Grey/Brown Boxes?

Logan · 20-11-2006, 16:29

Was due to have NTL broadband and telephone installed today. Engineer came out, had a look around the outside of the property. He was looking for where the cable comes into our home. He was looking for a grey or brown box on the outside of the house and pointed to other properties in the street that has them.

We didn't have one on our property. I pointed to where the coaxial was coming into our house and he reckons thats analog or something, and not digital saying its their old cable. He couldn't go ahead with the install. He located what I believe he called a 'T' plate which is a black plastic plate on our drive, which I'm assuming is like a junction box to feed certain houses in our street. He then said that as its more then 6" away from our property they wouldn't normally run it from there, however he reckons when they come back (he couldn't do it on his own, requires two man team) they would run it from there regardless.

I had a call from NTL about an hour ago and they are now coming on the 27th to complete the install.

Anyway, I now have a few questions:

- what are these grey/brown boxes? Nobody else I know on NTL mentions these at all, only green cabinets etc.
- what is the 'T' plate? He reckoned it was feeding a couple other houses down our street and shouldn't really be used to feed ours. He was looking on our lawn for another one I think, but couldn't find one. Considering its already feeding other properties, would tapping into it to run cable into my property result in speed issues?

Thanks in advance.

Quam256 · 20-11-2006, 17:01

The cable is pulled from the green cabinet thru ducting along the street up to the boundary of your property were it is brought up thru the T (you can have one that is just for your property or you can have a shared one with a neighbour.From there depending on your garden it will either be duried in a protective ducting or lay under the grass which has a slice put in it.It is brought up to the house in this way and connected to the house with a Omni box grey or brown .From this box all your connections to house are run and if there are any problems in the future it can be used as a test point to make sure you have service up to the property.
If you tapped into another cable yes it probably would cause issues,but your cable should have its own tap (feed ) so you should not have that problem.

MovedGoalPosts · 20-11-2006, 17:06

Normally there is a duct under the public pavement. The "T" plate is an access point to the duct. Normally there will be one per house, located at the border of the public pavement and your own property. The installation crew will run a small flexible plastic pipe across your garden to connect between this T plate and the front of your house. The plastic pipe will be buried, so expect a little digging of your front garden!

At the front of your house the new cable, that gets run from the street cabinet (green box, usually), via the pavement duct and your new garden duct, is terminated in a small box - usually brown or grey. From here the another cable will be fed into your house. If you ever add other services say more TV or the extra cables needed within your house would connect back to this grey/ brown box

Edit: beaten to it

Quam256 · 20-11-2006, 17:09

Great minds.

Lord Nikon · 20-11-2006, 17:16

Not always though, Originally Nynex, later C&W, now NTL install I can mention there is no omni box external to the property, the fed coax and phone line goes directly through the wall with silicone round it, services at one point were the full TV Pack, Top Tier broadband and Phone, currently 10mbit broadband with no problem via a Home 250 modem, TV Disconnected as it was unused really, and phone, no issues.

(subnote from that the green flexi conduit external was buried (I say this loosely) about 1" under the garden, and about 2 feet too long, the extra length came in handy as it is now buried a LOT deeper lol (was discovered without damaging it))

Logan · 20-11-2006, 19:16

Thanks for the replies guys, makes sense now and I kind of know the engineer was being genuine and not just pulling my leg to get home for early tea!

So with that all in mind, its entirely possible under my front lawn somewhere, there is a 'T' plate (or will be)? And where abouts would the green cabinet be situated usually? Is it something I should see somewhere in my street?

MovedGoalPosts · 20-11-2006, 19:22

These things usually look like a little brown, green or black plastic cap, around 2" in diameter. Rarely will they be on your land, but will be on the public road side of any boundary.

Mine got buried by council resurfacing, whcih added dealy when they needed to get a construction team out, in addition to the install team

Logan · 20-11-2006, 19:29

Ok thanks again, will have a look around the boundaries out of interest tomorrow.

Quam256 · 20-11-2006, 20:53

If you have a problem finding the T, it maybe worthwhile trying to get them out to do a preinstall survey.That way if it is missing they can get the construction booked in prior to the install and not suffer any delays due to it being noticed on the day of the install

Logan · 20-11-2006, 21:59

Day of the install was today mate. So I'm already too late. Installer came out, looked around, noticed things were missing, re-booked the call.

Pierre · 21-11-2006, 08:35

If your property has a cellar, the omni box may been fitted to the wall in the cellar, and not on the outside.

Logan · 21-11-2006, 10:26

No cellar mate. Thanks though.

Stuart · 21-11-2006, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord Nikon

Not always though, Originally Nynex, later C&W, now NTL install I can mention there is no omni box external to the property, the fed coax and phone line goes directly through the wall with silicone round it, services at one point were the full TV Pack, Top Tier broadband and Phone, currently 10mbit broadband with no problem via a Home 250 modem, TV Disconnected as it was unused really, and phone, no issues.

(subnote from that the green flexi conduit external was buried (I say this loosely) about 1" under the garden, and about 2 feet too long, the extra length came in handy as it is now buried a LOT deeper lol (was discovered without damaging it))

Actually, Bromley (an ex-Nynex area) was set up exactly how Rob described. However, Bromley was set up relatively late (early to mid 90s), so Nynex may have changed their install methods.

Logan · 22-11-2006, 08:57

Was looking around on the drive into my road yesterday and noticed all the green cabinets spaced around the estate (funny you don't notice things till you start looking!). Theres one not too far from our street, which I am assuming feeds the viscinity. As for T plates, it certainly looks like there is only the one near our property which was the one the engineer found himself.

I'm a little bit concerned about them hooking me up to that one if it means I'm piggybacking off other connections in the street and therefore losing some quality or will notice speed issues. However I'm not sure if there is anything else that could be done? I really don't mind if they want to hack up some of my pavement or lawn to put my own T plate in - but is this something that is possible and something that I could certainly suggest to the installers?

Thanks again

jaycee · 22-11-2006, 18:41

That isn't what T plates are for. they are simply tee's off of a big conduit underground where the cables are threaded to each property. You (usually) still have your own drop of cable from the cabinet.