FTTH Installation Techniques for COVID-19 Safety Concerns
COVID-19 is teaching all of us the importance of home broadband connections, whether it is work from home or staying connected with family and friends. We know that Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) is a key broadband deployment architecture.
Since COVID-19 has heightened our sensitivities to health, safety, and personal contact, how can service providers install and maintain new services given the new normal? There is a need for new and inventive methods and procedures to provide service quickly and with limited personal contact. The best way to accomplish this is with customer self-installs.
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April 1, 2022We have experience with customer DSL self-installs that were very successful. We have also seen:
• a significant reduction in the time needed for FTTH installations
• reduced equipment size, such as desktop ONTs
• ease of installations
Let’s take those learnings and adapt them to customer self-installs for FTTH. The main difference, compared to many current FTTH installations, is having the customer install the ONT and fiber connections.
Customer Self-Installs for FTTH
It’s time to get innovative with a few alternatives for varied applications and customers. A few ideas to explore are:
1. Create a FTTH-in-a-Box Customer Kit.
This kit would deliver all the customer needs for a successful self-install.
• Installation Instructions – both written and audio
• Virtual Tech Support if requested by the customer via a Facetime, Skype, or Zoom session
• Desktop ONT
• Wi-Fi Gateway
• Ruggedized Fiber Drop Cables (This could be with or without fiber connector body attached). These cables remain flexible even in extreme conditions and their assemblies use bend-insensitive fiber. These cables can be provided without the connector body allowing them to go through small holes. Then the connector body can easily be snapped on by the customer.
• Indoor Peel-Able Adhesive-Backed Fiber Cable for routing, with optical connectors already attached.
• Ethernet Cable
• Easy-to-Use Contact Pad for cleaning the fiber end-faces of the fiber connectors
• Registration and Activate Instructions
2. Another option is to install a demarcation point or box outside the home for the customer to connect to. The carrier can connect the fiber optic drop wire to the demarcation box, and then slip it through a ruggedized fiber drop cable without the connect body inside the home. The customer would then snap on the connector body, clean and install into the ONT.
3. In apartment buildings fiber could be run down the hallway with a small demarcation box over each apartment door. Again, all that is needed is for the service provider to drill a small hole to push the fiber into the apartment, and click the fiber jumper in place.
4. In certain installations, there could be interim solutions, such as providing a peel-able flat drop cable that could slip through a customer’s window. Using bend insensitive fiber, this could be done with only a 0.5 dB loss, while still allowing the customer to close their window. Then at a future time, a more permanent solution could be installed.
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5. There may be different solutions for single family homes and multi-family dwellings. All the necessary components needed for the installation (including ONT, coiled drop cable) could fit in the size of a small milk crate.
The key is for the industry and service providers to embrace this time as a creative nudge for innovation across the networks.
About the Author
Ernie Gallo
Principal Outside Plant and Electrical Code Consultant, NEBScore
Background • 44+ years experience in Telecom Industry • 7.5 Years Underwriters Laboratories • 33 Years Bellcore-Telcordia-Ericsson • BSEE Polytechnic University of New York Consulting Focus Areas • Electrical Safety, Electrical Protection • FCC Infrastructure Sharing During Emergencies • Outside Plant Product and Installation Standards and Audit Analytics • Industry Standards and Code Compliance – Regulatory and Safety – construction focused • Fiber to the Home – micro-trench and MDU architecture • Fiber to the Node – VDSL to the home • Wireless Products and Installation Methods • Fiber and 5G Wireless product requirements • Optical Transport Networks –Deployment Designs • Working with local Authorities Having Jurisdiction on Electrical and Fire Codes • Electrical and Fire incidents and evaluations • Expert Witness in the areas of outside plant construction and safety Industry and Project Experience Standards Work National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) • NFPA 1 Fire Code - Committee Member • NFPA 70 National Electrical Code (NEC) - Committee Member CMP1, CMP 16and Correlating Committee Member NFPA 70E -Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace - Committee Member • NFPA 780 Standard for the Installation of Lightning Protection - Committee Member • NFPA 855 Standard for the Installation of Energy Storage Systems - Committee Member • NFPA 75, Standard for the Protection of Information Technology Equipment - Committee Member • 2022 Committee Service Award from the Standards Council of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) • IEEE C2 National Electrical Safety Code - Committee Member, Subcommittees SC2, SC4, SC5, and SC8 • IEEE Wire Line Subcommittee – Vice Chair • IEEE Working Group 3.6.7 Low Voltage Data, Communications and Signaling Circuit Surge Protective Devices – Chair • IEEE Working Group 3.6.10 Surge Protection of Equipment Connected to Both Low Voltage AC Power and Communication Circuits – Vice Chair • IEEE Fiber Optics Subcommittee - Committee Member Association for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) • ATIS Board Member • ATIS Protection Engineers Group (PEG) Chair and current Advisory Board Member • ATIS STEP: Sustainability in Telecom: Energy and Protection Committee – Vice Chair • ATIS Network Power Systems (NPS) – Chair • ATIS Network Physical Protection (NPP) - Working Group Member • ATIS Network Electrical Protection (NEP) –Chair Underwriters Laboratories (UL) • Fault Managed Power Working Group UL1400 - Committee Member • Lightning Protection Components UL 96, 96A Lightning Protection Components - Committee Member • UL 497 Standard for Protectors for Communications • UL 1449 Standard for Surge Protective Devices - Committee Member • CAN/US Technical Harmonization Committee UL 62368 Standard
Ernie serves as ATIS PEG Chair. Please see https://peg.atis.org for details.