There are many considerations regarding the outside plant portion of any fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) network architecture. Each area must weigh in on issues of cost, flexibility, performance, accessibility and other important criteria. As fiber gains momentum for use in delivering high-speed broadband services to homes and small businesses, questions have surfaced regarding the best way to connect the large numbers of drop cables feeding into the network. | Fiber Drop Cable ß onnections Different Circumstances Dictate Use of Aboveground or Belowground Connectivity By Ray Hagen There are many considerations regarding the outside plant portion of any fiber-to-the-premise FTTP network architecture. Each area must weigh in on issues of cost flexibility performance accessibility and other important criteria. As fiber gains momentum for use in delivering high-speed broadband services to homes and small businesses questions have surfaced regarding the best way to connect the large numbers of drop cables feeding into the network. Typically drop cables connect each optical network terminal at the subscriber premises to a fiber access terminal where they are then connected to a main fiber distribution frame for routing to the central office. The fiber plant can be either aerial aboveground or buried belowground . With an aerial plant the service terminal is usually mounted on a stand or pole and technicians have easy access for service and maintenance issues. In a buried plant however the drop cable will be buried below the frost line yet requires the same ease of accessibility for technicians. The two most common methods for creating access points while connecting buried drop cables are above the ground pedestal access and below the ground hand hole . But there are important considerations attached to each method such as splicing vs. connectors ease of accessibility environmental issues and the effects of severe temperature variation. Splicing vs. Connectors The decision to splice or use connectors in the outside plant has been discussed at length and the pros and cons of both methods are numerous. The basic train of thought is that a connector pair is more beneficial at any location where technicians may require access on a regular basis such as for testing service turn-up and reconfiguring the network. At these locations a connector interface provides significant operational cost and time savings over fusion splicing. The .
