New build house with OpenReach box in the wall

[Cmbrookes]

So I've just become a Sky customer. Got the keys for my new build house and luckily enough just as I pulled up to the house, Royal Mail delivered my sky router. Anyway, I noticed attached to the wall inside is an OpenReach box and it was switched on. Can anyone tell me if this becomes redundant once I connect to sky? Not even sure why it's installed when it's a new build house.

[Mr+Slant]

Its the ONT for the FTTP connection and Openreach pay the builders to install it. Connect port 4 (labelled WAN) on the Sky router to it.

[Cmbrookes]

Thanks a lot. So it's definitely needed even when I've got my sky router set up? For now I've switched it off at the socket until I'm in the house full time, is this ok?

[Mr+Slant]

Yes, it terminates the optical fibre (FTTP) coming into your house and provides an ethernet connection for the router. You might not have noticed but you won't have a telephone socket in the new-build, it all comes through the FTTP connection and the router.

Leave the ONT powered up is my advice. If its connected OK then the Power and PON LEDs should be green, LOS will be off and so will LAN until you connect the router.

The ONT uses bugger all power, something like 1.5W when not in use.

[TimmyBGood]

@Cmbrookes 

If Sky have supplied you with FTTC over the phone line then the ONT isn't required: however what's supposed to happen is in a property with 'full fibre' any ISP should provision FTTP.  It's actually somewhat unusual for a new build with an ONT to even have a copper phone line and conventional master socket.

[Mr+Slant]

Openreach haven't provisioned copper on new builds with fibre since 2020. Edit - that's any new-builds which were begun since then, builders have a tendency to put the footings in and leave it like that for months when building regs are about to change as then the building only has to comply with the rules at the time.

It simply doesn't happen now as there will be no copper on the estate, it'll all be underground optical CBTs.

[Nikita23]

Can I plug my sky broadband into a normal plug and not the open reach as my open reach is in a cupboard and I can't put my Wi-Fi and house phone in there but need to connect my house phone to the back of my sky broadband 

[TimmyBGood]

@Nikita23 

If your property is supplied with FTTP through an ONT then no, connecting the Hub to a wall socket will not work (and as you've found, wall sockets don't work for telephone handsets)

Why developers choose to specify cupboard space as a location for the ONT is frankly a mystery: we can only assume they don't live in the properties they design.

[TimmyBGood]

@Nikita23 

One potential (though expensive) workaround is to use a pair of Powerline network adapters to permit the Hub to be in a different place to the ONT, although for faster FTTP this creates a potential speed bottleneck.  

A much cheaper option is to use an ethernet cable, which retains full speed but probably requires creating a hole somewhere.

Some new build properties may be prewired with ethernet sockets for this purpose.