The Fragility of Fiber Optic Networks Problems around the world For awhile, outages caused by damage to fiber optic cables kept popping up in the news. The wave of reporting consumer complaints about the issue has ended but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t still problems. The Eureka Reporter tells us about a fiber optic cable in California which was severed by heavy machinery, causing ATM and high speed internet outages in the area. And the human errors aren’t just here in the U.S.; Engadget reports on damage done by Vietnamese fisherman to 27 miles of critical fiber optic cable connecting the nation to Thailand and Hong Kong.
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  MacLeechThe one and onlyPremium
join:2001-07-14
SoCal
kudos:3 | It the SINGLE links that are fragile, not the fiber said by Eureka Reporter :
it was a heavy equipment mishap that severed the area’s sole fiber-optic cable that handles the bulk of the county’s vital high-speed Internet and telecommunications service.
The fiber isn't fragile, the network is.
Being dependant on a SINGLE link in such a network is just plain dumb, especially if it's in a high construction traffic area like that one is.
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|  |  Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4
2 edits | Re: It the SINGLE links that are fragile, not the fiber said by MacLeech: Being dependant on a SINGLE link in such a network is just plain dumb, especially if it's in a high construction traffic area like that one is. Fiber optic rings with automatic failover have been around for a very long time - in major metropolitan areas. Migrating that ability to every part of the nation, including rural areas is too costly. Especially when an outage can be repaired in a few hours.
So, follow your advice, and the cost of phone calls & internet connections grows ever higher.
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| | | | | Re: It the SINGLE links that are fragile, not the fiber Whats really sad is when the alternate path is in the same trench vs being a physically diverse path. | |
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| yabos
join:2003-02-16
London, ON | Yeah it's quite stupid, and even the western telcos and backbone operators are guilty of it. They run all their stuff in one place without much of a failover plan if the lines are cut. It shouldn't be that way but they cut corners to save money. | |
| | | MacLeechThe one and onlyPremium
join:2001-07-14
SoCal
kudos:3
2 edits | Re: It the SINGLE links that are fragile, not the fiber said by yabos: they cut corners to save money. Which they pay for later, many times over, in emergency repair costs, customer refunds, and meetings on how to avoid similar failures in the future.
Beyond that, sooner or later the "pipe" is full and you have to run a second link anyway... after months of slow speeds or capacity issues for the current customers... not to mention all the future customers turned away.
Also, a single link usually means a single provider. High prices usually follow the lack of competition.
Then again, that means higher profits for the company with the only link out of the area....
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Don't mind me, I'm just trying to help...
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| | | | | | Re: It the SINGLE links that are fragile, not the fiber Not necessarily.
To increase the capacity of a fiber link you simply change out the gear on both sides 
Carriers can share the same physical fiber using DWDM technology. (Each carrier would be placed on their own wavelengths).
People in this forum complain that phone/tv/internet service is too costly, however when the carrier attempts to save money in order to provide a less costly service everyone complains when there are problems.
Providing telecommunications services isn't cheap. When consumers and businesses are willing to pay a fair price or a given service then carriers will be able to build in the necessary redundancies, customer service etc to appropriately address the customers' needs. People need to learn just because telco services may be cheaper elsewhere that doesn't necessarily entitle them to the same price / service tiers.
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| | | Cheap.
Fast.
Reliable.
You only get to pick 2. | |
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 jack bGone FishingPremium,MVM
join:2000-09-08
Cape Cod
kudos:1 | Dial 811 If everyone took advantage of the nationwide One-Call mark-out system, 811, and waited until underground facility locations were properly identified before digging, a lot of these "accidents" would be avoided. Even harry-the-homeowner putting in fence posts should call.
The costs for repairing any damages are the responsibility of whoever did the deed, and can be significant.
Not only is there the property damage and service interruption angle, let's not forget the possibility of injury, or someone losing their life. Coming into contact with a buried high-voltage electric cable, or rupturing a gas line, can cause a blast that can definitely leave a mark....
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| | ltship
join:2002-08-11
Sturgeon Bay, WI | Re: Dial 811 Unfortunately.. even if the cables are marked, "some" contractors have disregarded them and plow right through them. As a former supervisor for a utility locating company I would watch some of these companies abuse the system, because they were on a time table to get the job done and out. I had a locator just finish spending over an hour marking a 1200 pr buried phone line (high profile) painting and flagging it, and as he left I stopped in to check his work (we had to back check a % of HP locates) and I watched a contractor's operator just bulldoze over his and other utility markings.. and kept on going. Next came in the HiHo to start the pipe crossing.. all of this right in front of me in a marked truck! I did my job.. advised the operator and his boss of the law, and I got the usual "so what" attitude. They called in a "2 hr relocate" stating the marks were gone. Wonder why..
I also have on video tape of a contractor not wanting to hand dig to determine depth of a marked fiber cable run to a Central Office, so he had one of his crew get out their locating equipment, hook into the phone cabinet, and call out depths to the hiho operator scooping out the ground. Once they saw I was there, the supervisor came up to me and asked.. "what was my problem!".. They stopped and went back to hand digging.. but they left the telco cabinet all riped apart when done (it's illegal to be in a cabinet or ped unless you work or are contracted to the utility company)
What happens above is not unusual.. but mostly to telco facilities. When it came to Gas / Electricity, they would take more time to find and protect them (remember, those 2 utilities kill, telco does not) Allot of contractors put big $$$ in their budgets for damages to phone utilities.. why?? because it is more cost effective to them to damage and move on than to find and protect it. You can tell which contractors are the offenders, their damage hits are a very long list. Others, do it right the first time, hand dig or use the vac truck to find the depth of the cable, and is it where it's supposed to be!
811 is a great idea for the homeowners and contractors.. esp the homeowners. Contractors, they know the rules, they attend the annual meetings on prevention, and yet still keep doing "business as usual". Some have changed their names because of bad practices just to keep in business. State Laws need more teeth to prevent these damages, and they are working towards it. Just takes time. Meanwhile the dependency on fiber cables continues to grow.. I know of 1 intersection where at last count 9 fiber cables intersect it.. and all not buried together.. talk about nightmare..
ok.. off my soapbox.. Locating is tough.. protecting it is even harder.. | |
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bmn? ? ?Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus | Excuse me, but its not just fibre that is fragile... You can do the same damage to copper networks with a backhoe that you can do to a fibre network. I've pictures from a friend where a backhoe dug down, pulled up the bucket and bring up with it something like twenty feet of cable out of the of the hold before it snapper. Apparently the backhole operator though the big black, round thing was a root. IT turned out he had dug up a buried copper phone cable.
So, to say that fibre networks are more fragile is bunk... The problem isn't the network so much as it it the people who engineer the networks and the backhoe operators.
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| kcir
join:2005-07-30
Butner, NC | Shocking Couldn't they simply run a 1000V line a couple feet above the fibe so the person digging would know to stop | |
| | | Enough fiber in your diet? With more services comes the need for more reliability. With that comes the need for redundancy and diverse paths for fiber. Yes, a buried copper line can be damaged just as quickly as a fiber cable can, but comparing the restoration time between a copper cable and, say, an 864-count ribbon fiber (864 individual fiber fusion splices takes a LONG time!) is apples to oranges. Fortunately the operators know of the problems and, at least Comcast, is very heavily into building diverse paths for convergent networking between facilities. I design 'em.
CWDM and DWDM is used more and more frequently to make full use of the fiber plant we already have in virtually all areas, and I can tell you that we're not stingy with putting up major amounts of new fiber for diversity, capacity management, plant hardening, node-splitting and the like. Fortunately Comcast has made a commitment to strengthening the fiber plant, both backbone (long-haul) and local node distribution.
You can never have enough fiber. Period. If you put it up now, there will be a use for it, if not now, then within a couple of years. | |
|  batterupI Can Not Tell A Lie.Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ | You get what you pay for. When BASF built its North American Headquarters it insisted that Verizon feed the building with fiber from two different Central Offices. Money talks B.S. walks. | |
| | | | Re: You get what you pay for. In 2000, a single backhoe took out Northwest Airlines' fiber network connections to their computer center - two separate connections provided by U.S. West (now Qwest). It turned that these highly redundant, independent connections were buried about 3 feet apart when they hit the nearest main road.
The backhoe was being run by a contractor for U.S. West's competition, who was installing new fiber in the area. | |
| | | batterupI Can Not Tell A Lie.Premium
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ Reviews:
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: You get what you pay for. said by WI Fire:The backhoe was being run by a contractor for U.S. West's competition, who was installing new fiber in the area. Coincidence? I don't think so.
A fiber loop is just that a loop. If the building architect has all utilities come into the building in one trench that is not the utilities fault. | |
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 Rob AJets AFC ChampionshipPremium
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ | Fiber is still... The future, there is no way around it. Everything will go through fiber soon. | |
|  fiber_manThings Happen For A ReasonPremium
join:2001-01-27
Port Saint Lucie, FL
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| True Rings vs. collasped rings If a company wants a true fiber ring to their building I hope they have the conduits placed to form a true ring (2 separated conduits coming out different ends of the building). I have seen both,two cables going in same conduit into building and two separated by at least 6 ft. or more. The cost for true rings is much higher but the odds of a true ring going down is much lower. (Two cuts at the same time). I have seen a true ring go down in 2004 during the hurricanes.
Collapsed rings are that both sides running through the same cable. It cost is cheaper but a single cut will do the company in till the cut is fixed.
I also have seen fiber in conduits with inner ducts in them complete torn in half and pulled. Pulled up on one and saw over 200 feet sitting on the ground around a backhoe and we had to replace over 1500 ft. of cable to restore service.
Anyone digging in the ground should be calling for locates. I know we bill the offending party for for the repair plus all of the fines & fees we are bill from companies while their connection is down. IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE.
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