FTTH expansion in the hamlet or external locations of a community

Dear everyone, dear community and those interested and affected by FTTH expansions,

With this post I wanted to initiate an exchange of experiences regarding how things are going in your communities if you have already heard about a fiber optic network expansion. FTTH expansion was allowed to benefit.

Therefore my question to you. Is there actually an expansion plan concept for how the hamlets of a community can be expanded with FTTH? In concrete terms, this means that the municipality without the outlying areas has been expanded and has already been able to benefit from FTTS or FTTH, but the hamlets have been left out for the time being….. e.g. the municipalities of Hinwil and Wetzikon were able to benefit from a ‘follow-up’ expansion (half a year later).

Or does the municipality, partly Swisscom, have to pay a certain Betrag for the expansion of the only one? Villages with settlements in the municipal area (due to additional investments in these areas). How did that work for you if you also live in a hamlet? Or does it all happen ‘randomly’ ;-)?

For example, here at my location in Auslikon between Pfäffikon and Wetzikon, we ‘only’ have VDSL or. Vectoring technology on the move. A month ago, a new fiber optic cable was pulled to a location here by Cablex, which then installed a 5G antenna (I assume Swisscom?) on the roof. If only a feeder had been built. In my opinion, the fiber optic cable would also have to be managed by a CO…. The synergies have probably been missed….. What a shame.

Greetings to the community.

Robby

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@robbieB
Nope, you don’t have an antenna from us. I don’t see any new fiber optics (except for the PUS). Cablex doesn’t just build for Swisscom.

And Auslikon is more than just a hamlet. I have a hamlet with 2 buildings that will not receive any fiber for the time being (or definitely) due to the high development costs. You will certainly expand the number of NE, but I don’t see any planning data yet. FFTH on demand is also not possible because there is no FTTS nearby.

Auslikon is in the connection network of the Pfäffikon headquarters. The fibers come from there, even though Wetzikon would be closer in distance (that’s just the way it is). That means a long journey with obstacles and corresponding costs. I don’t know how long the PUS will survive there. I don’t have an expiration date yet. It’s good that it already has fiber optics, but not enough to be able to supply the “hamlet” of Auslikon. That’s why the feeder train from Pfäffikon is needed, which may not be so easy to implement due to the size of the route or pipes.

If the municipality (responsible municipal council) approaches Swisscom via the construction service and any planned construction work between Pfäffikon and Auslikon can be combined, then things could go faster.

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Roger G.
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG, Product Manager Wireline Access

@Roger G Thank you for this background information! Yes, you’re right, I checked, Salt gave the order to Cablex to build the 5G antenna. As the owner in the perimeter, I received a copy of the order log 🙂

On FTTH expansion. First of all, I have the official expression of the Pol. Pfäffikon municipality used for Auslikon, so hamlet is correct. My guess would have been that you would need almost 3km of glass cables (and there are quite a few) from the feeder (obviously depending on where the drop location is defined). This is apparently the biggest bottleneck in the context of the effort for Swisscom. Afterwards in the village itself, the effort should be manageable… But this effort has to be tackled by SC at some point, at least when the PUS has to be shut down. At the latest in 2030 ;-). But it is interesting that other pipes, e.g. wastewater, then end up in Wetzikon;-D. They would have planned more pragmatically via CO in Unterwetzikon. No matter, my location here is still in the municipality of Pfäffikon.

Yes, I regret that the community treats the issue in a ‘neglectful’ manner. Let’s see how the ‘story’ continues here…

Anyway, thank you again for your answer.

LG,

Robby

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4 months later

@Roger G Does Auslikon have to wait until 2030? There are some construction sites for new properties in the construction zone, won’t these be connected directly with glass? In this context, you would also carry out the feeder migration for the settlement, right? It is unfortunate that no glass has been pulled ‘underground’ in the entire settlement ‘far and wide’. According to the cadastral plan only copper cables……

I’m currently thinking about ordering the 5G booster because I could at least ‘expand’ it to at least 400 Mbit here at my location from the current approx. 95 Mbit 😉 Now I see from the checker that SC ‘only’ max 190 Mbit is possible. There’s no big “Gump” to the top. It would be cool if there could be a follow-up to the Pfäffikon municipality’s connection network.

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@robbieB

The municipality of Dürnten with all districts, outer hamlets and remote houses has been completely expanded to FTTH from the Hinwil headquarters with great effort (excavation work, feeder migration, etc.) in the last few months, just like Rüti from Rapperswil. We were able to make the technology change 4 months after “inventorying” the connections.

Some people in the community suspect that the reason for this complete expansion of all connections supplied by the Rüti headquarters is that the Rüti headquarters should be closed and the copper network will be dismantled….. As I said, that’s a guess!!

The expansion was carried out by Multinet on behalf of Swisscom; as far as I know, the municipality had no influence on the expansion.

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@Plereippeg66 wrote:

Some people in the community suspect that the reason for this complete expansion of all connections supplied by the Rüti headquarters is that the Rüti headquarters should be closed and the copper network will be dismantled….. As I said, that’s a guess! !

Yes, that can certainly be the case, because there are some headquarters in Switzerland where the rental agreement for the property has been terminated (new building), or the building has been sold and is no longer used as a headquarters. Either the copper connections are moved to another one (if the distance allows) or they are migrated to glass straight away.

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Roger G.
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG, Product Manager Wireline Access

Well, it’s impossible to say today whether 2030 will be enough… or whether there will never be fiber optics in distant hamlets and this will be via a wireless solution.

We also have a few hamlets in the community where I live and these were not taken into account during the current feeder migration. As long as there is a copper line to the control center, 120mbps arrives there with the booster, which means GV24 can be met. There will probably never be fiber optic there and the same will be the case in other locations.

PS: But Auslikon is bigger than a hamlet. We have often seen that this is a blank spot in the area. And things aren’t getting any better at the moment (no planning data)

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Roger G.
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG, Product Manager Wireline Access

Maybe there are still too few Swisscom employees living in Auslikon, which is really not a remote hamlet and is almost integrated with Kempten/Wetzikon, but that could change in the future 🙂

And a future mobile phone antenna, which would then have to be connected with GF anyway, could perhaps also help.

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Hobby-Nerd ohne wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten zur Swisscom

@Werner do you know something that I don’t know? 😇

And it is obvious that Auslikon stands between “Stüäl and Bänk”, nevertheless around 440.NE can be registered..and a DSLAM a.k.a. ‘external control center’ was built in 2011. After almost 14 years, this DSLAM could be dismantled and replaced with glass… Why not plan another feeder migration for this location in the next 2 years?

@Plereippeg66

Lucky you, the ZüriOberland is still in scope 🤩👍. But not with us, as our location would be connected to the Unterwetzikon headquarters 🙈

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@Roger G Feels like a ‘copper oasis’….anyway Thanks and yes, it’s a shame, I assume it may be due to this unfortunate constellation of the glass ‘stretch’ from Hittnauerstr. 20, almost in the center of Pfäffikon to Auslikon, which is closer to Wetzikon… oh man 🙃

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11 days later

Last Friday at lunchtime I observed that (the network construction partner) Axians was on site (at the DSLAM) with 2 vans….. took recordings (photos), etc. I now assume that they took an inventory, as well as the Location / route to the individual. Properties? etc. analyzed. Unfortunately I couldn’t contact you for further information 😞 Nevertheless, maybe it’s a good omen, I hope so 🙂

Let’s see what comes out.

Cheerz

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10 days later

@Roger G

When analyzing the network plans (Swisscom - cadastral plan) via network information for my community of Pfäffikon, I noticed that we are the only region in our local area of ​​Auslikon without mCAN! I was amazed when other external locations of the community, even a location in Hermatswil far away from the community (also part of the political community), were equipped with mCAN. I can’t believe it, they’re even smaller than my town and get FTTS g.Fast. 😞 Somehow I can’t shake the thought that we’ve been left out here, almost ‘off the radar’. Have we simply been forgotten? 😉

Short update on possible construction plans from the municipality for my town here: looks rather bleak because there are no road renovations planned. Nevertheless, advance information will be communicated to all stakeholders (including communications companies such as Swisscom) if the road should be renovated. However, if you look at the street renovation on Schulhausstrasse last year, you knew about it, but didn’t take the opportunity to use synergies to lay glass pipes in the sewer pipes. That’s unfortunate then.

In this respect, I sensed a certain negative attitude, even though I had seen the network construction colleagues from ‘Axians’ at the DSLAM distributor (thought that it might be a sign of preparation for a possible expansion plan, which would then be discussed with the community) :/

A question spontaneously comes to mind, there are always complaints about insecurities regarding tight space conditions in the sewerage channels and DP. Isn’t an initial pipe analysis carried out by SC in the community before the network expansion project is started?

Cheerio,

Robby

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@robbieB You’re simply asking yourself too many questions and 99% of them are pointless.

Sometimes it can be a small thing that prevents the expansion. I had many discussions with the planners and there was always a reason. In the end it’s about money. Anything that costs a lot goes backwards 😉

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@5018 I wouldn’t exactly say it’s pointless in my opinion, but respect your opinion. I am aware that the projects, among other things (the greatest weighting), are prioritized based on the risk, i.e. financial effort. It is simply special that a far(er) remote town/settlement on a hill above mine (the same community), which is closer to CO, was developed. There was probably a reason for it (including permits? etc). “It is what it is”, we just have to be patient here. Have a nice WE everyone.

Cheerio

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@robbieB is not meant personally. I’m always a bit more direct and clear 😉 It’s fun to think about things and speculate. You just shouldn’t expect anything to change as a result. Swisscom’s network construction has always been under great pressure, as everyone naturally wants to have the latest, best technology immediately and for good reasons. When stories come along that make everything even more expensive, then it just takes longer and longer.

There was once a mayor who accused my dear ex-colleagues of being personally responsible for the extinction of the community because he hadn’t installed fiber optics in the village x years ago. What can you say 😕 Smile and get through it.

My Anschluss is a 130/40 MBit/s VDSL Anschluss and I have to say, I can live with that very well. Expansion to FTTH will probably only be in 2026/2027. And will something fundamental change then? No.

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No topic, I also think it’s great from you 😇👍 That’s why there are such platforms within the community to exchange topics and perhaps discuss them controversially. But you’re right, there are such “nonsense” local councilors who, IMHO, are not that keen on the dramatics and technology. But unfortunately you hear such a statement often. I don’t really care about modern infrastructure in the municipality (area), although it is part of the GR’s performance goal… that you have UPC or Sunrise via HFC is completely sufficient. Well, what can you say about that? I prefer competition on the infrastructure with dozens of different providers, not just wholesale providers😉. Anyway… life goes on 🙂

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@robbieB You’re not completely alone in the area. On the map you can see that in the entire area, including the eastern part of Kempten, the connections are still connected to Outdoor PUS.

RogerG_0-1721400570792.png

For whatever reason, no mCAN was installed. The only way I can explain it is that the FTTS expansion in favor of FTTH was no longer planned there. And then the WEKO story happened and now you’re at the back again because feeders across Switzerland have to be added first.

The photos of the PUS were taken because it will then be removed with FTTH, but the copper cables that may still be necessary are spliced ​​into a sleeve in the shaft in front of the PUS. So only the possible construction measures were pre-recorded, as we will dismantle all PUS.

A little tip: The whole thing could be sped up if the property owner where the PUS is on it terminates the rental agreement. Or better yet, plan a building or something there so that the PUS would have to go away as soon as possible. A declaration that this is a nature conservation issue could also help. Since we will no longer be building a new PUS, FTTH would have to be planned there asap.

RogerG_1-1721400953820.png

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Roger G.
Swisscom (Schweiz) AG, Product Manager Wireline Access

@Roger G Thank you very much for the useful and very informative background information. Exactly, as you said, it’s an unfortunate situation, but on the other hand we have VDSL, which is better than hanging on an overhead line or an ADSL Anschluss somewhere.

And regarding the property on which the PUS is located, I cannot, with the best will in the world, imagine that the property owner (possibly a farmer) will unilaterally terminate the ‘lucrative’ contract with Swisscom 😉

Unfortunately, the PUS was built about 100 m too high up as the crow flies. If it had been built further towards the lake, it might have been called into question with the revised nature conservation guidelines for Lake Pfäffikersee (stronger moor protection).

I thank you anyway. Patience is in order here, at least we were also “in focus” of the SC.

N.B.: Nice photo that you documented there; You have chosen a nice place for the PUS 😉

Nice WE,

Robby

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@5018 wrote:

The photo looks like Google Street view.

@5018 As already written above, the commissioned network builder ‘Axians’ was on site and carried out a location analysis including photo documentation. In my opinion, that would have to come from there. I assume that the @Roger G also requested the material👀 regarding further planning and the PUS Lifecycle topic, and was allowed to post it publicly here (non-confidentially). 😇

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