nbn FTTC Installation - 2 Pair Versus Cat6 (Twisted & Shielded)

[Deactivated] on 21/07/2020 - 12:04
Last edited 21/07/2020 - 12:52

Hey Guys,

Its coming to the end of my old trustworthy Optus Cable connection & now I am being forced to transition to NBN FTTC. Currently looking at the cabling in my house for my old 1 pair copper line.. unfortunately the locations in my premises won't be fit for purpose
Just curious on a few things I am sure others on here can help to answer.

  • Does the copper run from Pit to Point in house utilize 1 copper pair or 2 pair? to be more specific, does FTTC utilize one or 2 pair copper?

  • The copper cable they use to lay the run for the new connection in the premises, is it shielded?.

  • Does it make more sense for me to use Cat6 cable in the house which is obviously twised & shielded? I can lay it in roof and have it ready.. Making sure it meets certain requirements (Friend will verify the run who has his Austel permit)

I've read articles that stipulate going from untwisted or mildly twisted to twisted copper can cause signal reflection.. Simlarly have read about issues with impedence.. Would really appreciated feedback for someone who really knows the best option here

Cable run in house will be approximaltey 15 or so metres from basically front of house to very back

Internet Broadband nbn

Comments

  • whooah1979 on 21/07/2020 - 13:07

    NBN use 2-pair from the DPU to the PCD.

  • redforever on 21/07/2020 - 13:31
    +1

    If you already have copper running from the pit, they will reuse it unless it is deem not usable.

    What you can do is have the fttc NCD located at the wall outlet closest to the pit and run cat 6 from the ncd to wherever you want the router to be. The router does not need to be next to the ncd.

    • pasey25 on 21/07/2020 - 13:36

      correct. my router is on another level of the house from the NCD, so as to give better wifi coverage.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/07/2020 - 14:07

      Is there anyway of knowing what the NCD is training at (what VDSL2 speed it is getting with 2 pair copper utilized) or is that something you need to ring your provider to find out.

  • JohnSy on 21/07/2020 - 14:12

    I went through this last week myself - conversion from optus cable to optus NBN. I was quite surprised to hear that despite having both foxtel and optus cable running to the house I was forced to use the 20 year old un-shielded twisted pair cable.

    Despite by reservations - I am happy to report the speeds are around 90 mbps download and 33 mbps uploading (on an Optus 100/40 plan). So I guess you can say the cable handles it ok. I was previousy getting around 40 mbps down and 1.5 mbps up.

    Also managed to get the plan 100/40 for $70 per month, with no $99 establishment fee (by talking to the retention department).

    • Domingo on 21/07/2020 - 14:31

      For them to reuse the foxtel or optus cable, they would have had to build out the HFC network through your whole area - meaning everyone who doesn't have a cable running into their house would need one put in.

      The whole point behind flipping technology from HFC to FTTC is to avoid the need to run new cables into homes and reuse the existing phone lines which are much more prevalent, driving down a lot of complexity/cost.

      It wouldn't make sense for nbn to build two networks across your area - one HFC and one FTTC, as there is little to no overlap between those network types and there would be something like twice as much network out in the street.

      • JohnSy on 21/07/2020 - 15:02

        Yes, I see what you are saying - it makes more sense now.

        Especially since most people will likely only subscribe to 50/20 anyway.

        • Domingo on 21/07/2020 - 15:46

          The speed is somewhat irrelevant - a correctly sized HFC network will manage fast speeds for everyone, as will FTTC with fibre running into the DPU in the pit outside your house.

        • scottah on 22/07/2020 - 06:21

          They are of course reusing the Foxtel/Telstra HFC/cable network, just not the optus one.

          Speed wise, those HFC areas are often first in line for increased speed plans.

  • Agarwal on 21/07/2020 - 16:01

    Did they send you something in the mail when the NBN became available? I know they want people off the cable asap, our NBN became active about a month ago and I haven't heard from them as yet.

    • whooah1979 on 21/07/2020 - 16:03

      You have about 18 months before they cut you off.

      • [Deactivated] on 21/07/2020 - 16:06

        Its only 3 months for Optus Cable:

        https://yescrowd.optus.com.au/t5/NBN/Optus-threatens-to-disc…

        But I think the three months only commences from the date they give you notice..

        • whooah1979 on 21/07/2020 - 16:09

          We’re still with Optus cable after nearly 2 years of waiting for nbn to cut the line.

          • [Deactivated] on 21/07/2020 - 16:30

            @whooah1979: Wow.. Thats interesting.. Consider yourself very lucky..

            Did they ever send a notice in the mail saying you will be disconnected in 3 months?

            • whooah1979 on 21/07/2020 - 16:42

              @[Deactivated]: They kept sending letters every 2 or 3 months with deals to switch over to Optus NBN. TPG and another one that I can't remember did the same. All of them stop when covid started.

              • [Deactivated] on 21/07/2020 - 18:09

                @whooah1979: They sent a letter to me basically saying words to the effect of:

                "Sometime after 11th of September your Optus Cable service will cease to be available." That was at least one month ago (So about three months notice).

                Basically I could just do nothing & anytime afer 11th of September my service would cease to work.. It could be days, weeks, months or even a year plus… If I had a crystal ball and I knew I have another 12 or so months I'd stay on it.. Not in any rush to go to NBN.. But, I don't want to be without Internet for weeks either, which very well could happen if I just did nothing and assumed I'd stay connected for alot longer.. :(

                Did you receive a similar correspondence?

        • Agarwal on 21/07/2020 - 16:34

          Yep, I knew it was 3 months for Optus Cable, that's why I was wondering if and when you received a letter about that.

  • ShoeyAU on 22/07/2020 - 07:36

    When the NBN tech visits for the install, they will assess and use/do whatever is available as each case will slightly differ. At that point you can suggest to them what you think is the best scenario (e.g. location of the socket) within reason, and make sure they got all the avail info specific to your situation.

    Our house also had very old copper originally, which I didn't want the NBN to reuse. So we had a new outdoor PCD put in by Telstra (via new line request) a few mths prior to NBN. Cables were laid but not connected to anything yet, ie street pit <-underground copper-> outdoor PCD <-copper (under the house)->. These are 2 pair from memory. Not sure if shielded but I'd imagine so judging from the cable thickness.

    When NBNCo came, I showed the tech the PCD and the new cabling so he used that to connect the street pit DPU. He installed a new telephone socket with the new copper that ran under the house.

    Then from socket to NBN box its an indoor telephone lead (which would be unshielded), and the ethernet to router is entirely up to you.

    I had some teething issues - connection dropouts for the first 2 wks. After a bit of back n forth NBNCo came to recrimp all the cabling and replaced the NBN box and it was all good. Probably the best all round result I got was 95/36 around 7ms ping (to a local Sydney server) at around 5pm with ABB.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join