KN Group Pole Installation for FTTH

MoleHall

Had KN Engineer out to do survey on behalf of broadband provider to see what was needed to get FTTH installed. He stayed about 5 minutes and said we need to install a post in the corner of our property, was very specific about placement of the pole.

Problem: Pole would be a visibility issue as it is a dangerous cross junction at best of times. Driver crashed at this exact corner earlier in the year.

Question 1: Has anyone had success with asking KN to install pole in an alternative location to the one that their engineer suggested? (Literally moving it a meter to the left so it doesn’t obstruct view at intersection). We are in the process of organising a second survey to be done, just want to know if anyone has any successful experience “deciding” the placement of the pole.

Question 2: The existing fibre pole is across the street, the engineer wants to link up with this pole by installing a pole on our property (as described above). We have located a pole further down the road but are unsure if it is supplying fibre broadband or some other utility. If we were able to use this pole instead (even if a pole needed to be installed next to it in order to bring the line closer to our house) it would be nowhere near the unsafe junction. Is there a way to find out what utility(ies) are being supplied by this pole? We have a pole ID number but nowhere to look it up (if the pole ID number would even provide that information, we aren’t sure about that either).

alan4cult

Do you have an existing phone line?
If so, what route is that taking? Usually they will try and follow the same route if underground duct is available.

kaizersoze

Did he put down a marker post for the pole location?

MoleHall

alan4cult wrote: »

Do you have an existing phone line?
If so, what route is that taking? Usually they will try and follow the same route if underground duct is available.

Thanks for your response!

There is currently no phone line at the house. There used to be one for many years, but it was deactivated about 7 years ago and the original telephone wire has been removed (unsure of the reason for this or when it occurred, but the line used to go over the road and it is no longer there).

Could it be a thing that in the past few years the telephone lines in the area have been converted to underground lines? We know it used to be connected via an overhead wire but that definitely is not there anymore. There also is a large metal cover with eircom markings on it indicating underground activity of some sort. We weren’t sure if it was phone, or fibre. We do intend to ask the second engineer about an underground option as the first engineer did not put it on the table, this may be down to the lack of existing phone line but it’s worth exploring.

Would a possible solution be activating a phone line at the house, get them to connect the house underground, and then initiate the broadband process? As it’s a FTTH install we are being told no phone line is required, just the pole to connect fibre to the house, so adding a phone line never entered into our thinking on it. Presumably going the phone line route would turn it into a FTTC connection but tbh we would accept a slower speed if it meant we weren’t obscuring the visibility at the junction with a pole.

MoleHall

kaizersoze wrote: »

Did he put down a marker post for the pole location?

Thanks for your response, he brought a cone out from his van and carried it over to the spot. He set it down, pointed at it and said “tell them to put the pole here.” Then he took the cone back to his van. He said he was going to send the coordinates of the location to the ones who’d be following up with the pole installation. He was very particular about where he wanted us to -tell them- to put it, but left no permanent marker behind.

He was not with us for very long and most of what he said regarding the pole was that it needed to be on private property otherwise it could take months to go through the council. It is possible he was adamant about placing the pole there because it’s on our private property and because it’s the nearest place across the street from their existing pole. We would just want it moved a meter (still on our property) over just to leave a clearing at the junction for motorist visibility.

The other theory we have is that he suggested it go in that corner due to the presence of other overhead wires near the house. If it was moved 1m over, however, there should still be enough clearance from those wires if that were the issue.

kaizersoze

MoleHall wrote: »

Thanks for your response, he brought a cone out from his van and carried it over to the spot. He set it down, pointed at it and said “tell them to put the pole here.” Then he took the cone back to his van. He said he was going to send the coordinates of the location to the ones who’d be following up with the pole installation. He was very particular about where he wanted us to -tell them- to put it, but left no permanent marker behind.

He was not with us for very long and most of what he said regarding the pole was that it needed to be on private property otherwise it could take months to go through the council. It is possible he was adamant about placing the pole there because it’s on our private property and because it’s the nearest place across the street from their existing pole. We would just want it moved a meter (still on our property) over just to leave a clearing at the junction for motorist visibility.

The other theory we have is that he suggested it go in that corner due to the presence of other overhead wires near the house. If it was moved 1m over, however, there should still be enough clearance from those wires if that were the issue.

Move the cone to your preferred location and say nothing.;)