[PLUG-TALK] Optical fiber connections / installs
Keith Lofstrom
keithl at keithl.com
Wed Sep 6 03:59:11 UTC 2023
On Wed, Aug 30, 2023 at 08:01:21AM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> There's a company in PDX that does fiber runs, I've used them before. Cost
> was quite high, $1200 to terminate both ends of something like 6 pairs.
> They might have a fusion splicer. When I had them do it they did it old
> school with the gluing of the ends on the fiber since the cable I had the
> work on was older. I've also watched Telco techs use fusion splicers so I
> would take the claim that "we don't have one we farm it out" with a grain of
> salt. A fiber optic fusion splicer is only around $1000 (even cheaper) on
> Amazon so just doing 1 cable would pay for the tool.
>
> Ted
Ted makes good points; however, install technicians seem to
come in two flavors, trained apes and gurus. A few months
ago, a Ziply guru was installing a neighbor, after an ape
botched the job. I asked for a minute of the guru's time,
and he gave me 15 minutes to explain many things, because
my questions were less stupid than most. As Ted suggests,
the guru may have had a splicer, and could lengthen a cable
rather than burn it shorter with idiot botched attempts.
That said, he also gave me the phone number for the call
center staffed by experienced US-based adepts, rather than
trained monkeys in Manila, reading canned answers off
screens.
Stupidly, however, I misplaced the phone number. I will
make a determined search for it before I schedule a Ziply
install.
-----
That will happen after I find time to configure a Debian
firewall APU to interface my network to Ziply, in place
of the ancient ALIX that is currently moving my packets
though Comcast, often "twiddling its thumbs" while Comcast
streams movies to other customers before sending me an ACK.
BTW, Comcast advertises my network connection as Troutdale
rather Beaverton. So, the slow speed may be my packets
routed through Troutdale, Tampa, and Tycho Crater, before
encountering intelligence in the solar system.
Keith
--
Keith Lofstrom keithl at keithl.com
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