Fiber Optic Cable Coupon!

????????????According to the Fiber Broadband Association estimate, providers must place 417,373 miles by 2026, requiring the industry to grow 80% in under three years. Just make sure you pick the correct fiber cable for the right job, or it will cost you.

????????????How much do you know about fiber optic cable????

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Some in the fiber industry say it's small glass that transports light; you just need to know the count of fiber and if it is aerial or underground. For a general contractor, miles of conduit and fiber placed is vital to understanding a project's completion rate and financial performance. Time is money, but so is quality, performance, safety, and application, or you end up with rework and a hefty maintenance operation.?

The Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, 20.4 billion over 10 years, has standards that include network design and architecture, fiber connectivity, technical standards, and maintenance and upgrades. Technical measures surrounding fiber optic cable lead to today's newsletter because everyone approaches fiber cable differently. My focus is to help you make decisions by asking the right questions.

For example…

Considering miles of fiber placed and footage is the money maker, it is difficult to sit back and think about what kind of fiber is going into the ground. I encourage you to adjust your mindset a bit with a few quick points and costs to consider:

???Scroll down for a summary, but don’t forget to come back and read the fun stuff.

Environment:?

???Cost Impact: The most important consideration for a fiber cable should be the environment. Natural elements like heat, cold, water, and wind impact the fiber and light transported. The estimated average cost of a data center outage in 2016 was $740,357 every 95 minutes!

???Glass Half Full:?The dependency on fiber to serve education, communication, emergency services, and business makes it critical to identify and minimize risk.

Tinsel strength factors:?

???Cost Impact: Think of it this way, fiber is thin glass; if a person or mechanism pulls on the fiber cable exceeding the tinsel strength, the glass stretches, and the light has the same effect as a pinched water hose. At a cost estimate of $1.00 per foot, and 35k. Ft. on a reel, plus labor and time, a simple question would have saved a lot of money.

???Glass Half Full:?Factors like wind, ice, heat, and water can affect the cable's performance and signal quality. Tinsel strength provides support for these elements and impacts future maintenance considerations.

Bend radius:?

???Cost Impact: The bend radius is the minimum radius a fiber optic cable can bend without risking damage to the fibers inside the cable. If the bend radius is too small, the cables' fibers can be stressed, causing attenuation or signal loss. This can result in degraded signal quality, data transmission errors, and even complete signal loss. According to some industry estimates, the average cost of a single fiber maintenance ticket can range from around $250 to $500 or more, depending on the specific situation and the work required to resolve the issue.

???Glass Half Full:?With expected SLA times of 2 hours or less, microbends caused by exceeding the bend radius are some of the most challenging and costly troubleshooting maintenance tickets. Understanding the bend radius can reduce future outages.

Ribbon or Loose tube:?

???Cost Impact: This is all about strategy for efficiency based on the design. Time will cost you money if you place ribbon fiber in a fiber-to-the-home network or utilize loose tube fiber on backhaul routes. The industry average of completing a fiber optic splice can range from $50 to $150 per hour, depending on preparation, splicing, and testing to standards.

???Glass Half Full:?The network design should be considered when determining the type of fiber optic cable to acquire for future capacity and testing. Examples are centralized split, distributed split, small cell, etc.

Single Mode or Multimode:

???Cost Impact: Multi-mode fiber is estimated to cost 50% less than single-mode fiber at about $0.50 per foot but is not commonly used in the broadband industry due to distance. Transporting a lot of bandwidth across long distances to single-family homes requires single-mode fiber.

????Glass Half Full:?The fiber core is the main difference between the two. Multi-mode fiber has a larger fiber core, and as it bounces off the walls when it travels, it causes the light to spread out through the fiber, resulting in modal dispersion. As a result, the signal becomes weaker and distorted over longer distances, limiting the bandwidth and the maximum distance over which data can be transmitted. The more you know!

Standard fiber or microfiber:

???Cost Impact: Microfiber can hold double the amount of fiber on a reel, fits in smaller locations, and has lower losses, but has a higher sensitivity to the changes in the environment and cost about $1.00 - $5.00 per foot. Microfiber should be jetted, and not hand pulled. Standard fiber can transfer multiple modes of light, is simpler to handle, and is tougher in an outside plant environment, making it the ideal solution for backhaul or fronthaul transportation. Standard fiber can range from $0.15 to $1.00 per foot.

???Glass Half Full:?Splicing a standard fiber to microfiber requires training and pitch conversion to align the core between the two different size cables. Most splicers do not carry pitch conversion shoes; it is important to recognize this scenario and get in front of the situation by talking to your fiber supply distributor.

In summary, selecting the suitable fiber optic cable for a project is critical to ensure optimal performance, reduce maintenance costs, and minimize network outages. Several factors should be considered when choosing a fiber optic cable, including the environment where the cable will be installed, tinsel strength, bend radius, ribbon or loose tube, single-mode or multi-mode, and standard or microfiber. The cost impact of these factors should be carefully evaluated, as selecting the wrong fiber optic cable could result in significant financial losses. Some may remember the telephone going out when it rained, it may have affected a single home here and there, but a fiber going out in a storm or digging in the backyard would impact communication to 24, 48, 72, 144, 432, or 864 homes in an instant.

Overall, selecting the right fiber optic cable requires careful consideration and planning to ensure the project's long-term success. To make the best decision, work with qualified professionals, such as contractors, engineers, and fiber optic experts????who can provide guidance and support throughout the project. Additionally, it's essential to consider the network design and application, as this can influence the type of fiber optic cable needed.?

Finally, in later posts, I will discuss how providers have changed their approach to fiber and construction by increasing speed to market through advances in HDD drilling, plowing, microtrenching, FlexNAP, and DTAP.

Please feel free to share or comment below if you found this relevant and subscribe for more blog posts.

Glass Half Full,

Christopher | Fyooshen, Inc.