By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
arrives outside your house.

My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
daughter has since had the wall removed and an widened resin bonded
driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.

How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
Zen.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
> arrives outside your house.
>
> My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
> access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
> daughter has since had the wall removed and an widened resin bonded
> driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
> driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>
> How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
> rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
> Zen.

Why do you need to move the Toby? Is it because it may now get driven over?
They may be rated for car traffic (not HGVs), I don't know.

If it's purely about how they connect up the property, there are various
options open to the installation crew. They could run the fibre along a non
straight path, going around the new obstacle. Or they could take a feed
from next door's Toby if that's more convenient. I'm not seeing why this
particular one needs to be moved?

When they attend on site, you can discuss the options with them.

Theo

Graham. wrote:

> Are you in Scotland?
>
> I asked my sister who lives in St Andrews if she knew what a Toby was
> and was surprised when she had no idea.

I though the term was associated more to Scotland than other parts of
the UK ...

Graham. wrote:

> Why Toby though?

"Poss. short for toby-cock or -valve, from slang toby,
the street or highway, thought to be of Irish Shelta orig.,
tobar, id."

<https://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/toby>

On 19/07/2023 09:32, Theo wrote:
> Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:
>> By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
>> arrives outside your house.
>>
>> My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
>> access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
>> daughter has since had the wall removed and an widened resin bonded
>> driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
>> driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>>
>> How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
>> rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
>> Zen.
> Why do you need to move the Toby? Is it because it may now get driven over?
> They may be rated for car traffic (not HGVs), I don't know.
>
The Virgin Toby for my house was in the road. Earlier this year, after
being pounded by traffic it formed its own pot-hole, and jumped out. I
stuck it on the grass verge, and reported it (I think) to Virgin. My
wife saw a Virgin van pull up a couple of weeks later two bods got out,
stared at it, picked up the Toby, and buggered off.

A couple of weeks later the Hampshire Highways Pot Hole Task Force
vehicle appeared, and guess what, filled the pot hole with a big dollop
of tarmac.

Oh well

Virgin really are useless tossers

Tim+ wrote:
>
> By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
> arrives outside your house.
>
> My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
> access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
> daughter has since had the wall removed and a widened resin-bonded
> driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
> driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>
> How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
> rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
> Zen.

Not sure I understand the geography.

Does the new driveway now occupy all the space between the house and the
pavement? Or is there a route for the cable anywhere across the garden?

--
Graham J

On 19 Jul 2023 07:12:57 GMT, Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
>arrives outside your house.
>
>My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
>access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
>daughter has since had the wall removed and an widened resin bonded
>driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
>driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>
>How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
>rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
>Zen.

THey don't need to do anything in advance. City Fibre's contractors
will assess the situation and do what they can to install a
connection. If they can't they'll pass it back for another team to fix
the problem.

Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:
> Tim+ wrote:
>>
>> By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
>> arrives outside your house.
>>
>> My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
>> access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
>> daughter has since had the wall removed and a widened resin-bonded
>> driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
>> driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>>
>> How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
>> rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
>> Zen.
>
> Not sure I understand the geography.
>
> Does the new driveway now occupy all the space between the house and the
> pavement?

Yes. The fibre will need to avoid the whole driveway area. Moving the Toby
to one side will allow a straight run to the house.

Or is there a route for the cable anywhere across the garden?
>

Well yes, but only if the start point is moved!

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> By “Toby” I’m mean the small access point in the pavement where fibre/cable
>> arrives outside your house.
>>
>> My daughter’s street was recently visited by Cityfibre who placed the
>> access point in the pavement in front of her garden wall. Alas, my
>> daughter has since had the wall removed and an widened resin bonded
>> driveway created which means that the toby in now at the edge of the
>> driveway and tunnelling beneath the driveway isn’t an option.
>>
>> How easy is it to get the toby moved? Should they contact Cityfibre or
>> rely on their ISP to do the negotiations? They are planning to go with
>> Zen.
>
> Why do you need to move the Toby? Is it because it may now get driven over?
> They may be rated for car traffic (not HGVs), I don't know.

Because the cable/fibre installers won’t mole/dig/tunnel under a resin
bonded drive. I’m pretty sure I said going under the driveway wasn’t an
option.

>
> If it's purely about how they connect up the property, there are various
> options open to the installation crew. They could run the fibre along a non
> straight path, going around the new obstacle. Or they could take a feed
> from next door's Toby if that's more convenient.

Not really. My daughter is on a corner plot and going from the neighbours
Toby would mean going under their poured concrete driveway.

> I'm not seeing why this
> particular one needs to be moved?

See above. ;-)

>
> When they attend on site, you can discuss the options with them.

The broadband installers have been. Moving the Toby is the only real option
but it’s in the pavement outside my daughter’s property.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:
> Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> > Why do you need to move the Toby? Is it because it may now get driven
> > over? They may be rated for car traffic (not HGVs), I don't know.
>
> Because the cable/fibre installers won’t mole/dig/tunnel under a resin
> bonded drive. I’m pretty sure I said going under the driveway wasn’t an
> option.

Yes, but what about going around the driveway? If your frontage is 100%
undiggable driveway with no walls then that could to be a problem, but if
there is any part that isn't, that is where a fibre could go.

> >
> > If it's purely about how they connect up the property, there are various
> > options open to the installation crew. They could run the fibre along a non
> > straight path, going around the new obstacle. Or they could take a feed
> > from next door's Toby if that's more convenient.
>
> Not really. My daughter is on a corner plot and going from the neighbours
> Toby would mean going under their poured concrete driveway.

Why? CF can take their drop fibre under the pavement parallel with the
street before taking a turn left or right to enter your frontage at an
appropriate point. It's not like they need straight runs so they can rod it
for blockages.

> > I'm not seeing why this
> > particular one needs to be moved?
>
> See above. ;-)

I'm still not clear why the toby needs to be moved, as opposed to running
the fibre drop along a circuitous route that avoids driveway-based
obstacles.

> > When they attend on site, you can discuss the options with them.
>
> The broadband installers have been. Moving the Toby is the only real option
> but it’s in the pavement outside my daughter’s property.

So what did they say? Or you mean the street install crew have been and
laid fibre in the pavement along the whole street, but not yet the hookup
crew who come when you order broadband?

It's the hookup crew who make decisions about how to route it from the
pavement into your property.

(these are my names for them, not sure if they have official job titles)

It's possible that if the route involves pavement works a different crew
would be involved to patch up the pavement: when I had NTL cable installed
years ago the hookup crew dug up the tarmac from the pavement toby and
another one came along with a tar kettle some days later to patch it. There
was no moling, it was all surface digging.

Theo

On 19/07/2023 10:04, Graham. wrote:
> Are you in Scotland?
>
> I asked my sister who lives in St Andrews if she knew what a Toby was and was surprised when she had no idea.
> AIUI It's a term usually used for water or gas stop-cock or its housing or access cover. I suppose it's used for any utility access cover.

I have lived in Yorkshire (Leeds, Bridlington), Bristol, Bucks
(Aylesbury), Oxon (Abingdon) and Berks (Bracknell). And I've never heard
the word before. But I've filed it away for future use/reference.

I know what a "Toby jug" is: a small mug moulded in the shape of a man,
usually seated, painted in bright colours (face, hunting-pink jacket,
etc) and then the whole lot fired and top-glazed.

The Oxford English Dictionary doesn't know it in your sense

https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=toby

Though maybe the "highway" sense is closest.

NY <me@privacy.net> wrote:
> On 19/07/2023 10:04, Graham. wrote:
>> Are you in Scotland?
>>
>> I asked my sister who lives in St Andrews if she knew what a Toby was
>> and was surprised when she had no idea.
>> AIUI It's a term usually used for water or gas stop-cock or its housing
>> or access cover. I suppose it's used for any utility access cover.
>
> I have lived in Yorkshire (Leeds, Bridlington), Bristol, Bucks
> (Aylesbury), Oxon (Abingdon) and Berks (Bracknell). And I've never heard
> the word before. But I've filed it away for future use/reference.
>
> I know what a "Toby jug" is: a small mug moulded in the shape of a man,
> usually seated, painted in bright colours (face, hunting-pink jacket,
> etc) and then the whole lot fired and top-glazed.
>
> The Oxford English Dictionary doesn't know it in your sense
>
> https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=toby
>
> Though maybe the "highway" sense is closest.
>

You should use the crossword solvers Bible, Chambers Dictionary AKA, the
big red book. ;-)

toby /tōˈbi/ noun
The road (criminal sl)
Robbery on the road
A stop-cock in a gas or water main under the road (Scot)
The cover protecting it (Scot)

[Chambers Dictionary (iOS) © Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd.]

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

Tim+ <tim.downie@gmail.com> wrote:
> You should use the crossword solvers Bible, Chambers Dictionary AKA, the
> big red book. ;-)
>
> toby /tōˈbi/ noun
> The road (criminal sl)
> Robbery on the road
> A stop-cock in a gas or water main under the road (Scot)
> The cover protecting it (Scot)

Lots of definitions here:
https://greensdictofslang.com/browse/?page=1136

variously road related (see n.2), but none relating to covers. However it
doesn't seem a stretch from 'toby' meaning road to toby-cock or toby-valve
(road-valve). 'Toby-valve' seems to be in common usage in New Zealand,
maybe it got there from Irish Scots, perhaps in 19th century?

It also seems to be use for an oil valve on some stoves, not sure if that
has a connection.

Theo

On Saturday, 22 July 2023 at 21:34:53 UTC+1, Theo wrote:
> Tim+ <tim.d...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > You should use the crossword solvers Bible, Chambers Dictionary AKA, the
> > big red book. ;-)
> >
> > toby /tōˈbi/ noun
> > The road (criminal sl)
> > Robbery on the road
> > A stop-cock in a gas or water main under the road (Scot)
> > The cover protecting it (Scot)
> Lots of definitions here:
> https://greensdictofslang.com/browse/?page=1136
>
> variously road related (see n.2), but none relating to covers. However it
> doesn't seem a stretch from 'toby' meaning road to toby-cock or toby-valve
> (road-valve). 'Toby-valve' seems to be in common usage in New Zealand,
> maybe it got there from Irish Scots, perhaps in 19th century?

No Scots. When the Church of Scotland split in 1843, many of the fanatics left to set up Dunedin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago_Association

>
> It also seems to be use for an oil valve on some stoves, not sure if that
> has a connection.
>
> Theo