Thread: Fibre dig

I've got a requirement for 1/4 mile fibre dig and am looking at the options.

Is there a decent overview anywhere for whats possible?
eg, do I need to go to a company like fibrespan do to the whole job?
Can elements be bought in separately?
ie one do to the dig, one to install the fibre and self manage the legalities?
What are the issues with digging up roads and permissions?

Originally Posted by netserve

I've got a requirement for 1/4 mile fibre dig and am looking at the options.

Is there a decent overview anywhere for whats possible?
eg, do I need to go to a company like fibrespan do to the whole job?
Can elements be bought in separately?
ie one do to the dig, one to install the fibre and self manage the legalities?
What are the issues with digging up roads and permissions?

There's nothing I know of as a sort of online reference guide.
You don't need to use any specialist firm like fibrespan, you can use normal council approved contractors (for where you are digging) and get them to quote you for the dig. The costs will depend on how much is tarmac, how much is reinforced tarmac/concrete roads (such as industrial area roads) and how much is soft dig, i.e grass/soil.

You can manage it yourself (its what I've done this in the past) however if you have not done it before I would recommend you use a contractor to project manage it as well, as if not done properly it could be expensive!

If you are buying fibre from a large provider they may already have their own code powers (such as Colt, Geo) so you may be able to dig without licence under their license, however then technically they will be listed as the owners of your ducts.

If they dont have one, then you need to apply for a temp license, on the 1st April this changes to 90 days notice, so you will not be able to dig for at least three months from submitting your application.

Applications will be inspected en-route by the council, and will need to live up to their quality of work, as after three years any road works will be their responsibility to maintain. Your contract will be legally required to maintain it for the first three years (road works, rocking man hole covers etc) only, not the ducts in the dig.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Matthew, thats a good comprehensive answer and plenty of food for thought.

We're already doing work for quite a few local ground works contractors so at least I'm armed with some snippets when I talk to them

H2O still have to dig into the building from a main as I understand it, which generally means they're crossing at least a partial of a road... l'm not sure if they can just lasso it out of the toilet yet

Geo chap reckoned H2O infact use Geo

Originally Posted by Schumie

l'm not sure if they can just lasso it out of the toilet yet

You'd be surprised - don't you remember seeing this :

http://www.google.com/tisp/

Originally Posted by Penguin

You'd be surprised - don't you remember seeing this :

http://www.google.com/tisp/

Hehe, I remember that, one of the Gems from the FAQ had me chuckling:

Originally Posted by tisp, FAQ

Why is TiSP in beta?
When things go wrong with TiSP, they go very, very wrong. Let's leave it at that.

Depends on where in the country the dig is. In London Geo's sewer network is great north of the river.

If its national then you are best wandering around the site looking for the names on the manholes and try them.

There is a company we were looking at based in Edinburgh that made fibre cable, with multi-straws within the copex outer casing. Pretty good stuff, although we've never used it.

We had a quote from one of their approved contractors for both a direct-in-mud and a pull through a duct, and the pricing was quite a bit different. However if you have a break with DIM then you need to splice another cable on, after digging and finding the break. Whereas with duct based system, you can just pull another cable through.

I will see if I can find any of the digging prices.

Regards,

Alex