Fibre installation issue

[AZnCAZ]

My contract had recently come to an end and I've taken a new one out opting to upgrade to fibre. I had a Sky engineer visit last week to install the fibre, an Openreach engineer had already been to put a little box onto the front of my house (10 years old so an easy task I think as there was already wires to the property). I live in a terraced town house, with my main Sky Q box and hub/router on the middle floor in the room at the back of the house. Also have a mini box in the ground floor back room. The engineer didn't proceed with the installation as he said it was too difficult to install the ONT and run cables up to the first floor. Plus, I didn't want lots of mess and wires along skirting etc.

Prior to the engineer visit, I had noticed my neighbour's house also had an Openreach grey box — which he confirmed as being installed recently. His house is a slightly different configuration — with a study at the front, whereas ours has a kitchen. However he has his box and router in the same back room on the first floor, and said the engineer installed the ONT into the study and then it connects wirelessly. Now he may have this wrong so I need to question him again, as the engineer told me that a wireless connection from the ONT wasn't possible. Can anyone confirm that? If it turns out to be correct then it could be the answer to my problem! If not then as far as I can conclude, I have 2 options:

• Cancel the fibre contract and continue with the existing broadband.
• Have the ONT installed in the kitchen, by drilling through and running cables underneath the units and up through a worktop to a socket. Then bring the router down to the kitchen to connect to the ONT. I have room in the kitchen for this so wouldn't be the end of the world.

But, my router is currently connected to my Sky Q box via ethernet therefore I would have to rely on a WiFi connection — correct? Is this going to be detrimental to the current setup, as whilst my internet speed isn't amazing, we do have a fairly reliable TV connection.

Need some advice please, thanks.

[jamesn123]

@AZnCAZ 

Your neighbour is 100% incorrect. The ONT has no wireless functionality. The fibre cable comes into it then an ethernet cable comes out of it into the router. 

[TimmyBGood]

@AZnCAZ 

The current Openreach ONT is this one: left to right along the bottom that's power button, power supply, ethernet to ISP router and fibre optic from external CSP (Customer Service Point, aka the 'Openreach grey box')

As @jamesn123 indicates, while there is such a thing as a 'residential gateway' which combines an ONT with other functionality such as WiFI, these are not deployed in the UK Openreach-ISP business model

[AZnCAZ]

Thanks @TimmyBGood @jamesn123 that's cleared that up for me.

So, with regard to disconnecting my Sky Q box from the ethernet cable and running on WiFi, would that be recommended?

I just fear that I proceed with fibre but then end up with problems with my TV.

[jamesn123]

@AZnCAZ 

Depends how far away the Q box is really. Have you considered just running an ethernet cable from the fibre entry point? Then you can connect your router in a more centralised spot while still leaving the Openreach ONT at the entry point. 

[AZnCAZ]

So the fibre entry would be at the front of the house and would have to come into the kitchen at the front. The Sky Q box and router is currently at the back of the house and up a flight of stairs. I'm not in a mansion btw, just an average townhouse! However it's a fair distance to navigate with no easy routes for wires.

[jamesn123]

@AZnCAZ 

Afraid its down to Openreach as to where they bring the cable in and connect the ONT. You can make a request but its at the decision of Openreach if they decide to do it.