator. That was fixed to the
fascia board of the cottege with some rusty old screws. The drop wire
was terminated correctly with a small oval junction box on an upstairs
windowsill and a 4-core wire with the correct colour code used to bring
the circuit down to the living room, where the old 'phone was
re-installed.

The only problem was the billing address, which was still the old
premises, but the new owner was happy to forward the bills.

One day a fault developed a couple of poles further down the line. An
engineer called, looked at the incorrectly-stayed pole and scratched his
head ...what sort of idiot installed that? A few days later the repair
gang replaced the stay wire in the correct direction. Then my friend
pointed out that the billing address had been wrong for many years, so
they corrected that too. They either didn't suspect what had happened
or didn't care.

--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

On 14/01/2024 18:56, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> They either didn't suspect what had happened
> or didn't care.

OpenReach doesn't pay them enough to act as informers.

Their job is to make it all work.

--
"First, find out who are the people you can not criticise. They are your
oppressors."
- George Orwell

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 14/01/2024 18:56, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> > They either didn't suspect what had happened
> > or didn't care.

Sounds like a nice hack :)

What was the reason for DIY over asking them to do it? Was the cost too
much, or would you end up at the back of some long queue?

> OpenReach doesn't pay them enough to act as informers.
>
> Their job is to make it all work.

Yep (and presumably BT and GPO before them). If it wasn't done badly enough
to be dangerous or cause problems to the network then I imagine fixing it
was less hassle than calling in their equivalent of CID to sniff around. If
you'd been stealing service that might have been a different thing.

Theo

On 13/01/2024 15:34, Mark Carver wrote:
> On 13/01/2024 15:20, Jeff Layman wrote:
>> On 13/01/2024 09:12, Andy Burns wrote:
>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>>>
>>>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm surprised BT
>>>>> would use ...
>>>>
>>>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>>>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>>>
>>> A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.
>>>
>>> Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
>>> supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
>>> kelly/quinn bod to connect it up?  Any wider photo?  I doubt an actual
>>> openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
>>> dogs to piss into.
>>
>> Mark's post below is most informative, but I'd just been out to have
>> another look. I took a couple of photos. The wider one showing most of
>> the pole is here:
>> <https://ibb.co/f08JbpY>
>>
>> About 6m up on the road side is a grey box, which the wire /might/ go
>> into. Here's a photo of the box (it's somewhat distorted by the camera
>> angle - it's rectangular, but a lot squarer than it appears in the photo):
>> <https://ibb.co/Bg7Lj2K>
>>
>> I couldn't see a box on the house where the ducting comes out, but it
>> was a bit obscured by a vehicle.
>>
>> By the way, I was wrong about the BT and power cabling. About every
>> three or four poles BT wiring appears from underground, and runs up to
>> the top of the poles then along to feed a few houses. Ditto the mains,
>> but that appears every half-dozen poles or so.
>>
>
> Your pictures show what looks like what was the 'ring' mounted on the
> pole where the overhead drop-wire 'flew' from to the house. It looks to
> me as if the homeowner and/or his friend, have cut off the drop-wire at
> the house end, and pulled it 'down the pole' also managing to get it
> 'inside' that 6ft bit of cable guard down to the ground (which is a bonus).
>
> It's exactly (almost) what myself and my friend did, only we used cable
> cleats from about 2/3rd up the pole (as high as we could get using a ladder)
>
> The grey box on the pole is a BT66B junction box, very popular with
> Openreach on poles (and high enough to be out of reach of drunks etc) or
> on properties. I suspect this plays no part in the DIY redirection project !
>
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261631844902

I checked yesterday and that house is the only one without over
telephone lines and power cables. I assume that whoever rebuilt it
either asked for those to be put underground or went ahead and just did
it anyway.

While on my way round looking at other poles I came across another odd
box on one of them. When I'm able to get a photo I'll raise it in this NG.

--

Jeff

On 15/01/2024 08:10, Jeff Layman wrote:
> On 13/01/2024 15:34, Mark Carver wrote:
>> On 13/01/2024 15:20, Jeff Layman wrote:
>>> On 13/01/2024 09:12, Andy Burns wrote:
>>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Jeff Layman wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Anyone know what this box is for?
>>>>>>> <https://ibb.co/wQvc6qr>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Looks like 'proper' BT duct56, and a Wiska box, which I'm
>>>>>> surprised BT
>>>>>> would use ...
>>>>>
>>>>> Looks like it from a quick internet search. I wonder what's inside the
>>>>> Wiska box, and why a box that size was necessary.
>>>>
>>>> A couple of jelly crimps, I guess.
>>>>
>>>> Maybe the householder had installed the duct (for new premises BT will
>>>> supply it if you ask) with a drop cable in it, then persuaded a
>>>> kelly/quinn bod to connect it up?  Any wider photo?  I doubt an actual
>>>> openreach engineer would play ball ... might as well add a funnel for
>>>> dogs to piss into.
>>>
>>> Mark's post below is most informative, but I'd just been out to have
>>> another look. I took a couple of photos. The wider one showing most of
>>> the pole is here:
>>> <https://ibb.co/f08JbpY>
>>>
>>> About 6m up on the road side is a grey box, which the wire /might/ go
>>> into. Here's a photo of the box (it's somewhat distorted by the camera
>>> angle - it's rectangular, but a lot squarer than it appears in the
>>> photo):
>>> <https://ibb.co/Bg7Lj2K>
>>>
>>> I couldn't see a box on the house where the ducting comes out, but it
>>> was a bit obscured by a vehicle.
>>>
>>> By the way, I was wrong about the BT and power cabling. About every
>>> three or four poles BT wiring appears from underground, and runs up to
>>> the top of the poles then along to feed a few houses. Ditto the mains,
>>> but that appears every half-dozen poles or so.
>>>
>>
>> Your pictures show what looks like what was the 'ring' mounted on the
>> pole where the overhead drop-wire 'flew' from to the house. It looks to
>> me as if the homeowner and/or his friend, have cut off the drop-wire at
>> the house end, and pulled it 'down the pole' also managing to get it
>> 'inside' that 6ft bit of cable guard down to the ground (which is a
>> bonus).
>>
>> It's exactly (almost) what myself and my friend did, only we used cable
>> cleats from about 2/3rd up the pole (as high as we could get using a
>> ladder)
>>
>> The grey box on the pole is a BT66B junction box, very popular with
>> Openreach on poles (and high enough to be out of reach of drunks etc) or
>> on properties. I suspect this plays no part in the DIY redirection
>> project !
>>
>> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261631844902
>
> I checked yesterday and that house is the only one without over
> telephone lines and power cables. I assume that whoever rebuilt it
> either asked for those to be put underground or went ahead and just did
> it anyway.

I rebuilt our present house 4 years ago. It was fed overhead for phone
and electricity. The roof completely came off as part of that project,
so I contacted SSE (our local DNO). The area where the meter and fuse
box was, was going to disappear too. They quoted just under a Grand to
move the supply underground, and put their 100A fuse and termination
point in an outside wall cabinet. (Moving the meter was another story,
because that had to be done by my energy supplier, at the time OVO, and
I had to co ordinate SSE and OVO to turn up on the same day, they
refused to liaise directly with each other). Anyway, power all good.
I asked Openreach for a quote to do the same. They quoted a non
refundable charge of 300 quid + VAT, to just come and have a look. I
told them to forget it.

In the end I took the overhead line down, and put it back up when the
new roof was done (easy jobs, because of scaffolding)

However, SSE turned up a few days before their appointment, to reccy the
detail, and declared they would not dig a trench between the house and
pole (a distance of 5 metres) because scaffolding was present. So my
builder dug the trench for them. Oddly they were perfectly happy to use
his scaffolding to reach their power cable on the house !

I wish now, (because the pole in question is on the edge of my property
and is used by Openreach to fly the phone line from) I'd stuck some BT
approved ducting in the trench too, and made that underground myself. It
would also have been useful for that day Openreach come and convert me
to FTTP.

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

> The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> > On 14/01/2024 18:56, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
> > > They either didn't suspect what had happened
> > > or didn't care.
>
> Sounds like a nice hack :)
>
> What was the reason for DIY over asking them to do it? Was the cost too
> much, or would you end up at the back of some long queue?

Both. She had no money at all until the property had been sold and she
had to go out to work, leaving her elderly and vulnerable mother in an
isolated cottage all day. It was simplest to just get on and do it as
stealthily as possible.

--
~ Liz Tuddenham ~
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