In this month’s magazine column, I discuss the possibility that many problems with fiber optic installations could be prevented if the installers knew their work would be inspected, like an electrician. 

Inspections of fiber optic cable plant installation are not generally required, and practically nobody ever does one on a new fiber optic network. As a result, some cables are not installed “in a neat and workmanlike manner” as described by the ANSI/NECA/FOA 301 installation standard for fiber optics. 

Ultimately, a poor installation becomes the customer’s problem. They should inspect the installed cable plant themselves to ensure they get what they contracted for. Unfortunately, many customers do not have the knowledge to judge the quality of the installation.

In this article, I will show you some problems I have seen myself or have been brought to my attention by others. I really wonder if the lack of inspection isn’t a big part of the problem. 

Aerial cable installation

Poor workmanship is most obvious on an aerial cable plant; it’s right up there for anybody to see. I’ve seen a lot of problems here in Southern California where I live and around the world as I travel. I’m not the only ones who notices, either. I’ve been contacted or sent photos by contractors, customers and even one state politician who wondered why there were no standards for workmanship on aerial cables.

Here are some examples:

This mess is just around the corner from my office in Santa Monica, Calif. The lowest messenger is old and has about 10 cables lashed to it, including a couple of older heavy copper cables. There are several ragged service loops hanging from it and several improperly lashed cables drooping along this short span. I’ve seen installers overlashing to that bottom messenger, going down the traffic lane of the street working over a line of parked cars. The top messenger is extremely neat, but it is owned by AT&T, and they defend their messengers.

This example is similar to above. The installer didn’t bother to store their service loops properly or even secure the splice closure to the messenger.

This photo was sent to us by a Fiber Optic Association instructor in Atlanta. If you look closely, you can spot eight workmanship problems.

Installers who leave a job unfinished often simply tie the cable left to install to a pole or the messenger. This one in Los Angeles hung on this messenger for over six months before the contractor came back to finish the job. There is about 300 m (about 1,000 feet) of cable hanging here. I probably have two dozen photos of incomplete jobs like this, including one of a coil like this hanging directly over the entrance to the CATV service provider in Santa Monica.

In the Midwest, I guess they don’t like leaving messy bundles of cable waiting for the installer to finish, so they simply tie the whole reel on the pole like this one in Ohio. 

Underground cables

It’s often harder to spot problems with underground cables unless you see them being installed or encounter the consequences of improper installation.

These guys are pulling a cable on a street near me less than two blocks from the aerial mess above. What’s wrong with this picture? This is an 864-fiber ribbon cable about 25 mm (1 inch) in diameter. Fiber optic cables have a minimum bend diameter generally specified as 40 times the cable diameter when being pulled or 20 times the cable diameter when not under tension.

These two installers are using a capstan that is about 24 inches to pull the cable, well under the 40-inch minimum. But look at the pulley they are using to change the cable’s direction ¾a 5-inch (125 mm) pulley intended for pulling ropes.

I showed this photo to a field engineer at the company that made the cable. His estimate was that practically every fiber in this cable would be broken going over the small pulley. He also knew the company that contracted for these guys to install the cable, and when I checked with him over a year later, the cable had still not been tested to see what happened.

These photos were sent to me by a landscaper in a city in the Southeast. He wanted to know if laying a fiber optic cable on top of the ground was accepted practice. He was contracted to landscape this city park. When his equipment started work, they broke this fiber optic cable that was hidden in the grass. The owner of the cable tried to tell them it was their fault, and they should pay for fixing it. My comments took care of that issue.

The standard practice is to bury fiber optic cable about 1 meter (about 3 feet) deep and cover with layers of protective loose filler and a warning and locating tape. How the installer of this cable figured they could lay it on the surface in a city is one of the great unsolved mysteries.

Premises cabling

Indoor applications are another source of bad examples of workmanship. Perhaps because the worst workmanship is in dark telecom rooms hidden in areas that management never sees, the installers don’t seem to worry about workmanship. And as they do moves, adds and changes over the years, things seem to get even messier.

This is the data center of a very large and very busy convention center. Copper and fiber cables are all over the place, with organization basically ignored. How you would troubleshoot cabling problems here is a mystery.

This is a photo from the data center of a convention center in a large hotel where I was doing a fiber optic training session. The hotel staff gave us a tour to show how they were using fiber optics. This is a backbone connection to a switch. The two LC connectors on the right are from a tight buffer distribution cable; the tech is holding the other fibers in the cable. Rather than terminating the cable properly at a patch panel and using a rugged patch cable like the dual LC connectors just to the left, they just pulled the cable near the switch, terminated the two fibers and plugged them in. I suppose they are not worrying about them getting damaged.

And dealing with excess fiber length neatly seems to vex installers, whether they are working in racks in a telecom room or a pedestal outdoors.

Makes you wonder

Don’t these examples make you wonder what would happen if installers knew their work was going to be inspected for workmanship?

All photos courtesy of Jim Hayes