How will installers cope with Concrete Driveway?

[flashyphotos]

We have an install booked for Friday,

From the Pavement to the house is 75ft of solid 12" Thick 1950s concrete!

How do the installers run the cabel in this situation, Not sure I will be happy with a loose cable around

Excuse the ignorance, have not really thought abou this till now

Cheers

Richard

[wilcoxm]

call for JCB, 3 jackhammers and a cement truck.

No - Will probally champer cable with concrete around the edge of a joining wall (if you have one)

[flashyphotos]

No walls I am afraid,

3 Houses, we are in the middle, 75ft of concrete to the pavement, just open area in front of the houses, no walls between us and the houses on each side!

Cheers


Richard

[Graham M]

umm sounds like they might refuse to do it to me

[wilcoxm]

they might use a saw and cut out the concrete and lay the cable and reconcrete over it. But i doubt it.

They may also look into using your neighbours property to install your services, this would require a wayleave to be agreed prior to install.

Recommend - Call and explain your situation, and ask for a survey to be done before install. I am sure that they would send a install supervisor / manager out to inspect the situation first, rather than a failed install on the day.

Thats what happened when i worked there 4 years back. ;)

[Bifta]

Where I used to live we had a concrete pathway outside the living room with a lawn up to the main pavement, I went for NTL for some obscure reason and on the day of install first they dug a very shallow channel down the grass and completely ruined it then they drilled a dirty great channel through the path and stuck the cable in, relayed it with with what could only be described as "an excuse for concrete". It looked bloody awful and we ended up paying someone to returf the garden and re-lay some concrete properly.

[Stuart]

Depends on how good the installer is. Our cable network was laid by contractors working for Nynex, and, IIRC, they used a small tunneling machine to tunnel a hole for the ducting, then fed the cable through this. When Cable and Wireless connected my house to the network, I am not sure how they did it, but there is no sign the cable is there until it reaches the box on the wall of the house.

Admittedly, the cable does run under grass,, but the grass (and the plants next to it) were not disturbed by the instsaallers.

[handyman]

Depends on how good the installer is. Our cable network was laid by contractors working for Nynex, and, IIRC, they used a small tunneling machine to tunnel a hole for the ducting, then fed the cable through this. When Cable and Wireless connected my house to the network, I am not sure how they did it, but there is no sign the cable is there until it reaches the box on the wall of the house.

Admittedly, the cable does run under grass,, but the grass (and the plants next to it) were not disturbed by the instsaallers.

What they will have done is put a diagonal slice into the ground, dropped the cable in then pressed it down.

[Graham M]

Let us know how it goes FlashyPhotos

[flashyphotos]

I will update on Friday after they have been, with the outcome!

Cheers

[PS1]

What area are you in?:confused:

[flashyphotos]

Sutton In Ashfield, Notts.

Does it vary by area?

[PS1]

It may alter slightly but that is more to do with the individual that is doing the work.The only reason i asked was to make sure you werent in my area and i ended up with a massive job on a friday!:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

On a serious note though i do expect you are going to experience problems with who ever turns up and see s 75ft of concrete that needs digging up.
Ntl do have limits as to what they will do regarding installations.Excessive ammounts of digging or running cables can sometimes be left to the customer to do.No doubt though a supervisor will have to come out and make that dissision ,not the enginners themselves.

Dont just except what the engineers tell you as youll never get anything done that way.Ask to speak to a supervisor or (as already mentioned,get a survey done prior to the installation crew turning up).

Good luck,
(and remember,theres always a way).:tu:

[flashyphotos]

I am only getting Broadband from them to replace my current expensive 1Mb ADSL service,

SO to be honest, if they turn up Friday and it can't be done its no real hardship, for roughly the same amount I can move ot 8mb ADSL from Bulldog, OK it means I will be offline for about 10 days for the switch, but I can live with it,

So if they don't want to do the job its not an earth shattering event!

this image is taken about 1/2 way down the drive to the pavement, and gives an idea what they will have to get thru

http://www.flashyphotos.com/conc.JPG

[PS1]

Just a thought,they could (and might suggest)running the drop cable straight down that crack in the middle of the drive and then cementing over it.Not really that difficult and not as bad as i was expexting.:confused:

[Nedkelly]

;) Hi looking at the pic you sent they would use the expansion joint in the concrete or use the flower bed on the left of the picture .The pot the little black thing in the street is it near the flower bed if this the case thats what they will use then bring it up on the wall and put the omni on:tu:

[flashyphotos]

Hi

The flower bed only runs about 1/2 distance and is mainly next doors property no not practical,.

Didn't think about the expansion joints so hope that may be the best bet

Cheers

[flashyphotos]

Almost but not quite!

The installers turned up at 8.30am, decided the expansion crack was the best bet,

Ran the cable up in in 10 mins, but it kept coming out, they said they could not cement it as its too cold!, and they would book a new appointment for it to be covered in, (Ok but now we have a loose cable up the drive!!)

Gave me the Modem but had no Power Supplies!, Said they would pick one up and back in 10 mins!

4 Hours later no sign of them,

Called Customer Services,

Told they have not reported the job is unfinished, and have now closed out our area as it is being handed to new contractors on Monday,

CS said that for a new power supply they will book a vist in 7 days, and contact the contractors about the finishing of the cable run

So now I have an unusable systme and a cable running loose up the drive

Great Job NTL!!!!

[Tuftus]

Almost but not quite!

The installers turned up at 8.30am, decided the expansion crack was the best bet,

Ran the cable up in in 10 mins, but it kept coming out, they said they could not cement it as its too cold!, and they would book a new appointment for it to be covered in, (Ok but now we have a loose cable up the drive!!)

Gave me the Modem but had no Power Supplies!, Said they would pick one up and back in 10 mins!

4 Hours later no sign of them,

Called Customer Services,

Told they have not reported the job is unfinished, and have now closed out our area as it is being handed to new contractors on Monday,

CS said that for a new power supply they will book a vist in 7 days, and contact the contractors about the finishing of the cable run

So now I have an unusable systme and a cable running loose up the drive

Great Job NTL!!!!

Not the best start then...

[SLM]

Almost but not quite!

The installers turned up at 8.30am, decided the expansion crack was the best bet,

Ran the cable up in in 10 mins, but it kept coming out, they said they could not cement it as its too cold!, and they would book a new appointment for it to be covered in, (Ok but now we have a loose cable up the drive!!)

Gave me the Modem but had no Power Supplies!, Said they would pick one up and back in 10 mins!

4 Hours later no sign of them,

Called Customer Services,

Told they have not reported the job is unfinished, and have now closed out our area as it is being handed to new contractors on Monday,

CS said that for a new power supply they will book a vist in 7 days, and contact the contractors about the finishing of the cable run

So now I have an unusable systme and a cable running loose up the drive

Great Job NTL!!!!

Try using the responsetek tool, it has had some good results. This should not happen, if not ring up complaints and log a call.

[ColinJames]

After a total of four visits to my property, two by local manager, I got a 'phone call saying I am too far away. I should think I am about the same distance as yourself but across mainly an old open lawn. I would suggest forgetting ideas about "putting it down a crack" etc. Like any job it has to be done correctly if not to give you problems later. Also that is what you pay rental for. NTL has the experience and finances to the job property, if not the will!!!.
Does anyone out there know how far away you have to be for NTL to refuse to give you cable??? Or how close you need to be before they will? This is a serious question, an answer would be appreciated.

[Stuart]

Actually, I would have thought your distance from the street cabinet would be more an issue than your distance from the pavement.

[ColinJames]

Yes, possibly, but how far or how close?

[PS1]

After a total of four visits to my property, two by local manager, I got a 'phone call saying I am too far away. I should think I am about the same distance as yourself but across mainly an old open lawn. I would suggest forgetting ideas about "putting it down a crack" etc. Like any job it has to be done correctly if not to give you problems later. Also that is what you pay rental for. NTL has the experience and finances to the job property, if not the will!!!.
Does anyone out there know how far away you have to be for NTL to refuse to give you cable??? Or how close you need to be before they will? This is a serious question, an answer would be appreciated.

If the property is servicable then there is no reason why they shouldnt put the cable in.Your house could be 200m from the cab and have a 100m garden and still they would be able to install it.The onlt issue then would be the size of cable they use(in that case it should be RG11)to cope with the total signal loss over 300m.As you are only after a single service then i cant see the problem?
Maybe just lazyness on the part of the engineer and a manager that would rather see 10 (small,quick and easy)jobs done than 1 large time consuming one(not so profitable).????

[Motorman]

or just use the flower bed?