Hey, guys, guess what I saw yesterday?
The second work crew installing fiber! They were at a stopping point, so I was able to talk for about 20 minutes.
This group pulls the fiber through the conduit, but doesn't splice it.
Not as interesting as last week's crew, but there were some things of note:
1) The fiber on the spool runs between 25000' and 26000'. I wonder what THAT costs? Millions?
2) I got to see some of the actual fiber. To say it is thin is an understatement. The guy showing it to me tied it in a lose knot, then tightened it a little, and it snapped apart. So, it IS flexible to a point and doesn't kink - it breaks. The 'fiber' actually had a coating of plastic. He burned the plastic off to show how really thin it was.
3) They have some kind of a compressor unit that blows something called a 'pig' through the conduit. The pig has a rope attached to it. Once it gets to the other end, the rope is pulled, with the fiber attached to the rope. The fiber is pulled on one end and pushed from the spool.
4) The guy asked me to guess how many phone calls a fiber would handle. I guessed 25000/second, but he smiled and said 240,000. Now, I don't know, he may have been blowing smoke in my face, but that's a lot if true.
5) As before, they were working on Sunday. He said they go seven days a week, ten hours a day. He said if they get through one spool a day, they're doing real good.
Hope this helps. Maybe I'll get lucky next week and see the guys splicing the fiber. Now, THAT would be interesting! |
