Location of BB box

Yorkie1

(I think this is probably the better forum than the In My Home forum as it's about the techie side of things)

I'm due to have my City Fibre installed tomorrow morning. They've said they will run a wire from a telegraph pole, rather than underground, which is fine by me. What I'm wondering about is where, if I have choice, to have the line coming into the house for the router, for best signal in the house.

It's a small semi-detached. Current phone master socket comes in by the front door to the wall immediately behind it. I think poorly installed; I have some damp in the wall. I do my working from home from the back downstairs room; the signal is OK. My PVR uses wi-fi signal to the router, I think.

The wi-fi signal for my bedroom, which is upstairs at the back, is very poor. Probably to do with the angle of the signal from the router to me. The mobile signal is also poor, owing to a hill behind my house.

I was wondering whether there would be any mileage in putting the router in the front living room, by the TV (which is by the party wall with the neighbour). Not sure if it would improve the line of signal to my bedroom and/or change the strength into the back room.

The complicating factor is that I plan to do an extension in the next few years, and a porch, and the risk of putting the fibre box where the current entry into the hallway is, is that it will be in the way of either the side extension or where the porch walls will go.

Grateful for any thoughts if you have got this far, thanks.

Neil_Jones

Well you need somewhere by a plug for the box for a start as these things don't run on fresh air so that may dictate where that needs to go.

From the box (assuming its similar to what Openreach are installing) you can run a network cable up to 100m to anywhere else so in theory you could put your router anywhere you want.

You can get fibre extension cable so if you do find you need to move the box in the future there is the option but this may be compicated:
https://www.premitel.uk/consultancy/expert-advice/how-to-move-the-fttp-ont/

You can of course ask the provider to do this but expect a three figure quote.

oldernonethewiser

You can certainly discuss with City Fibre where you would like the ONT to be situated but they may not be able to put it where you would like it to be. As stated above it needs to be next to a mains socket as it will be on on the time.

The issue of poor Wifi signal can be addressed with extenders or a Mesh system.

Yorkie1

Thanks both 😊

Yes, there are two plug sockets at each possible location.

Will clear the hallway but discuss with CF tomorrow. Appreciated.

Rob5342

Ideally you'd want it as central as possible with minimal solid walls between the router and the devices that use them. It's hard to say without seeing the house and you'd really have to try it to be sure.

CityFibre installations tend to be very quick and dirty (cables not fitted straight and cable clips at uneven intervals etc). I would get them to put the ONT as close as possible to the fibre entry point to minimise the mess and then run your own ethernet cable to your router which you can do with a lot more care then they will)

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81993828#Comment_81993828

I think Cityfibre can be hit and miss regarding installations.

My neighbour had a messy looking install and when it came to installing my fibre, some months later, the two guys that turned up were pretty disappointed and said they would never install like that. To be fair they did a great job at mine.