In pictures: UFB - Chorus Fibre to the Home installation (part 2)

In Part 1, we showed how the black cable, which runs from from the External Termination Point outside the house to the roadside cabinet, is joined to the blue cable located in the roadside cabinet, via a Fibre Access Terminal.

In Part 2, we head indoors from the External Termination Point...


Step 9.

The ETP on the outside wall of the house. This connects the black fibre cable to the newly installed Hybrid Composite Cable (HCC). The HCC runs internally from the ETP to the Optical Network Terminal (ONT)
inside the house.


Step 10.

Inside the garage, the home distribution panel is a good example of the Telecommunication Carrier Forum
Structure Cabling or ‘star wiring’.


Step 11.

Once the fibre cables are connected, another installer goes to the street cabinet to connect the passive splitter
tail end connector into the cabinet’s optical fibre distribution frame.


Step 12.

The fibre is cleaned using a Microcloth cleaner.


Step 13.

The PON Power test. An in-line power meter provides a reading of light power output between the P-OLT (located at the exchange, the P-OLT contains the lasers) and the house.


Step 14.

A Fibre Inspection Probe Test at the ONT is carried out to ensure the fibre is clean. A magnifying wand is attached to the connector head magnifying the fibre end to 400x its original size. If it fails the test, the fibre is cleaned using a dry Microcloth.

In the final part of this installation series tomorrow, we'll see how the customer connects up to the residential UFB service in their area, as well as anternate method of connecting fibre at street level.

This article first appeared in Computerworld.