Ramifications if I connected up fibre myself

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inane

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#194937 30-Mar-2016 23:05

Typing on mobile due to huge tethering bill, and chorus being terrible.

If I was to wire up fibre (or have one of my engineers do it) what ramifications are there?

I can source a compatible ONT and have qualified guys at my disposal, so if I had it wired it up - with consent from Wellington Electricity, what would happen?

I'm sick of Chorus' blatant lies, I got told they were waiting on consent from Wellington Electricity. I have written evidence that a month after they said that Wellington Electricity haven't received a single consent application for my whole Street. (As of early March)

Now chorus claim they need another two site visits then they will apply for consent.

If I cut them out of the process, would I be breaking a law or just circumventing their broken process?

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#1523034 30-Mar-2016 23:14

They would still need to physically connect you to the network - are you planning on splicing the fibre and joining it up to the network yourself? Because I'm fairly sure that would break some sort of law if you did that (even worse if you took out a large number of customers' service in doing so).

inane

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#1523039 30-Mar-2016 23:39

quickymart:
They would still need to physically connect you to the network - are you planning on splicing the fibre and joining it up to the network yourself? Because I'm fairly sure that would break some sort of law if you did that (even worse if you took out a large number of customers' service in doing so).

It's more of a frustrated rant than a plan to action.

But what laws would be broken? It gets to a point where better to beg forgiveness than wait forever (ask permission)

I have engineers who are qualified to splice fibre, they wouldn't take anyone out - ignoring the fact there is no one to take out as they haven't connected anyone, even though fibre has been available since mid November.

Lorenceo

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#1523048 31-Mar-2016 01:02

If you did manage to get a rogue ONT onto the Chorus network you'd get no connectivity from it. The equipment on the other end of the fibre (OLT) only allows registered ONTs to connect. Then on top of that, ONTs needs to be provisioned by Chorus to allow traffic to get to/from the respective RSP's handover. I can't speak for what RSPs do, but again I doubt they'll allow unknown connections from their handover access to their network. This is all assuming that there actually is a fibre cable in the street heading back to the exchange, connected to the OLT. Depending on the area, the cables sometimes need to be blown from an aggregation point through ducting in the street and spliced in.

If you did manage to get one connected, Chorus would probably come looking for it at some point. Doubt they'd be too pleased with an unauthorised device (and cable) being connected to their network. Might result in fines? Not really sure to be honest.

Wellington Electricity consents can be a bit hairy. There have been quite a few horror stories posted about it. Best bet is to contact your RSP, explain the situation, and request that your case be escalated based on Chorus not meeting their commitments.

jnimmo

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#1523058 31-Mar-2016 06:39

At the very least, 106 of the Telecommunications Act 2001

Even if the contractors had access to the Exchange the port wouldn't be live. The contractors would probably lose any accreditations they have and never be allowed in an Exchange again.

sbiddle

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#1523064 31-Mar-2016 07:23

As summed up pretty well above by @lorenceo you can neither source an ONT (it won't work) nor cable your own fibre (where would you connect it?)

Wellington Electricity are a nightmare for access. Dealings with them have caused many network redesigns in the past year and a general avoidance on having to use their poles unless absolutely necessary. My street for example (went live in May last year) was delayed by a couple of months while they redesigned the network to have ducting on both sides of the streets to avoid overhead leadins that required access to Wellington Electricity poles.

timmmay

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#1523066 31-Mar-2016 07:26

I wouldn't trust what Wellington Electricity say. They were the main reason for the 8 month delay for my fiber connection. However I expected this and wasn't particularly concerned.

quickymart

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#1523243 31-Mar-2016 11:26

Why are they so difficult to deal with? Is it not understanding what they're doing, or is it just them being a pack of jerks, or...?

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inane

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#1523251 31-Mar-2016 11:38

Interesting thoughts, appreciate the input.

So now my rage has subsided again to the dull ache of dealing with Fibre installation in NZ.

SBiddle: good point about Wellington Electricity, at this stage in my cynical life I don't trust any company involved in physical transmission whether data or electricity!

inane

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#1523259 31-Mar-2016 11:51

quickymart:

Why are they so difficult to deal with? Is it not understanding what they're doing, or is it just them being a pack of jerks, or...?

There is a variety of issues, for me personally it was that they told me before doing the initial scoping they would need to get consent prior to doing the install - based on this the set the initial scope and install time accordingly.

the contractor then arrived on site, and said that due to the fact they needed consent they would have to change the install date.

After a month of no news I followed up through channels I have, which triggered chorus to realise that no paperwork or application for consent had yet been filed with WE.

chasing regularly, A month later again, now they are saying they have to do an initial scope again on the 8th of april because they need to apply for consent.

I realised they have a number of issues with their internal systems, and installation demands are high; I'm frustated as are many others for a variety of reasons, including, the fact that so much of the fibre infrastructure is going to rely on WE poles, why weren't blanket consents drawn up?

My understanding is that even once this process is finalised for my installation, my neighbour will have to go through the whole rigamarole again if they want fibre installed, including the consent process with WE etc.

I'm sure there are committees and bureaucracy out there to blame, but it's highly inefficient and surely could be done a better way.

DarthKermit

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#1523266 31-Mar-2016 12:00

I think part of the issue is that every individual power pole needs to be physically assessed for its load bearing capacity; if extra wires of any kind are to be strung from it.

No doubt these guys have some older infrastructure mixed in with newer poles, meaning they have older wooden poles that may not be in the best order now.

chevrolux

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#1523279 31-Mar-2016 12:11

Haha quite honestly if you had access to the same cable, fittings etc that Chorus use and it was done to the same standards (which lets be honest, are EXTREMELY low) I don't think Chorus would even realise they didn't do the work!

I've said it a hundred times before... putting the UFB network on poles in the first place was just flat out retarded. Sure they can get most of it up pretty quick but issues like what we see with WE are so common. Not to mention the issues involved when a contractor comes to a pole with a 'DO NOT CLIMB' tag on it. Then there are the aesthetic issues - i look at some wellington streets and wonder if I'm in Vietnam!!

jonathan18

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#1523292 31-Mar-2016 12:35

chevrolux:

Haha quite honestly if you had access to the same cable, fittings etc that Chorus use and it was done to the same standards (which lets be honest, are EXTREMELY low) I don't think Chorus would even realise they didn't do the work!

I've said it a hundred times before... putting the UFB network on poles in the first place was just flat out retarded. Sure they can get most of it up pretty quick but issues like what we see with WE are so common. Not to mention the issues involved when a contractor comes to a pole with a 'DO NOT CLIMB' tag on it. Then there are the aesthetic issues - i look at some wellington streets and wonder if I'm in Vietnam!!

Then again I heard/read about a report recently that looked at how quickly services could be restored following a natural disaster. It commented that part of the reason why services took so long to be restored in Chch was that most were underground; this was compared to a location in Asia following a disaster (Boxing Day tsunami? earthquake?), where the services were restored far more quickly, despite the classic over-stocked power poles common to that part of the world.

Totally agree about the aesthetics, though - one of the ugliest things about Wgtn are those damn Telstra-Clear cables - standard power and phone lines are far less visually disturbing.

inane

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#1523327 31-Mar-2016 13:16

DarthKermit:

I think part of the issue is that every individual power pole needs to be physically assessed for its load bearing capacity; if extra wires of any kind are to be strung from it.

No doubt these guys have some older infrastructure mixed in with newer poles, meaning they have older wooden poles that may not be in the best order now.

I totally agree, however failing a blanket consent where WE has there contractors (guess who) go around and inspect every pole whereby a Yes or No status could be set,

at the very least I believe that when assessing the first consent for fibre installation they should at least provide a "block" consent, or group consent,

I.E. each clearance should allow for 5 fibre lines to be strung, and then when that runs out another consent must be done (or 10 or 50 or whatever).

having to do a new consent for every piece of fibre is ridiculously time consuming and horribly inefficient for everyone involved.

inane

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#1523328 31-Mar-2016 13:19

chevrolux:

Haha quite honestly if you had access to the same cable, fittings etc that Chorus use and it was done to the same standards (which lets be honest, are EXTREMELY low) I don't think Chorus would even realise they didn't do the work!

I've said it a hundred times before... putting the UFB network on poles in the first place was just flat out retarded. Sure they can get most of it up pretty quick but issues like what we see with WE are so common. Not to mention the issues involved when a contractor comes to a pole with a 'DO NOT CLIMB' tag on it. Then there are the aesthetic issues - i look at some wellington streets and wonder if I'm in Vietnam!!

Haha! the great thing I found living in parts of asia is every now and then you will come across poles that are no longer actually touching the ground and they are held up by the wires!

eventually its a bit like a trouser belt, you belt holds up your pants, but your pants hold up your belt with the loops on your pants.

anyway, nothing wrong with these aesthetics!

telephone wires

Linuxluver

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#1523341 31-Mar-2016 14:18

inane:
quickymart:

They would still need to physically connect you to the network - are you planning on splicing the fibre and joining it up to the network yourself? Because I'm fairly sure that would break some sort of law if you did that (even worse if you took out a large number of customers' service in doing so).

It's more of a frustrated rant than a plan to action.

But what laws would be broken? It gets to a point where better to beg forgiveness than wait forever (ask permission)

I have engineers who are qualified to splice fibre, they wouldn't take anyone out - ignoring the fact there is no one to take out as they haven't connected anyone, even though fibre has been available since mid November.

You'd be connecting to Chorus network without authorisation.

That would earn you some trouble.

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