This quandary has perplexed me for some time.
When they installed fibre optic cables down domestic streets how did they get cable to the house. I have no recollection of anyone in the last 30 years digging up any gardens or driveways to install a cable from the pavement/sidewalk to the home.
It’s a bloody mystery
Zigs
When I had FTTH installed at my last house in Colorado, the fiber was trenched less than a foot deep from the back property easement to my house. I didn't see it done, but the result looked a LOT like how some water sprinkler lines are put in. There is a machine that slices the ground vertically with a head at the end under the ground some distance that takes cable from the surface to the bottom of the cut. The vertical cut is mostly for the tooling and quickly closes back over. The cut in the ground was less than an inch wide and the ground just closed back up.
Ok. A tooling device can cut a inch wide trench for the cable through the soil. What about all the houses with tarmac/paved entrances? I understand there must have been a way that makes logical sense but I’m struggling to think of way this could have been done without me noticing. We’re talking about millions of homes and how did they connect the cable to the main line running under the pavement/sidewalk without ripping it up.
I believe all the installations that I've seen have had soil up to the house somewhere. If not, then they must go under or over impediments.
Ok thanks. I must have missed all that hard work. A labourer back twenty thirty years ago was paid around 75-150 GBP per day so one cable company that has say 60,000 customers must have paid stupid money just to get this new tech to its customers! I understand the government may have offset this to bring this country up to speed but still that’s a hefty whack! I haven’t even included all the other staff involved sales, engineers, surveyors etc etc etc.
Hi @ziggelflex
In many locations, the final leg of the FTTH is done with overhead cables and not underground.
In fact, this is common, because of the factors you point out. It is cheap and fast to run the fiber overhead from the street to the building; and in fact that is generally how it is done in most parts of the world today, including where I live now.
I do recognise it’s possible due to its successful implementation. Just saw nothing. I’m not one for missing a trick, or though maybe on this occasion I did.
@ziggelflex ....... I appreciate that you have marked this topic solved but, like you, I'm in the UK so I thought I'd add my two cents.
Here in the UK providers offer two types of fibre connection, namely, FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet [in the street]) and FTTP (Fibre To The Premises).
When you order a faster connection you buy either FTTC or FTTP.
If it's FTTC then the fibre is from the central hub in the city/town to your cabinet in the street and then it's put over your existing copper pair for the final few feet into your house/office. They may also need to change your router at that time to facilitate the higher speed.
If it's FTTP then the glass media is put all the way into your premises into a ONT (Optical Network Terminal) before onward cabling to your router. The ONT will be installed at that time so you'll have a new box powered by mains with flashing lights on it.
So if you've got FTTC that's why you didn't see a new fibre optic cable run into your premises. Check your bill or account to see what service you've got.
Hope that helps.
While I believe that @hicksd8 is technically accurate I don't necessarily agree with it.
What makes FTTC any more fiber optic internet than fiber to the HFC (cable modem) converter on the cable line in the back yard with coax to the house or fiber to the DSLAM down the block with copper pair into the house?
IMHO for it to be fiber optic internet, the optic needs to come all the way into equipment that I can touch, configure, break, replace, etc. If it's not fiber all the way to my hands, then it's no different than the rest of the Internet that runs over fiber optic somewhere else and it's just a matter of how far away.
@DrScriptt .... I merely described the products offered here in the UK and how they are named. The FTTC product is still described as 'fibre'. I have not touched on the relative performance of the offerings as that wasn't the question.
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.