How do they physically lay the cable?

[leejp]

We're supposedly getting FIOS in our 30 year old development this summer. We presently have underground phone, electric and cable TV.

I don't see how they can lay the cable without major effort/cost... I am on an "island" in the development. Unless they've found a way to tunnel under the street I just don't see how this is possible.

Has anyone actually seen them lay the cable?

 

[stevenl]

Directional bores are common, they can bore for great distances without having aspotter hole. Usally they dig a spot trench every 100 or so foot, so they can make sure the bore is going the way they want.

 

[garlandtxuser]

We're supposedly getting FIOS in our 30 year old development this summer. We presently have underground phone, electric and cable TV.

I don't see how they can lay the cable without major effort/cost... I am on an "island" in the development. Unless they've found a way to tunnel under the street I just don't see how this is possible.

Has anyone actually seen them lay the cable?

Lee, I think that you will be very impressed. The boring macines that they use are very cool. They often bore down and under creeks, roads, trees, utilities, and just about anything else you can imagine. I am not sure of the max depth, but I know that they have bored down from 6' at the creek line to 30' under the creek and then back up to 6' again in about a 300 yard span without a trench. When they do a road they use some special devices that allow them to follow the end of the bore as it passes under the road. They also use this when they are working around underground utilities such as sewer and water lines.

Part of the long delay that people see is the cable contractor waiting on all of the blueprints for the various utilities that are underground. Before they start boring they know exactally, at least from what they are given, where things are located. Occasionally they 'miss' which results in some inconveniences to businesses and residents, but I have found them extremely responsive when this happens; getting things fixed as quickly as possible.

 

[Bob Haller]

a contractor boring a underground line here hit a natural gas line, the idiots left, and some kids got home from school, their home exploded.

as a part of school all kids should be exposed to a basic safety class, including the odor of natural gas, dont drive over downed power lines, dont drive or wade ion flooding creeks, stuff like that and basic first aid.

the unlucky kids turned on a light and kaboom.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Also the phone companies already have underground conduits they use today with old copper lines. Many times they use the old conduit runs and pull out the copper and replace it with fiber!

Did you know that many old copper telephone cables are actually pressurized with compressed air to keep the water out of the cable!

 

[cdru]

In my area buried services were done almost exclusively with horizontal boring machines. The disruption in my neighborhood was usually only a few square feet every couple of houses where they dug down. Aside from the boring machines, they used a very small backhoe that could easily maneuver around and didn't tear up the existing grass.

 

[Mike500]

Also the phone companies already have underground conduits they use today with old copper lines. Many times they use the old conduit runs and pull out the copper and replace it with fiber!

Did you know that many old copper telephone cables are actually pressurized with compressed air to keep the water out of the cable!

That's nitrogen, Claude. Years ago, I used to see the tanks and regulators strapped to the poles. Most of the cables are run in polyethylene plastic pipe layed years ago. Back in the early 1960's they used multicelled cocrete blocks and pulled the cables through them. Starting in the 1980's they used polyethylene layed in the classic "cut and cover method." They use liners to pull cables through existing conduit. Most installs are still "cut and cover." Horizontal boring machines are only used, when the structure is too difficult or expensive to move.

 

[garlandtxuser]

Also the phone companies already have underground conduits they use today with old copper lines. Many times they use the old conduit runs and pull out the copper and replace it with fiber!

Did you know that many old copper telephone cables are actually pressurized with compressed air to keep the water out of the cable!

While I cannot verify this, I doubt that Verizon will be using any existing copper conduit to instalol fiber in. A couple of reasons for this.

1) Maps and locations of this conduit may not be completely up to date
2) Marking new maps with splice lines and such would be very difficult
3) These older conduit are not the industry standard orange color indicating that fiber exists in them
4) The older conduit would not meet the newest standards for fiber conduit insuring a failure in the future.

I know a few fiber contractors and none of them would knowingly pull new fiber in non-fiber conduit. It's just a no no.

 

[jimmykce1]

In my neighborhood they bored most of the new fiber into place, but there were test holes done to find underground utilities, especially a gas and water main. Also the will dig out an area for the junction boxes to be placed. Usually will have between two houses.

 

[andrews777]

They put new orange conduit in the ground in our neighborhood a few months ago. They dug holes to access it approximately between each set of houses, but in front and in the alley (I am not sure why they needed it both places.

I am still waiting for the notice that it is available, but the orange conduit and whatever they put in it has been buried in our area for several months.

I really want the high internet access speeds....

Brad

 

[TimGoodwin]

All the fiber that goes in the ground for Fios is run in new. It is run competely separate from the copper that is in the ground now.

 

[branchbouncer]

Orange

The orange conduit does not mean FIOS upgrade --it could, but the orange has nothing to do with FIOS. Our family lives in a resort in the Shenandoah Mts and with the expansion of the resort they had to widen the roads. I saw orange pipe going in all over the place--it turned out to just be the sleeve for the existing digital cable(comcast) one reason for the orange is the visibility durning future digging

 

[garlandtxuser]

The orange conduit does not mean FIOS upgrade --it could, but the orange has nothing to do with FIOS. Our family lives in a resort in the Shenandoah Mts and with the expansion of the resort they had to widen the roads. I saw orange pipe going in all over the place--it turned out to just be the sleeve for the existing digital cable(comcast) one reason for the orange is the visibility durning future digging

Orange or yellow denotes fiber cable. It can be anyones fiber cable but if it is orange it is fiber. Yellow is typically used in long haul and orange for short haul.

White/Black denotes copper cable. Again, can be anyones copper.

From my experience Fios will place a banner in the area that they are laying fiber to let everyone know whats going on. I have not seen them go into a neighborhood without a banner, but my experience is limited to the Garland/Dallas area.

 

[rondon600]

They dig and bore holes and bury the cable 90% of the time. I have seen it on the poles in some areas but they still burried in your yard. A Verizon sub contractor team will be in your area digging and boreing for quite some time. If you are in a new development its not so bad. If you live in an old area where yards are landscaped to the roads edge you will not be happy. Remember the 1st couple of feet along a roadway is usually not yours and they will dig up your flower beds if they have too. They do try to warn you but most people ignore it until the boreing machine turfs their tulip beds.

When you see spray paint markings all over your yard and street you know within a day they are getting ready to dig. If you can find the foreman he speaks english and can help. The workers will just nod their head yes to get you to walk away.

Good thing we dont refer to fiber cable as pipe!

 

[navychop]

My chart says Orange is for communication lines. This is an example, although not the actual chart I have.

 

[dlsnyder]

I found out today that even when you see a crew laying the orange conduit it doesn't necessarily mean that the fiber will be coming any time soon. Here in Moreno Valley CA the city has been resistant to allowing Verizon to run fiber even though many of our neighboring cities already have it. Today a crew was laying conduit under my street using the boring method described above. I talked to the foreman and asked him why they weren't putting a conduit in near my house at the top of the street. He told me that all they were doing was putting in the cross-runs from one side of the street to the other, and that the main line would come in later when they did the real buildout. They were doing it this way so that the city could slurry seal the streets and not have them cut up again when the real install was done. Slurry sealing is done around here about every five years. So maybe sometime in the next five years we will see the real buildout. Or maybe not.

 

[andrews777]

It took about 4 to 6 months (I have lost track now), assuming we get ours in the next few days. I got so excited to see the orange conduit going in, only to have to wait for a long while. I talked with the guy doing the final testing and he indicated it was only a short bit more until he validated the box in our neighborhood. I figure we will be up in the next 2 weeks, though it has still been a while overall.

Brad