MAY/JUNE 2014
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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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65
pedestal) and the optical network
terminal (ONT) at the home were a
small backyard with a privacy fence,
a pool and a deck. Bringing a large
trencher or other heavy equipment into
this environment was not feasible, and
selling the homeowner on digging up
half the backyard to place traditional
conduit or direct bury a fber drop was
out of the question.
However, this was a perfect
opportunity to lay microduct and run
pushable fber. After measuring the
required drop length, the technician
cut the required duct to length. Using
a walk-behind, 24" vibratory lawn
plow (Line-Ward L2 Line Layer) with
an appropriate feed blade, the installer
quickly and easily buried the duct
while negotiating a path around all the
obstacles and drawing up tightly to the
ONT at the home.
Once the duct was in place and
ready to go, the installer pushed the
fber assembly chosen by the customer,
preterminated with a pushable
standard connector (SC) on one end
and a hardened fber optic connector
(HFOC) on the other, from the
pedestal (HFOC end) to the ONT (SC
end). After a little slack storage work,
the connection was ready to turn up.
Te elapsed time of the installation
(and of the technicians' presence in
the yard) was less than 45 minutes,
and the entire install caused
minimal disruption to the customer's
landscaping. (Figure 2 shows the
Figure 1: A technician buries microduct close to a customer's house.
Figure 2: Grass and sand surfaces after vibratory plow installation of microduct
BBC_May14.indd 65 5/29/14 9:19 AM