is a Chorus External Termination Point (ETP) absolutely required? ?

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MrErlang

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#310770 20-Nov-2023 22:08

Hi all,

The Chorus fibre network documentation says that an External Termination Point (ETP) is required for a residential connection.

It a small fibre junction box mounted on the side of the house - as shown below.

Fibre installation methods | Chorus

It allows a technician to access and test the fibre connection from outside the house if required for fault finding.

However, I have noticed on several new houses I have been to in Auckland (open homes) they do not have an ETP anywhere on the outside of the house that I can find.

Does anyone know if an ETP is absolutely necessary? Would Chorus accept the ETP being installed inside the house (say in the coms cabinet) ?

The reason for asking, is that all other services (electricity and water) do not require a junction box to be installed on the cladding outside on the house - they can be brought up through the foundation and not through the cladding.

The need for an ETP mounted on the house cladding does not look very good, and a hole needs to be drilled through the cladding, which is best avoided if possible.

So I was just wondering if anyone knew if an ETP mounted outside was absolutely required by Chorus.

When I talk with ISP call centre's they say it is required, but that does not explain the new houses I have been to.

If anyone can provide any insight, that would be great !

Cheers, many thanks.

atomeara

324 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3161783 20-Nov-2023 22:32

It is normally installed but I have had plenty of cases where it hasn't been for a range of reasons.

The ducting comes up inside the building - which is likely in some new builds
On a road side cabinet it wasn't practical to install.
I would expect many MDUs like apartments or office buildings I won't be possible either

However not having an ETP normally means the ruggedised micro-duct will come all the way to the ONT, it is only in black, it does not bend tightly and is not flexible. So you need to consider if that will be easy to fed into the ONT location and look ok before you ask the tech not to install the ETP.

Normally from the ETP to the ONT they use thin white cable that is a lot smaller, flexible and easier to run.

I make no guarantees that tech will agree not to install an ETP.

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fe31nz

1195 posts

Uber Geek

#3161798 21-Nov-2023 00:27

In case it is not already clear, the ETP is where the fibre from the street terminates (hence the name: External Termination Point). From the ETP inside to the ONT a different fibre is normally used, which is better suited to going around the bends sometimes needed to get it to the ONT. If something goes wrong with the internal fibre, it only then needs to be replaced to the ETP. And similarly, if the external fibre gets damaged, it can be replaced up to the ETP without you having to be home to allow access. So having an EPT is a really good idea.

josephhinvest

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#3161805 21-Nov-2023 06:25

I keenly observed my fibre upgrade when it was originally done, and again when the fibre from the telephone pole to my house developed a fault, and was replaced.
My ETP contains a little loop of fibre, and that’s it. The cable is continuous from the telephone pole to my ONT. So in my house at least, it serves no function, I’d have preferred it wasn’t there at all.

Cheers,
Joseph

wired

186 posts

Master Geek

#3161818 21-Nov-2023 08:23

The ETP was originally mandated by the government in the original build agreement back in 2011 with the fibre companies. It was to be included in their design and installation for residential installations. Those agreements have expired but there are still some lingering requirements in other documents which I believe expire shortly.

The role of the ETP is to :

while the fibre is the same from the roadside splitter to the ONT, the duct that it is in changes at this point.
- The outside duct is stiff and more recently, is ruggedised to prevent spades cutting it when people are gardening etc. which means it is even harder to bend. This duct is hard to install inside a house.
- The duct inside the house is more flexible and it is Low Smoke Zero Halogen, known as LSZH duct. This means that it doesn’t give off nasty vapours if the house catches fire. In overseas countries there are rules about how far a nonLSZH can go inside a building and I think it is only a few metres. I haven’t seen a similar rule for NZ.
for a commercial building, the outside duct was allowed to run all the way to a comms room, probably because access is easier for the technicians, which leads to the next point
If there is damage to the ducting in the street, the fibre from the premises to the splitter is replaced. Having a location where they can blow the fibre form without getting inside the house means that they can repair all the affected properties quicker. Having to coordinate with home owners to access to their ONTs for a roadside repair delays the repairs and leaves the home owners without service for an extended time.
if the home owner wants to change where the fibre is run to inside the house, it is easier to blow the fibre from the ETP rather than going back to the splitter.
It makes it easier to blow the fibre from the street. The maximum distance that a fibre can be blown is affected by the number of bends that it has to go around as well as the straight line distance. The part inside the house can be bendy so by having an ETP it means that they can do one blow from the splitter location to the house and then start again inside the house. This results in longer distances being possible in the street between the splitter locations and smaller blowing equipment.
They are big because of the minimum bending radius of the fibre, though more modern fibres have small bending radius. But I have yet so see a nice looking ETP.

wired

186 posts

Master Geek

#3161873 21-Nov-2023 08:53

MrErlang:

The reason for asking, is that all other services (electricity and water) do not require a junction box to be installed on the cladding outside on the house - they can be brought up through the foundation and not through the cladding.

The need for an ETP mounted on the house cladding does not look very good, and a hole needs to be drilled through the cladding, which is best avoided if possible.

This has also to do with the demarcation points for the ownership of the service.
For water, it becomes the home owner’s responsibility at the owners side of the water meter. So all the pipework inside your property is your responsibility.

For electricity, the demarcation point is generally where it crosses the property boundary.

So for both of these utilities, the home owner is pays for any damage or maintenance on their property like replacing a power pole if you have one on a ROW.

Telecommunications is different. For copper, the ownership demarcation point was the ETP like the photo you had, but for fibre, it is either the ONT or if you don’t have one, the end of the fibre that would have plugged into the ONT.

So because of the different ownership demarcation points, the ETP helps the fibre company to maintain their equipment on private land as there is no appropriate junction point on the property boundary

p.s. The electricity meter box is kinda like an ETP in that it is on the outside of the house.

Jase2985

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#3162253 21-Nov-2023 20:56

josephhinvest: I keenly observed my fibre upgrade when it was originally done, and again when the fibre from the telephone pole to my house developed a fault, and was replaced.
My ETP contains a little loop of fibre, and that’s it. The cable is continuous from the telephone pole to my ONT. So in my house at least, it serves no function, I’d have preferred it wasn’t there at all.

Cheers,
Joseph

ditto

was rather frustrating as i could have ran the conduit from the pole (ground to overhead) straight into the wall cabinet.

cddt

1411 posts

Uber Geek

#3162358 22-Nov-2023 11:08

No ETP was installed in my house (1920s). According to the previous owner, he had dug a trench through the lawn, then under the path, and under the house, prior to the tech installing the fibre, specifically so they could install it without an ETP. I don't know the truth to this or exactly how it was done, but it's unfortunate the ONT is installed under the house.

MrErlang

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3162465 22-Nov-2023 16:34

Hi all, many thanks for your comments - they were very helpful.

It seems there isn't a legal requirement for an external ETP, but if I take on the spirt of the ETP being a demarcation point and if I make it easy for the service/installation technician then they should be happy.

What I think I will do is install the 20mm chorus duct through the concrete foundation and install a small comms cabinet directly above - so the ETP effectively is in the comms cabinet along with the ONT - this would require no more duct bends compared to an external ETP and be just as easy to pull the fibre cable through the duct.

From there I would run a couple/several (in case one cable fails) CAT6 cables to the main comms cabinet - and as mentioned in section 2.2 of https://www.chorus.co.nz/docs/develop-with-chorus/chorus-npd-new-property-technical-requirements-vol-4-premises-wiring.pdf - also perhaps a Prysmian OptiC@t composite cable or Hexatronic Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) 5/3.5mm or 7/3.5mm microduct if I wanted the ONT to be located somewhere else/located with the RGW.

I guess it is best to locate the ONT and RGW together.

Does that sound reasonable?

raytaylor

3997 posts

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#3162571 22-Nov-2023 19:07

Be warned....

If you ever have a fault, the technician may arrive at the house (*), find no ETP and if no one is home to let them in, the fault will be closed with no fault found and invoiced.

*Chorus techs are not good with appointment scheduling.

Also the ETP acts as a blowing point. We find that its much easier to blow down hill so if the house is higher than the splicing pit, we blow from the house. I have seen Chorus techs starting to do this more and more too.

Ray Taylor

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SomeoneSomewhere

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#3162577 22-Nov-2023 19:44

Electrical meters were required (just preferred?) to be outside or visible from outside for a short time, to ease meter reading. Smart meters mean that's no longer an issue and in most new builds they're fully indoors.

An ETP means they don't have to drag a fibre splicer into your house if someone puts a spade through it on the street. I'd be very inclined to have one. There's nowhere less visible you can tuck one away? Nothing really stopping you painting it if you want I guess.