Installation fiber optic cable

Some of the best fiber cable laying procedure tips are listed below: Plan your route thoroughly: Plan all cable routes before starting to lay cable, and be as detailed as possible.

Ensure the cable will not be unnecessarily exposed to hazards. If the cable does need to be exposed to hazards, install extra cable protection in high-risk areas. In all, conduit runs should not be more than feet and have no more than two degree bends. Support the cable: Cables should be protected from hanging freely or pressing against sharp edges.

Install conduit for support where necessary, especially in cases where the cable may be exposed to stress or subjected to tighter turns. Avoid overbending: Every cable will have values for minimum bend radius — typically the minimum radius is equal to or greater than 10 times the diameter of the cable.

Do not exceed these values or kink the cable. Avoid sharp conduit edges: If you are pulling cable in conduit, ensure the interior conduit transitions are smooth. Sharp transitions with edges can damage the cable. When possible, use a flexible conduit to reduce risk to the cable. Avoid overstressing: Every cable will have maximum tensile loading values — do not exceed these values. If you are ever in doubt of the recommended values or are concerned that you may be exceeding them, contact the manufacturer.

Avoid crushing or impact: Do not install or store the cable in a way that it will endure crushing pressure or sudden impacts. When installing cable, protect it from the exterior force by installing it in a high-quality conduit. The National Electrical Code states that conduit should be made with metallic tubing or rigid polyvinyl-chloride plastic, both of which can help prevent crush or impact damage. When storing cable, do not use cable ties to bind them , as these can place sharp stress on the cables — instead, use soft hook and loop ties.

Monitor vertical rise: All fiber optic cables state whether or not they can be used for vertical applications. If they are, they provide a calculated maximum vertical rise value. This tells the user how much the cable can be pulled vertically before needing support. Do not exceed maximum vertical rise value, otherwise, you may damage the cable.

Monitor load during pulls: Monitor tensile loading during pulls, and avoid pulling long lengths in one direction. Also, if running cable vertically, start from the top and pull the cable down to avoid applying an excessive load to the cable. Fiber-optic internet connections are by far the fastest and most reliable type of internet connection you can choose, but getting those precious beams of internet light to your devices can be quite an ordeal.

How does fiber-optic internet work? How to self-install fiber How to get fiber to your area Where is fiber internet expanding? Fiber internet forever! Fiber-optic cables are made from thin fibers of glass or plastic that transmit information as pulses of light across long distances.

Compared to metal wires, they can carry much more data, they are much less prone to data loss, and they are completely immune to electromagnetic interference as you might get from solar storms. In fiber-optics, information is transmitted as pulses of light.

The inside of a fiber-optic tube acts like a mirror, bouncing the light off of the inside walls and down the tube, toward its destination. Since information is literally moving at the speed of light, you can move a lot of data really fast.

There are lots of different types of fiber-optic cables—some are more durable, some travel longer distances—but all of them transfer data quickly and reliably.

Fiber to the home FTTH not only gives you the fastest, most reliable connection currently possible but also saves internet service providers ISPs money in the long run with much less maintenance and fewer customer complaints. As such, fiber internet plans are often the same price or cheaper than other types of connections in the same area. The last mile of connection is usually filled by coaxial cables, phone lines, or wireless transmissions. This is the difference between fiber internet and other types of internet.

Fiber customers have fiber all the way from their home to the rest of the internet infrastructure. Cable or DSL customers will have fiber most of the way between their house and the rest of the network, but the last mile to their home will be made over coaxial cables or copper phone lines.

These older technologies become the bottleneck, making your speeds lower, your latency higher, and your connection much less reliable. So, why should you care about fiber? The main advantages of fiber are its high download speeds, symmetrical upload speeds, reliability, and scalability.

Since fiber is used to connect entire continents with billions of internet users, it should come as no surprise that fiber is the fastest choice for connecting your home and all your devices. Most fiber plans nowadays offer 1 Gbps 1, Mbps speeds, which is more than most people can use—even if they invite all their friends over to use their Wi-Fi.

Many cable internet plans can also reach 1 Gbps, but the two technologies are by no means equals. Cable speeds will probably continue to increase as we push the technology to its physical limits. As home internet speeds increase, the gap between cable and fiber is only going to get wider. Cable download speeds are roughly on par with fiber, but uploading on a cable connection reaches only a fraction of those speeds. Fiber, on the other hand, has symmetrical upload and download speeds.

This means that if you can download at 1 Gbps, you can upload at 1 Gbps as well. Most internet activities, like watching video, reading the news, or just web surfing, require very little upload speed, so download speed is the important factor.

However, as more people start using the internet for video conferencing and livestreaming, upload speed becomes more important. Nothing comes close to fiber in terms of upload speed. Most types of internet are vulnerable to certain types of interference. Here are some examples:. Since fiber uses light instead of electricity to transmit its data, it uses much higher frequencies and loses less energy over long distances.

This means that fiber can carry more information much farther than is physically possible across metal cables. As the amount of internet traffic in an area increases, dark fibers can simply be turned on to provide additional capacity, rather than having to dig up the cables and lay bigger ones. Although fiber has many advantages over other types of internet, there are several challenges to widespread fiber reaching your home.

Much of this cost is simply digging the trenches to bury the cables underground. Unfortunately, digging a trench to a small neighborhood or a single house gives a much smaller payoff.

This is why the last mile of the network is often built with cheaper and less reliable technology. Unfortunately, this experiment failed spectacularly, with cables becoming damaged and even popping up out of the road, tripping pedestrians in Louisville, Kentucky.

Google also had to pay to repair all the roads damaged by the failed installation. Although fiber is currently the best long-term solution for residential internet, many other competing technologies offer connections that, while not as fast or reliable as fiber, are still enough to meet the immediate needs of most internet users. While these alternatives make sense in the short-term, they can have serious consequences down the road.

For example, after the bankruptcy of Frontier Communications , the company noted that one of the major factors that led to its bankruptcy was an underinvestment in fiber. Rather, it was a choice by the company to focus on short-term goals instead of investing in the future.

The city in the US with the current fastest average internet speed is Cedar Falls, Iowa, whose municipal fiber network can deliver speeds over five-times faster than the nearest commercial ISP. Fiber cables can and do jump from unmonitored pulleys. The minimum crew should have one person monitoring the pulling equipment, one monitoring the supply reel, and one coordinating all involved in the installation.

Use proper tools and techniques. A vehicle for pulling the cable is not a proper tool, unless a breakaway swivel is also used. Proper techniques depend on the cable design and the location of the installation. For example, proper technique is pulling a cable into a conduit. Proper technique is placing or laying a cable in a cable tray or raceway. Use fiber optic cable lubricant. Lubricate the cable when installing in conduits.

Lubrication reduces the pulling load and the chance of breakage. The lubricant has to be compatible with the cable jacket material. Train installation personnel. Properly train and instruct the people who will do the installation. Proper training reduces expense through reduction of breakage and excess attenuation. Use the figure 8 technique. Divide long pulls into several shorter pulls, using the figure 8 technique for storing cable at the intermediate locations.

The cable is placed on the ground in a figure 8 pattern. This pattern is large, at least feet from top to bottom of the pattern. When all the cable is placed in this pattern, the pattern is lifted and flipped over, so that the loose end is on top.

This loose end is pulling into the next section of conduit or duct. This technique prevents twisting in the cable. Comply with vertical rise limits. Know and observe the maximum vertical rise distance limit.

Exceeding this limit can result in fiber breakage, excess attenuation, and, in loose tube cables, fibers sliding from cables. Cables in vertical installations that are longer than the vertical rise limit must be tied off at distances less than this limit. Loose tube cables must be looped. Allow for thermal expansion and contraction. In outdoor installations, a common practice of 2. Failure to allow for thermal expansion can result in increased attenuation and breakage of fibers. For tough installations, use loose buffer tube fiber cables.

Loose tube cables can be more forgiving of abuse than tight buffer cables. The reason is that the excess length of fiber in the buffer tube and the ability of fiber to move from low stress region to higher stress region. Observe the temperature operating range. Install a cable in locations in which the temperature range imposed is within the temperature operating range. Violation of the temperature operating range can result in excessively high attenuation. Cap or seal water blocked cables. Cap off or seal the ends of cables with water blocking gel or grease.

These materials can flow out of the cable, causing maintenance problems in cable end boxes. Protect fibers and buffer tubes. Confine fibers and buffer tubes in protective structures, such as splice trays and cable end boxes. Fibers and buffer tubes do not have sufficient strength to resist breakage due to normal handling of copper cables. Loop vertically installed loose tube cables. Install vertical, unfilled, loose tube cables with loops to prevent the fiber from slipping to the bottom of a vertical run.

If this happens, attenuation can increase and fibers eventually break. Check continuity and attenuation. Check the continuity and attenuation of the cable before each operation. Such marking will alert electricians to the nature of the cable.

Make As-Built Data logs. Make as-built data logs on all cables. Keep these data available to those who will perform maintenance and troubleshooting. These data logs should include both insertion loss measurement and OTDR measurements. Safety precaution — no food, drink or smoke. Do not eat, drink, or smoke in any area in which bare glass fiber is created. Bare glass fibers can cause splinters which are very difficult to find and remove.

Safety precaution — do not look into fiber without checking status. Never look into a fiber, cable, or connector unless you know for sure that there is no laser light in the fiber.

For extensive work with fiber optics, safety glasses with IR filter is recommended. Leave service loops. Leave cable and fiber service loops everywhere.

You will regret not doing so. Service loops allow you to pull excess cable or fiber into a location where you have experienced a problem. It is much cheaper to pull in a service loop than to replace an entire run of fiber cable. Segregate or isolate the work area. Rope off or otherwise isolate the area of cable installation to prevent access to unauthorized or untrained personnel. This will avoid safety problems such as fiber splinters and unintentional abuse.

For direct burial installations, the cable should lie flat in a trench, free of any large stones or boulders that may deform the cable. Do not allow vehicles to drive over a cable. Ensure that the proper cable length has been installed before cutting off excess cable. Avoid placing cable reels on their sides or subjecting them to shock from dropping. Fiber optic cables should be placed in their own dedicated ducts or trays. Do not mix copper cable and fiber cable in the same ducts or trays.

After the fiber optic cable is installed into a duct or innerduct, end plugs should be installed to provide an effective water seal. The ducts and innerducts should be kept free of debris and maintained watertight at all times. Ducts and innerducts should be sized to meet present and future cable installation requirements. The fiber pulling rope or tape should be sequentially marked foot or meter for easy identification of distance.