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September 2022

Sections

Features

Newsletter Sections

FOA Certified Techs: 

See FOA Jobs Web Page and FOA on 

The FOA Jobs Web Page has been updated and a new page added on Using your FOA Training/Certification to Find the Right Job in Fiber Optics

 

  

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

FOA Videos on

• Last Gasp For Multimode Fiber?  
• Who Lost Lucent? The Decline of America's Telecom Industry. 
• Things To Learn From A Town That Voted Down Fiber. 
• Can Tapping Fiber Reduce Cost? 
• How Many Fibers? Optimal cable Size. 
• Women Installers In Alaska. 
• FOA OJT To Cert Program. 
• FTTH Month - June FOA Newsletter.
• Building Rural FTTH - Learning From The History Of Rural Electrification. 
• New FOA Guidelines For Training And Certification. 
• Warning For Techs Doing Restoration (Fiber Amplification). 
• Timeline Of Fiber Optics - History Of Fiber Optic Technology - See below

The Archives: Past Issues.

Use these links to read past issues or use FOA's  Custom Search to look for specific topics on our website.

Time To Renew Your FOA Certifications?

You can now renew with PayPal or a credit card

 

   

 

Does the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) truly benefit people in rural America?

The answer to this question is a resounding YES! The IIJA provides $65 Billion dollars for 5G and broadband access to unserved and underserved broadband areas, mostly in rural America. The largest appropriation is the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. So, why exactly is this a big deal? Let me answer that by telling my personal story.

In 2011 my wife and I moved to northern Minnesota. We were about to be empty nesters and had a lake home that we thoroughly enjoyed visiting. I had worked from home since 2005 and as long as I had access to the internet, my location didn’t matter. Internet service was available, however, little did I know just how bad the service actually was.

There is a large number of full-time residents that live in this community and also a large number of part time residents that visit the area year round. In discussions that I have had with part time residents, almost all of them have expressed that they would spend more time here working remotely if they could have access to a reliable internet service.

My internet speed was barely fast enough to be able to perform the work that is required of me. In fact, I regularly joked with my co-workers that I have to wait for a snapping turtle to pick up my internet packets and deliver them to the nearest router before they will receive an email from me. To be truthful, it’s not really funny, it’s pathetic that in todays’ technological era we cannot receive high speed internet. This is primarily due to the fact that the internet service provider wouldn’t invest in upgrading their infrastructure.

The internet services provided from my internet service provider was DSL. DSL is limited to a maximum distance of 18,000 feet and doesn’t provide adequate speeds for people near the far end of the network for internet of the 21st century. Most people in the area could only access speeds between 4 Mbps and 5 Mbps download and 0.5 Mbps upload if they were within the 18,000 feet from the service. Everyone beyond the 18,000 feet could access the internet with speeds of 1 Mbps download and .2 Mbps upload when it actually worked. By FCC definition, these speeds classified our area as an unserved area.

Everything changed in July 2019 when a local telephone cooperative mailed a post card advertising the possibility of high speed internet coming to the area. I happened to be out of town for work, so I asked my wife to put it on my desk. I didn’t really have high hopes about the internet because we regularly received advertisement for satellite internet services that were extremely expensive and had high latency, which makes it difficult to work effectively.

When I returned from my trip, I reviewed the advertisement and saw that it pointed to a website to sign up if there was interest in high speed internet. I thought that it was a little odd to advertise this way, so I went to the website to retrieve more info. To my surprise, the website indicated that the co-op was considering the possibility of applying for a grant through the state of Minnesota for rural broadband internet. The website was being used as a tool to see if there was enough interest from residents in the area.

I immediately started to ask people in the area if they had received the notice and found that most people knew nothing about it (meaning it went into the garbage). Knowing that we couldn’t let this opportunity slip by, I reached out to the neighborhood gossip group (every neighborhood has them), to spread the word. Then, I found the contact information to the co-op manager. When I contacted the manager, he explained that they would pursue the grant opportunity if we could show that there were enough people in the area that would subscribe to the service once it was installed. When I asked how many people he was looking at, he said approximately 50 to 75. I then suggested that we put together two town hall meetings in mid August 2019 to explain to people how this would benefit the area as well as explain the process. We had 50 people show up to the first meeting and an additional 50 people show up to the second meeting. The common theme during both meetings was the frustration with our current service provider and the lack of commitment to provide a reliable service.


Good turnout for the town meetings

The overwhelming meeting response convinced the telephone co-op to apply for the grant in October 2019. The grant was approved in January 2020 and construction was slated to start in late May 2020. Then along comes Covid and manufacturer delays. Fiber optic cable delivery was delayed until July, which put the project in danger of completion before old man winter reared his ugly head (it’s hard to plow in fiber when the ground is frozen). Ultimately, the project finished up in October 2020 and everyone that wanted high speed internet was connected to the network.


Directional boring a drop


Pedestal for drops - you can see the splitter across from the splice on the tray


Connection at the home was done very neatly

This is when life changed! As promised, the Telephone co-op provided internet speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload. In addition, they also offered Voice over IP telephone service as well as television service to everyone on the network. All said and done, my internet and TV costs were reduced by $150.00 per month. Oh, did I mention Covid? Around this time, Covid had pretty much everything locked down in MN. People started staying at the lake properties to try to avoid catching the virus. This was made possible because of the access to high speed internet. The economic impact of people staying in the rural parts of the state was incredible. Businesses were experiencing sales that they would only see during holiday weekends throughout the entire winter months.

Fast forward to August 2022. People that still have the opportunity to work remotely have taken full advantage of working from their lake properties. People on the verge of retiring are selling their homes in the cities and moving up north. Businesses continue to see record sales in small towns near us. Restaurants and bars that were typically quiet during the middle of the week are now full with patrons. Speeds of 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload are still available, however, the telephone co-op now offers 250 Mbps and Gigabit packages as well. Nope, Gigabit wasn’t a typo. I experience download speeds of 940 Mbps and upload speeds of around 750 Mbps on WiFi.

So, you’ve heard my story about getting reliable high speed internet, let’s talk about a few benefits of high speed internet in rural areas. Remote learning is undoubtedly one of the major benefits. If one thing positive that came out of Covid, it was the realization that everyone must have the ability to communicate virtually. Meetings are being held virtually through platforms such as Zoom and Teams. This isn’t possible without high speed internet. Streaming television or movies need high speed internet. Video surveillance cameras are commonly connected to the internet for remote viewing. Access control/remote locking unlocking need an internet connection. Control of HVAC remotely needs connectivity with the internet. Smart home technologies of the electrical system as well as small and large appliances need connectivity to allow smart communication to the user as well as other smart devices. The list goes on and on!

Think of it this way, rural America is in the process of going from the Flintstone’s era to the Jetson’s era (for those people old enough to understand the analogy). It’s because of the ability to have high speed internet.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is truly life changing!!!

Workforce Development Requires A Cooperative Effort

• The workforce development agency. They know how to create and operate programs and how to access funding from various sources.
• The customers - network owners and developers. They need the workforce to build their networks while meeting their time and financial goals.
• Employers - network owners and contractors. The can define the jobs and the qualifications for the workers they need plus where and when they are needed. The also pay the salaries so they define the job benefits.
• Training organizations. At the local level, they are generally technical high schools and colleges that are experienced in teaching trade skills and offering certifications with degree programs. Professional training organizations that offer bootcamp training sessions can be used when or where schools cannot.
• The public. Once the program is underway, the public needs to be made aware of the programs and help recruit people for the training, especially the young people who need encouragement to pursue a career in the trades.

More Translations of FOA Textbooks

FOA is a very international organization and it works hard to accommodate the language needs of everyone. We have been translating our books and website into the languages most requested, and this month, we add two more textbook translations. We also want to thank Jerry Morla, FOA CFOS/I instructor and Director who has been doing the recent translations into Spanish, his native language.

FOA has published Paperback and Kindle versions of two more translations of the FOA series of textbooks, following the recent publications on the FTTH Handbook in Spanish. This month we published the Fiber Optics textbook translated into Portuguese and the FOA Fiber Optic Network Design textbook translated into Spanish. Both books are now available on Amazon or through local booksellers.



Guia de Referência sobre Fibra Óptica da FOA : Guia de Estudo para a Certificação da FOA (Portuguese edition).  O Guia de Referência para Fibra Óptica do FOA é o livro de referência geral para comunicações de fibra óptica e é usado no treinamento para o CFOT. Está traduzido para o português e disponível para escolas FOA com currículo de formação para certificação CFOT.  Disponível na Amazon em edições de bolso e Kindle, e em livrarias locais.

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

FTTH Website And Handbook Now In Spanish

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.

Fiber Optic History - The Video

FOA recently created a timeline of fiber optic history to show how the technology and applications of fiber optics has developed in its 50+ year history. That seemed to be a perfect topic for one of the FOA video lectures, so we created Lecture 73 in the FOA series of lectures on fiber optics about the history of fiber optics.

Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

With 12 textbooks in 4 languages, almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information. To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Videos
We have also rearranged the 100+ FOA videos in similar categories on the Contents Page of the Online Guide, making the videos, especially the lectures, much it much easier to find a video on a particular topic. 
FOA Videos Guide.

FOA Newsletter Sections

News

Lots more news in Worth Reading below

Support FOA school facility and students, victims of devastating floods in Eastern Kentucky

Head of Google Fiber Says They're Ready To Start Building New Cities

FCC Pulls the Plug on RDOF Funding for SpaceX Starlink and LTD Broadband

Fiber-optic cable shortage threatening global digital connectivity

European are already seeing the effects of a global shortage of fiber-optic cable according to marketing research firm CRU. Prices have doubled in Europe thanks to a scarcity of key components such as helium – compounded by rising delivery costs and the labor market – at a time when broadband demand continues to surge.



Prices have more than doubled from record lows in January 2021 in Europe, according to market research firm Cru Group, and this has huge consequences for everyone.

"The biggest impact for consumers is the stretching out of lead times," says Michael Finch, principal analyst at Cru. "Current lead times for optical cable used in our broadband or Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks can now stretch to one year in many regions. It's becoming harder and harder to source cable now."

"This increased lead time, and network construction projects becoming increasingly delayed, means governmental and private targets for the number of homes passed with FTTH will slip," he says.

"The bigger impact to governments comes with the total cost of deploying the optical cable in the ground. This has nearly doubled in many key telecom nations. It is this which could more meaningfully act to constrain demand over the coming 12-18 months."

Read more in CGTN.

Technical

Fiber optic technology, standards, equipment, installation, etc.

Cross Reference To FOA Technical Reference Materials

The FOA has almost 1,000 pages of technical information on the FOA Guide, 100+ videos and two dozen online courses at Fiber U, all this can make it difficult to find the right information.

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
To help this, we have created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.
Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

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OPGW Installation

Photos by FOA Instructor Milt Murry

You don't often see close-up photos of a OPGW drop at a substation but FOA instructor Milt Murry sent us these photos that illustrate how it's done. You can see the OPGW cable coming down the tower to the largee service loop and a regular fiber optic cable going into conduit and into the local facility.



Here is a close-up of the service loops and splice closure.



Now you can easily see the OPGW metallic cable coming down and the conduit with regular fiber optic cable and ducts (2) going underground to the facility. The long service loops are needed to get the cable to the ground for splicing and the metallic box (1) is where the splice tray is located, Why is the splice closure metal? It's bulletproof! That's always a problem with remote power lines.

The Challenges Of Making A 50km Continuous Fiber Optic Cable

100G On One Fiber With One Laser Lowers Cost

In applications like data centers, users always want higher speeds but cost is an issue. As recently as a year or two ago, 100G in the data center required a transceiver with 4 lasers and WDM for singlemode or 4 lasers and 4 fibers in each direction for multimode. Most big data centers have already transitioned to all singlemode so they will not have to update the fiber infrastructure when moving up to 400/800G or terabit speeds.

In long haul telecom, coherent transceivers dominate at high speeds and long lengths, but coherent transceivers are complicated and costly. Prices have been going down for coherent components, but are still higher than 4 channel WDM.

Another solution has arrived and it promises to be much less costly than either of those two options - a transceiver using PAM4 encoding. PAM4 encoding uses 4 signal levels so that each "bit" represents 2 bits of data. The encoding looks like this:



In a binary coded link, each bit is on or off so each bit indicates a "0" or a "1" which is what binary means. In a PAM4 encoded signal, the bit has information in the pulse height, which means the bit can carry two bits of information - "0, 1,2 or 3," twice as much information in the same bit, doubling the information carrying capacity of the link.

A PAM4 transceiver needs only one laser to achieve 100Gb/s data rates, making it less expensive than a transceiver that has 4 lasers and a WDM. The same technology can be leveraged for 400G also.

PAM4 is not a fiber innovation. It has been used for years in electrical communication circuits to increase bandwidth. But the implementation requires some signal processing in the receiver which took some time to implement in fiber optic transceivers.

Read more (for real techies!) from the 100GLambda MSA group. 

Examples of SFP transceivers from Tarluz. 

More Help On Color Codes (Now Copper Cabling And Fiber Optics)

The FOA has created a pocket guide to fiber optic color codes that we are sending to new and renewed CFOTs. It has color codes for fibers and buffer tubes, connectors and premises cables inside and on the back, QR codes to take you directly to the FOA Guide and Fiber U.

The FOA Guide page on Fiber Optic Color Codes is one of the most read pages on the FOA website and the Fiber Optic Color Codes minicourse on Fiber U very popular also.

Here's a do-it-yourself FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Color Codes card. Just download the PDF file, print it on a color printer and fold it up as shown. Then you have your own pocket guide to color codes. Make a bunch for your co-workers too.

Then we realized that many of your also do structured cabling work, so it was a natural to add a Color Code Guide for UTP copper cabling in printable (below) and electronic (above) versions.

Warning For Techs Doing OSP Restoration

Try The FOA's Online Loss Budget Calculator

Worth Reading

Each month we read hundreds of newsletters and online articles. These are the ones we think you will find "worth reading."

FOA Timeline of Fiber Optic History  and the new FOA video "The History Of Fiber Optics"

Worth Reading (And Watching):

FOA  has a web page with resources on fiber broadband networks and the IIJA/BEAD funding programs.

September 2022  
Google, Meta cables will be "game changers" for Africa - Lightreading.com

Fiber optic technology powers the internet, and it's a big business  MSN

Fast Fiber Networks Have Quietly Won the Broadband War - CNET

Fiber – Integral Enabler of Smart Water Infrastructure - Graybar Webinar on demand by Corning

Telegeography webinars on transatlantic and transpacific submaring cables. Best practices and market insights.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance Announces Two Initiatives to Foster Local Broadband Solutions  

Electrical Contractor Magazine Profile of the Electrical Contractor - many, if not most, do fiber and other low voltage work.

August 2022

The First Transcontinental Telephone Line  began operation on  July 29th in 1915 - 3400 miles between New York and San Francisco - required over 100,000 telephone poles! Wonders of World Engineering

Google Fiber still adding cities - Mesa, Arizona next stop. Lightwave. Mesa will become the 14th Google Fiber FTTH city.

Using existing coax cable In MDUs for Internet with MOCA. Ignore the title of this article - that's what it's about. Broadband Communities

FBA Broadband Infrastructure Playbook  The Fiber Broadband Association, the trade association of fiber optic equipment suppliers and no relation to the FOA, has created a comprehensive guide for organizations wanting to apply for US IIJA/BEAD funding.


July 2022

Vermont not waiting for federal BEAD grants, funding broadband development now. ILSR.

Four Wind Farms Constructed at once. T&D World. Wind power needs lots of fiber optics - OPGW.





Lightwave's Summer Issue focuses on fiber in the CATV industry and more.

Fiber Optics Installed By The Lowest Bidder  - ISE Magazine - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.

Building Broadband During Component and Worker Shortages - Broadband Communities - Completing broadband builds requires competent fiber optic techs, but training them requires understanding how they learn - by Jim Hayes, FOA President.

Worth Reading - Magazines, Websites and Newsletters

 

New Fiber Optic Magazine In Spanish

Todo Fibra Optic magazine has many years experience in the fiber optic industry so he knows the industry well. FOA will be working with him to share our extensive technical materials in Spanish.

Read their newsletter here. It is now available online in English and Spanish.



 

1995-2020 - FOA's 25th Anniversary!

Worth Reading - News Summary - Past Links Worth Repeating

If you are interested in restoration - aren't we all? - you should also read this article in dpPro magazine by FOA President Jim Hayes: Damage Protection Requies Looking Overheas As Well As Underground - dpPRO Magazine - about the problems with aerial cables. His previous article for the magazine was New Techniques for Fiber Optic Installation.

How much fiber optic cable is manufactured each year? CRU Reports - unsurprisingly China is by far the largest market today

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance weekly newsletter has lots of interesting articles and links.

The Open Technology Institute at New America just published “The Cost of Connectivity 2020,”

US Ignite and Altman Solon issued “Broadband Models for Unserved and Underserved Communities”

Universal access to broadband is a cornerstone to a strong economy, Achieving universal access will require community partnerships. by Alfreda B. Norman, Sr. VP,  Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

FIBER TO THE FARM: The co-ops that electrified Depression-era farms are now building rural internet. Be sure to check out the high-tech equine installation equipment.

Next Century Cities Newsletter - News from cities around the US including Detroit and New York plus small

Infrastructure Get Some Respect, NY TImes "On Tech"   "The magic of the internet requires a lot of very boring stuff behind the scenes. "

The job market is hot. So why are half of U.S. grads missing out?  

VIAVI Books On Fiber Optic Testing (2 volumes) - They're back!

Another Source Of Articles On Fiber

Q&A

When readers ask us questions, we genrally refer them to FOA resources where they can find the answer to their question and many more. We first send them to the FOA Guide which is the table of contents for the FOA technical resources. There they can find pages indexed by topic and a search engine for the FOA website. It also links them to FOA videos and courses on our free online learning site Fiber U.

The FOA Fiber FAQs Page (FAQs = frequently asked questions) gathers up questions readers have asked us (which first ran in this newsletter) and adds tech topics of general interest.

Good Question!

Tech Questions/Comments From FOA Newsletter Readers 

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

September 2022

Splicing Pigtails On A Cable
Q: I seem to be having an issue finding fiber protection sleeves that can slide over the 3mm patch cable.  I bought a sleeve that said it with made for “single fiber fusion” but the thru hole which I would side the cable thru prior to fusion is too small for the patch cable.  When I try and look on-line for specifications for the thru-hole size, prior to fusion final melting of the glue in the sleeve, all I find are post-melting diameters, none which are even close to being able to handle the 3mm patch cable.
A: Splicing pigtails involves splicing the fibers only and the cables are secured separately. The usual method of splicing on pigtails is to splice the fibers and use the heat shrink tube to seal the splice and the fibers from the outside air and protect it from stress. The splice is placed in a splice tray. On either side, there is 2-3 feet of fiber exposed from the cables being spliced. The splice tray has clamps for all of the cables being spliced on the edges of the tray and the fiber to the splice is coiled neatly on the splice tray. The jacket of the pigtail is clamped at the edge of the splice tray but  ends there, so only fiber is coiled in the tray. If you try to coil fiber, the bulk of the cable can get to be a problem where it’s coiled with the bare fiber. You can get heat shrink protectors for fibers of 250 to 900 micron diameter buffers, but not for jacketed cables.

Important Questions From The Past

More Q&A in the FOA FAQs Page  

ANSI/NECA/FOA-301 is available free from FOA.



Download your free copy of

FOA Network Of Approved Schools Continues To Grow

Need A Fiber Optic Course Onsite? Invite an FOA School To Come To You

FOA/Fiber U On-The-Job Training (OJT) Program

Like other FOA programs, the OJT-To-Cert program is free. If you and/or your company is interested in the FOA OJT-To-Cert program, contact FOA.

To explain how OJT works and FOA's OJT-To-Cert program, FOA created a short video: Lecture 62: On The Job Training For Fiber Optics Using Fiber U     

FOA "Work-To-Cert" Program

Experience Plus Online Study At Fiber U = FOA Certification

Fiber U "Basic Fiber Optics" Online Self-Study Course Now In Spanish

El curso de autoaprendizaje en línea "Fibra óptica básica" de Fiber U ahora en español

El sitio de aprendizaje en línea de FOA, Fiber U, tiene más de dos docenas de cursos de autoaprendizaje gratuitos sobre fibra óptica y cableado de instalaciones. Como era de esperar, el tema más popular es el curso "Fibra óptica básica", que se utiliza para iniciarse en la fibra óptica y como curso de preparación para realizar el examen de certificación FOA CFOT.

Ahora el curso básico de fibra óptica está disponible en español, utilizando el libro de texto FOA en español, la sección de la Guía en línea en español y la capacidad de YouTube para traducir subtítulos de video al español. El curso funciona exactamente como la versión en inglés con 10 lecciones, cada una con cuestionarios y una opción para tomar un examen de Certificado de finalización.

Para presentar el nuevo curso de español Fiber U, el examen Certificate of Completion es gratuito, así que dígaselo a sus contactos.

Curso Básico de Fibra Óptica de Fibra U en español.

New Fiber U Course: Fiber Characterization 
FOA has added a new course at Fiber U on Fiber Characterization. Fiber characterization is the process for testing long fiber cable plants for its ability for carrying high speed communications. With so many networks now operating at 100, 200, 400 or even 800 Gb/s, fiber characterization is important, especially on older fiber optic cable plants.The free Fiber U Fiber Characterization course is available in two forms, as a standalone Fiber U fiber Characterization Course with its own Fiber U Certificate of Completion and as a separate Lesson in the Fiber U Fiber Optic Testing course. This course is recommended for those studying for the FOA CFOS/FC Fiber Characterization certification.

Fiber U MiniCourses: Got An Hour Or Less? Learn Something New About Fiber Optics.

What Fiber Techs Don't Know -

What We Learn From FOA Certification Tests

FOA Guide "Basics Of Fiber Optics" Now Available Online in Portuguese (6/2020)

Here is the FOA Guide in Portuguese, Spanish and French translations.

Time To Learn - Online

And Fiber U has the new Fiber U DIY Basic Skills Lab lesson with directions on how to purchase inexpensive tools online and use them to learn basic fiber optic skills. Videoconferencing allows the instructor to remotely monitor their work and provide help as needed. Contact the FOA for more information.


FOA Zoom Exam Proctoring

FOA offers free online self-study programs at Fiber U. Many users are preparing for FOA certification programs - taking courses at our schools or using the "Work-to-Cert" program. Some of our schools are requiring Fiber U programs as prerequisites for their classroom courses so they can spend more time on hands-on activities.

FOA School Offers Toolkit With Online Training

Slayton Solutions (FOA Approved School #156) is offering a simple fiber optic tool kit that includes a 29-piece set of fiber optic tools and a power meter along with training videos and online instruction for only $499. 29 Piece Kit includes all tools and devices a technician needs to install fiber optic connectors and test optical power.  Information on the kit is available on YouTube. You can contact them for more information at  slaytonsolutions@sbcglobal.net or https://www.fiberopticsinstitute.com

Cross Reference To FOA Tech Materials
FOA has so much technical reference material, we created a cross reference guide to the textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U courses, all the FOA technical information. Besides the textbooks, online Guide and Fiber U, each section of the Guide also includes links to the 100+ FOA videos available.

Cross Reference Guide to Textbooks, Online Guide and Fiber U

FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development

To help those new to fiber optic workforce development, FOA has created a web page we call  "Fiber Optic Workforce Development."  In this page, we share what we have learned about the fiber optic workforce, who they are and how they learn their trade. We discuss what defines a fiber optic tech and how they should be certified.

Read the FOA Guide To Fiber Optic Workforce Development online.

Planning A Fiber Optic Project?

More New FOA Video Lectures On YouTube

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages? Here are directions.

Did you know YouTube will close caption videos in many languages?


Sign in with Google to get translations for closed captioning. Click on the settings icon (red arrow.) Choose "Subtitles".  English is the default language. Click on the arrow after "English (auto-generated) >". In the new window click on "Auto-translate" and choose the language you want. 

FOA Loss Budget Calculator On A Web Page 5/2020

FOA has written many articles about loss budgets, something everyone involved in fiber optics needs to know and needs to know how to calculate. We recently discovered how to get a spreadsheet ported to a Web page, so we created this web page that calculates loss budgets. We have an iOS loss budget app, but with this web page, you can calculate loss budgets from any device, smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer that has web browsing capability.

 

Bookmark this page (especially on your smartphone): FOA Loss Budget Calculator Online

We are continually updating the Online Reference Guide to keep up with changes in the industry and adding lots of new pages of technical information. When you go to the FOA Guide Table of Contents to see the latest updates - look for .

Recent updates:

NEW: FOA's FTTH Handbook: We've gathered all our information on FTTH from the FOA Guide and past issues of the FOA Newsletter and edited it into a 112 page "FTTH Handbook." We even added a section on planning and managing FTTH Projects.
The Fiber Optic Association Fiber To The Home Handbook is available from Amazon in print and Kindle editions.

Sitio web y manual de FTTH ahora en español

     

 
Fiber Optics (4 languages), Premises Cabling, OSP fiber and construction, Network Design, Testing and FTTH

   The FOA has it's own reference books for everyone working in fiber optics - contractors, installers and end users as well as for use as textbooks in classes at educational institutions. They are available as printed books or Kindle at much lower prices than most textbooks since we self-publish and sell online, cutting out the middlemen. Click on the book images for more information. The Reference Guide To Fiber Optics is also available in Spanish, French and Portuguese. The Design book is available in English and Spanish.

Click on any book for more information about it.

  

Fiber Optic Safety Poster to download and print

On Safety

There is a toll-free "call before you dig" number in the USA: Dial 811. See www.call811.com for more information in the US. Here is their map of resources by states.

In Canada, it's "Click Before You Dig.com" They also have a page of resources by US states and Canadian provinces.

The Common Ground Alliance has an excellent "Best Practices Guide" online

The US Department of Transportation has a website called "National Pipeline Mapping System" that allows one to search for buried pipelines.   

Why We Warn You To Be Careful About Fiber Shards

Photo courtesy  Brian Brandstetter,  Mississauga Training Consultantcy

Safety Leader Magazine

Safety Leader, a new quarterly magazine, informs and educates electrical contractors on safety from various angles—electrical, workplace, PPE, regulations, leadership, line work, NFPA 70E, and more. Safety Leader is bundled with ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR in February, May, August and November. To receive Safety Leader subscribe to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR magazine here or subscribe to the ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR newsletter here.

Global Excavation Safety Conference

GlobalExcavationSafetyConference.com:

 


The magazine, dp-Pro, sponsor of the conference, has also published it's latest issue with an article by FOA on "New Construction Techniques in Fiber Optics" and a overview of the FOA. You can read the magazine here.

When You Bury Marker Tape, Bury One That Will Work (July 2021)

Contact Us:  http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>

Contact Us
The Fiber Optic Association Inc.
http://www.foa.org or email <info@foa.org>

Phone: 1-760-451-3655

       

 FOA Logo Merchandise

New FOA Swag! Shirts, Caps, Stickers, Cups, etc.

Your Name, CFOT® - It pays to advertise!

The FOA encourages CFOTs to use the logo on their business cards, letterhead, truck or van, etc. and provides logo files for that purpose. But we are also asked about how to use the CFOT or CFOS certifications. Easy, you can refer to yourself as "Your Name, CFOT" or "Your Name, CFOS/T" for example.

Feel free to use the logo and designations to promote your achievements and professionalism!

Privacy Policy (for the EU GDPR): The FOA does not use cookies or any other web tricks to gather information on visitors to our website, nor do we allow commercial advertising. Our website hosts may gather traffic statistics for the visitors to our website and our online testing service, ClassMarker, maintains statistics of test results. We do not release or misuse any information on any of our members except we will confirm FOA certifications and Fiber U certificates of completion when requested by appropriate persons such as employers or personnel services.
Read the complete FOA Privacy Policy here.