Installing an external termination box properly

Question

After 3 years away from Virgin Media, I am preparing to come back. The grass is not greener on the Openreach side. The old, battered exernal termination box (ETB) had to go when I was replacing the cladding on the porch. While I could ask VM to send an engineer around to install a new ETB, I would prefer to do it myself. There are some questions I am hoping to find an answer to.

Could someone please explain how exactly VM intened to use the space inside of the ETB? I am thinking of simply feeding the incoming cable into the ETB from the bottom and then using a straight coax coupler with F connectors on both "external" and "internal" cables. What I am unclear about is whether the "internal" cable is meant to *exit* the ETB from the bottom before going through the wall, or can it enter the wall from *within* the ETB. I would imagine the latter would be a neater job as it would hide the wall behind the ETB. I am however concerned about it resulting in tight bend radius which may affect the signal quality.

I would really appreciate it if someone could share pictures with examples where ETB has been installed with good care. Thank you.

goslow · Answer

You might possibly be over-thinking the box installation. VM installations are not particularly known on here for being at the top end of the league tables of quality workmanship.

Image below is typical of what you might find inside a box installed by VM. My own VM box had a splitter inside to link inside and outside cables.

https://dash.coolsmartphone.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/20170307_173654_HDR.jpg

This image above also shows a phone cable which would not be used now for a new VM installation.

You have already identified the pros/cons of the different methods. If you drop the cable out of the bottom of the box it preserves the water resistance of the box but the box is not really water proof anyway, it is more just a cover. If you drill out of the back of the box for the internal cable it will look neater but you should seal up the hole to keep the water out. You can see knockouts on the backplate of the box image above.

Are you connecting to the original internal VM cabling? A regular topic of discussion on here is the requirement to use VM's own tri-shielded cable and crimped connections for the F-plugs.

The advantage of having a VM tech do the work is that s/he can check the signal levels once you are connected and hopefully make sure the connection is within spec after installation.

mbrijun · Answer

The reason why I choose to do things myself is because VM engineers do not have the time to do things properly. The old installation was pretty bad, they chiseled a square hole in the cladding which caused water ingress and wood rot. There is no significant internal cabling as the modem will sit right next to the porch. I will reuse the old internal box labelled "Telewest" which has a Tratec TRIS-102A isolator (5-1000MHz). In terms of materials, this is what I have so far:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335694548845
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124961920710
https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/P03440.html

With regards to the cable, I am thinking of using this one. I understand it is a higher spec than the RG6 that VM prescribe in their "New Build Handbook".

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/CAPF100Bslash1.html

goslow · Answer

VM's 'Quick Start' cables now have an isolator built into them rather than needing an isolator in the wall box.

VM's own coax cable seems to be tri-shielded. Your example cable looks like it might be dual shielded.

You could consider fitting the outside box/cable as you want and drilling the hole through to the inside then letting a VM tech do the internal fit-out. If the internal box is going on the opposite side of the wall to the outside box, there should be minimal scope for bodging.

Nothing to say you won't get a working connection with your DIY approach but, if it does not perform as expected or performance is out of spec, you'll have to get VM involved to remedy it.

When I had Openreach fibre fitted a few years ago, I did all of the pre-drilling and cable routes through walls in my house for the Openreach installer before he arrived. He was very happy to find a big chunk of the work done and went out of his way to do a good job with the remaining tasks.

mbrijun · Answer

Thank you for pointing out about tri-shielded. I suspect this becomes very important for longer runs and high speeds. M125 or perhaps M250 is what I am aiming for, so this should not be an issue. The cable in the ground is very old, it is a combined cable consisting of a coax and a copper pair part. I am not sure how many layers of shielding it has.

newuser23 · Answer

Why use the outside box?&nbsp; Here is my installation. They left enough cable for me to run the Hub where I wanted it.&nbsp;

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Installing an external termination box properly

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