Getting Ultrafast Full Fibre to your home is intended to make access to the World Wide Web as quick and convenient as possible. In order to achieve that, a little inconvenience will be involved now.
Briant Broadband’s business partners CityFIbre are undertaking the work of installing fibre optic cables throughout the region, and naturally installing infrastructure hardware means digging. But in some places that’s not possible. In those cases your cable will be delivered via a good old fashioned telegraph pole.
Telegraph poles have been a feature of the urban and rural village landscape for many years and have benefits quite separate from those that digging involves. Digging a trench in which to lay a cable is labour intensive, expensive, time consuming and creates a great deal of disruption. The advantage is that once the fibre is in place it’s so well protected that it will never need maintenance or repairs except in the very unlikely event that another utility provider digs down deep enough in the wrong place to damage it.
On the other hand fibre which hangs from a telegraph pole is vulnerable to debris blown about by high winds, overheight loads on vehicles, even deliberate vandalism. However, that vulnerability is also its benefit as any damaged section can be quickly and easily replaced without causing any disruption to traffic, parking, or access to the homes of local residents.
What are the other benefits to having a pole instead of digging a trench?
The Speed Full Fibre Can Be Rolled Out
Poles are generally already in situ already and can be easily accessed to attach new fibre lines. In instances where poles aren’t already in place and digging isn’t an option (too much infrastructure already exists or is too near the surface for example) a new pole can be introduced. Poles are part of “Permitted Development” which means that additional planning permission isn’t required, although residents do have 12 months to complain to the council to have it relocated if it causes obstruction to property or traffic visibility. Digging on the other hand can cause a great deal of disruption, especially if the road is busy, or residential with a lot of cars parked along the kerb. Disruption can range from simply having barriers up stopping pedestrians from using pavements to prolonged roadworks, traffic diversions, diggers and heavy plant along with all the work involved in making the road/pavement surface as good as new again.
Disruption to services
Installing a pole is about as straightforward as you would imagine. Once the optimum location has been identified a pole hole drill or pole planter will be deployed. Once the pole is in place the cable can be attached and connected to nearby homes.
Digging not only causes traffic disruption, it has to be carefully planned around existing underground utilities so as not to damage water pipes, sewers, power cables, gas pipes. Planning this work depends heavily on the accuracy of the maps outlining where, and how deep existing infrastructure is. Dig too deep and any one of these services could be disrupted.
Digging machinery also can be hard to use in tight corners, it creates dust, noise, and can break paving slabs.
Cost
Clearly telegraph poles are cheaper to use than the cost of digging. One hole, a pole and fibre optic cable is all that is required. The labour, plant hire and time needed to dig a trench outweigh those of inserting a pole significantly.
Property Value
Studies and research has been carried out and found that having access to Full Fibre broadband adds to the value of the home, and that having a telegraph pole outside the home has negligible effect on the prices achieved when a property is sold.
Environmentally Friendlier
Installing a pole is far more ecologically sound than digging up roads and pavements. The trees used to make the poles are sourced from sustainable forests, and each pole can suspend 85 metres of fibre. Digging a trench that long would create hundreds of kilos of carbon dioxide in fuel for the machinery.
Whichever way your Full Fibre connection is installed it will have been planned to have the best cost benefits, making it as cheap as possible, savings which are passed on to the consumer, and the practicality of each method in a given location.
Once your street has been connected to the UK’s Full Fibre network why not choose a genuinely local broadband provider? Briant Broadband are based in Worthing and offer fast, friendly, expert local customer service. Briant Broadband offer the best prices on Full Fibre broadband too, and if you can find a cheaper genuine like-for-like product then we’ll price match it (excludes introductory offers and special deals).
For more information, such as pricing and availability, or to book your installation call 01903 221999, drop a message to info@briantbroadband.com or visit the Briant Broadband website.