Know what you’ve got and where with a Fiber Network Audit

By Damon McKinney—Fiber Program Manager

Mike Abbott—Director of Engineering

Spencer Foster—Engineering Manager

You can’t be online without realizing the importance of AI and big data in the global economy. In fact, 99% of critical services providers acknowledge that continuous demand for AI and the push for internet for all will require upgrades to fiber optic networks .

As networks expand due to business acquisitions, being ready for new commercial opportunities and maintaining performance and uptime both rely on knowing what you’ve got in the ground and exactly where it is.

But fiber route information is often inaccurate, out-of-date, or nonexistent. A fiber network audit can help you minimize downtime, optimize network performance, and unlock new revenue streams by giving you precise, up-to-date information on your fiber assets.

The culprit: A lack of fiber network documentation

When documentation falls short on new builds, it’s often because the general contractor failed to update the engineer of record when real world conditions in the field caused adjustments to the original route plan. ?Ideally, route edits are communicated back via redlined construction drawings. But if that step is missed and information on the changes made only lives in the crew’s memories, those details are lost once they move on to the next job.

Fiber optic records for existing networks often don’t make the transition to a new route owner, or they weren’t accurately maintained to begin with. Operators purchasing new routes may only have a general idea of how much bandwidth is available and where exactly it runs.

No matter the cause, faulty fiber network documentation prevents network owners from accurately locating future outages, guiding other utility work near their route, and optimizing revenue.

The impact: Why conduct a fiber network audit

Knowing where your fiber is in the ground is the only way to avoid costly issues and to optimize your business. Non-existent or incorrect fiber network records can lead to:

System downtime + fiber damage. According to a report by the Uptime Institute , more than two-thirds of all outages cost companies more than $100,000, so there is a strong business case for avoiding preventable incidents.

• Meta’s March 2024 outage cost more than $100 million in revenue (with an even greater hit to their stock valuation)

• An Amazon glitch in 2021 cost the company an estimated $34 million

Besides the loss of revenue, no network provider wants to be a news story, especially when it impacts people in need. For example:

• In Wyoming last September, a cut to a fiber optic cable took down all the county phones in the courthouse, at the sheriff’s office and the police department.
• During the same month, a fiber network outage left several Nebraska counties without access to 911 services.

In the case of forced relocations to accommodate road construction or utility moves, not knowing where fiber cabling lies opens network operators to damage and downtime while slowing the progress of the infrastructure project.

Overspending and missed commercial opportunities. Inaccurate or missing fiber network documentation limits visibility to bandwidth that may be available for the operator’s customers. It’s hard to sell capacity you don’t know you have!?For example:

• Network Connex teams were deployed to run 5,000 feet of cable for one customer, only to discover that there was already new fiber plant in place on that route.
• During a fiber network audit for another customer, we found they were using only 2% of an 864-strand cable. This “found” capacity meant they could sell additional bandwidth without incurring new construction costs.

Utility damage + deployment delays.? The Common Ground Alliance , an organization that tracks damage data across the North American underground utility industry, identified “location errors” as the top root cause of damage , with inaccurate maps being a large part of the problem. When fiber network construction causes a utility strike, it not only stops work and causes the operator to incur additional costs, it also negatively impacts the community and damages the goodwill between the municipality and the operator/contractors.

• One fiber optic company working to expand high-speed internet access in South Carolina was forced to halt work after causing multiple gas leaks and water main breaks in suburban neighborhoods. The deployment schedule is at a standstill while they develop a corrective action plan and seek Public Works’ approval to restart construction.
• During Louisiana’s efforts to close the digital divide , legacy ISPs refused to share cable locations. Poor recordkeeping and inaccurately marked locations caused one company to strike underground infrastructure eight times as they buried 1,300+ miles of fiber.

Documenting fiber optic systems for a complete record

The overall goal of fiber auditing is to maximize the value of your network by delivering a consistent, reliable signal and being ready for future development. We help you achieve this by validating network information through:

Physical assessments. A fiber network audit compares route maps and records with real-life conditions. We open handholes and splice cases and investigate all network attributes between fiber termination panels, redlining the inaccuracies we find or confirming the documentation is correct. If no route maps exist, we can create them.

Report and punch list. Customers get a closeout package that includes a new map(s), photos, and a written summary of the physical network. We also provide a punch list of areas that need to be fixed or replaced.

Sharable records. To ease sharing, geographic data can be delivered in a KMZ file or in the customers’ own GIS application. Regardless of the format, records capture pictures and sequential footage numbers from cables for the most accurate location information. This record will be available for them to share with other entities, like local utilities, to prevent cable cuts in future, such as in the example below:

• A backhoe repairing a water line damaged our customer’s cable. When we mapped the entire undocumented network, we found that cable had mistakenly been buried just 12 inches deep (not the recommended 30) leading directly to the break. Going forward, the network operator can share accurate cable location data to help avoid future incidents.

Construction inspections. To avoid documentation and deployment issues before they’re buried under a couple of feet of dirt, we also offer on-site inspection services for new fiber route construction. Engaging our team helps spot issues before they impact the entire project. For example, the first two miles of a 10-mile route is typically where mistakes occur in deployment. Inspecting and relaying any concerns found to network operators and installation contractors can mitigate errors during the rest of the build, saving everyone time and money.

Gain the network visibility you need

As the world embraces 5G and smart city initiatives, having a clear understanding of your fiber network is more important than ever. Our fiber network audit customers engage us again and again. They tell us they appreciate our responsiveness and our flexibility to go when and where they need us to find their fiber. Above all, they know it costs less to document a fiber network accurately than it does to repair it after a preventable incident.

A fiber audit ensures that the infrastructure is ready to meet future demands, scale up for new technology, and support emerging markets. Find out more about our fiber network services and our professional services for complex network projects.