Ken, It really is WAAAAAAAAAAY easier than wireless. Assuming you do some sort of home renovation, you've seen 100 different ways to build a wall or do electrical work. Sure there is code, but even behind code you have a large variance from one house to the next. The design is done on some GIS, we use 3GIS. You simply have a guy design it and then the splicer does his job while the install guy does his job. It's a lot of daily repeats.
On Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 5:28 PM Ken Hohhof <[email protected]> wrote: > Fiber sounds so pure and simple and foolproof, and long haul fiber mostly > is. But with all these variations on how FTTH is done, I feel like the > saying about you don’t want to see how the sausage is made. > > > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Adam Moffett > *Sent:* Monday, August 18, 2025 4:22 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > > Interesting. So they're taking a bundle of microducts, cutting away some > jacket in the middle and coupling a single conduit to one in the bundle? > Like one of these things? > > > > What do they do with the part they opened up before they rebury it? Wrap > it up in tape? Rebury it as-is? > > > > [image: MicroDuct is bundled into an easy-to-handle unit known as > FuturePath. FuturePath can be installed just like standard duct: open > trench, aerial, directional drilled, plowed, or pulled into an existing > conduit. When branching individual MicroDucts, there is no need for a > special branching box. No special tools or equipment are required for > installation.] > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Mike Hammett < > [email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, August 18, 2025 3:23 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > > It's becoming increasingly common to install a 24-way multiduct through > the easement, fed from a neighborhood-scale handhole. The drop installer > digs up the multiduct, couples a drop duct to one of the 24 microducts in > the main conduit, then installs that conduit to the NID. Buries the whole > thing. They then blow the fiber from that neighborhood handhole to the NID, > splice it in, and call it a day. > > > > > -- > Mike Hammett > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Carl Peterson" <[email protected]> > To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2025 2:17:09 PM > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > > This might now work in NY where I seem to remember Adam operates, but > Fidium did an interesting half assed fiber deployment in my neighborhood > where they installed secondary drop ducts in the right of way and just left > them stubbed up underground. So say 1 ped which feeds the properties on > either side + tw drop ducts in either direction each which stubs up between > the next two houses so ~ 8-10 subs per ped. When they need to install, they > just hook up a compressor to the sub duct and it blows the dirt up in the > air exposing the drop duct. > > > On Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 12:07 PM Adam Moffett < [email protected] > > wrote: > > > > > > Well, you can't trespass with your service drop cable. If it crosses > someone else's property it needs an easement. I think most commonly you > place a handhole at the property line so you can hit two houses from one. > One box per house might be necessary in some cases, and there might be > cases where you can hit more than two from one box, but not every time. > > > They might not have a splitter in that box. It might just provide a > pulling point to get the service drop from there down the street to another > box where the splitter is. It depends on the density and whether they'd > rather load all the costs up front or push more of the costs into the > installation phase. > > > When we were small-fries we would push the cost to the installation so > we're not spending money on customers we never sell. I'm at a bigger outfit > now, and they'll make sure there's a splitter port near every customer, and > each one gets documented as to which house it's for. They'll send info to > the drop contractor telling them exactly which splitter location to send > the drop cable to, and what path it should take. The light budget is set so > you could add a 1x4 at the house.....a problem we run into is houses > divided into multiple rentals are not always obvious up front, and you find > out about them only when the installer is on site. > > > As someone said, there are a zillion ways to do it, and someone does it > every which way you can imagine. > > > -Adam > > > > > > > > From: AF < [email protected] > on behalf of Ken Hohhof < > [email protected] > > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2025 12:13 PM > To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' < [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > OK, that helps. I assume MST avoids every installer having the equipment > and training to do fusion splices. > > > > But I’m still not understanding in an underground scenario, with a > handhole at every passing, what do you splice the drop cable to, and where? > Is there a pre installed fiber stub in every handhole for that customer, > going back to a splitter at another handhole down the street? > > > > > From: AF < [email protected] > On Behalf Of Josh Luthman > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2025 10:40 AM > To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group < [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > > Splitters are waaay small. Smaller than a standard house key. > > > > What you are looking at is an MST terminal, looks like 8 ports. There can > be a splitter inside of that yes. You can have the MST with 8 fibers splice > to another 8 fibers or you can have what is in your picture have 1 fiber > in, split 1x8, and then have 8 ports out for the installers to simply plug > in to. > > > > If that MST is a 1x8, you can have a 1x4 before it, between the MST and > OLT. That makes for OLT -> 1x4 splitter -> 1x8 splitter/MST. That is still > a 1x32 split. > > > > On Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM Ken Hohhof < [email protected] > wrote: > > > > I thought PON used like 16:1 or 32:1 splitters, and in this photo, I > assumed that’s what the black boxes were. > > > > > From: AF < [email protected] > On Behalf Of Josh Luthman > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2025 10:16 AM > To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group < [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] how is underground FTTH done? > > > > Don't assume that about aerial. That's not how it works. Don't think about > it in terms of taps. > > > > Generally speaking, installations are PON. What we do is design the fiber > so we can hook up 100% of homes. We assign a color to every house. > > > > The first thing to think about is that you have to access the individual > strand out of the cable, be it 12/24/48/144/etc. That is done with a > SpliceCase or you splice on an MST for an ez mode plug. At Imagine we only > splice - no connectors, no MST, no plugs, etc. > > > Second thing is that when there's a cable up and down the road, you just > need access to it through the case/MST from the house. This can be from the > house to the handhole (concrete box in the ground) or you can run it from > the house to the handhole through some 1.25" duct to the next handhole > where there is one case. > > > > I can show you what it looks like if you don't get it yet. > > > > On Mon, Aug 18, 2025 at 11:11 AM Ken Hohhof < [email protected] > wrote: > > > > The fiber train left without me, so maybe someone here can help me > understand how the physical installation is typically done. > > > > I’ve seen aerial fiber and it’s pretty straightforward, I see splitters up > on poles maybe at each intersection, and to hook up a customer, they run a > drop wire from the nearest splitter to the house. If take rate is better > than expected or a new house is built, worst case I assume they just add a > splitter. > > > > But I also see FTTH deployments going in where they are boring for duct in > the ROW and putting a little handhole in front of every house. How does > this work? Are they using taps instead of splitters? If not, when they get > a customer install order, do they pull his drop cable through all the > handholes to a splitter? That doesn’t seem feasible. Are they dedicating a > strand to each house and pulling the main cable out each time and splicing > to that strand? And what if they estimate the take rate wrong, or a new > house is built? > > > > There’s probably a simple explanation and once someone enlightens me it > will be a Duh! moment. > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > > > > -- > > > > > Carl Peterson > > > PORT NETWORKS > > 401 E Pratt St, Ste 2553 > > Baltimore, MD 21202 > > (410) 637-3707 > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > [email protected] > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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