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Futurianzero

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#279530 21-Oct-2020 14:37
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I recently had fibre installed at my place, and would like to run a couple of CAT7 cables to rooms which don't have existing jackpoints. There is CAT6e in the walls to most rooms, but not to the office or master bedroom (but there is one in the pantry...). Everything is streaming in our place now, excluding gaming on the Steam Link that lives near the TV, where I would prefer to the kids to sit as they argue over the proper way to be a horrible goose in the village. 

 

The Chorus-branded box on the outside of our house, where the fibre comes out of the in-ground duct, goes through a short internal duct to a Hills HomeHub cabinet. In there is the ONT and a new network switch. The router sits upstairs, using the existing CAT6e network.

 

I would like to have at least one CAT7 cable go from the switch, back through that internal duct, out through the rubber-grommeted holes in the bottom of the Chorus box, and around the outside of the house (in a sheltered spot, alongside an external gas line) until it can go back under the house, where I have free reign and good access to the underside of the walls where I want new jackpoints put in. 

 

I think I can use the old copper line which is still in the duct to draw at least one line through, and I think there might be just enough room for an additional cable in the duct. The old copper appears to have been terminated in the Chorus box (each colour/white pair is enclosed in a plastic thing). The back (wall) plate of the chorus box seems to have had a hole drilled through it just slightly off-centre to the duct, which might need to be enlarged to get better access, or I might have to take the back plate off the wall temporarily. Or both.

 

Does anyone see any potential problems with this installation method? Is the fibre cable likely to be too fragile to have cables drawn along it? Does Chorus prohibit fiddling with the box?


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cyril7
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  #2589776 21-Oct-2020 14:47
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Hi, the cable in the duct is probably more than strong enough to with stand what you propose, however the real issue is Chorus will not be happy with you putting stuff in their ETP.

 

Further, there is no cat6e, it does not exist, and further to that I recommend if you run cables outside that they are outdoor rated, ie polyethelene sheathed and ideally flooded, otherwise they will fail with time in the weather and sun.

 

Cyril




Futurianzero

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  #2589798 21-Oct-2020 15:11
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Must be CAT6a, been a while since I looked at it. Cheers for the tip about sheathing, when the gas line was put in they mentioned UV protection but I hadn’t thought of it for networking.

cyril7
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  #2589800 21-Oct-2020 15:14
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How far is the through wall distance from the Hill hub to where you want to exit (ie the Chorus ETP).

 

Cyril




Futurianzero

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  #2589803 21-Oct-2020 15:19
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Less than 1m vertically, about as thick as a wall horizontally? It might be practical to exit the wall through a new hole, if that’s what you are thinking. I’m not opposed to opening the internal wall below the hub, it is usually hidden behind stuff anyway.

cyril7
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  #2589805 21-Oct-2020 15:22
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Hi, yes that was my thinking. So you can get outdoor rated cable in Cat5e and Cat6, not seen any in Cat6a or 7, however do you really need that?, Cat6 is good for 10G upto 50odd meters, and it sounds like you wont be getting anywhere near that.

 

Edit: when you open the wall make it the dimensions to allow you to put an electrical flush box in place so a blank faceplate can cover it, then you can readily access in future.

 

Cyril


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