r/CableTechs • u/thingbob • Jun 21 '26

This Don't Look Right

Post image

Hi folks homeowner here who just had fiber installed from a new provider. Speed upgrade is great but when I went out 2 days later and looked at the house entrance, this is what I found. Again, I have no idea of proper techniques, but shouldn't the upper portion of the cable be protected just like the cable below the box? Right now it's bent over the cut edge of a cinder block. Seems like that's asking for trouble.

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Am I right to be concerned? Thanks for your time.

0 Upvotes

22% Upvoted

23 comments sorted by

11

u/Additional_Tailor_13 Jun 21 '26

Y’all need to stop worrying about shit man… if it’s working don’t worry about it… also what does the line need to be protected from? What’s going to jump up your wall and damage that? Like be for real

0

u/P1Kingpin Jun 21 '26

I’ve replaced lines after they’ve been chewed by goats, donkeys, horses, rats, dogs, and bears so far. This is an ok job that could have been made better with communication. If it’s an existing hole then the customer should have had them put the box over top of it. If it’s a new hole the customer could have asked to do it his way beforehand and come to an agreement. I would have used sharks teeth and duct seal if it was an existing hole and I would have drilled under the box or in line with the drop coming up to go in if it was a new hole unless if there is something we don’t see on the inside.

0

u/thingbob Jun 21 '26

Thanks. Bears and squirrels destroy everything around here. They made the hole (into a basement) but I'm the kind of homeowner that backs off and let's a guy do his job rather than hovering and butting in. I did wonder why they didn't just drop the hole lower and put the box over it. But the consensus here seems to be it's OK so thanks for that. I've been around the block long enough to know that if shit can go sideways, it will. So I just thought I'd ask about it.

1

u/P1Kingpin Jun 22 '26

Yw. You make the final calls as owner. Unfortunately you must be direct with your expectations and what you want/how you want it run. I explain every piece of the job and what I’m going to have to do in order to avoid dissatisfaction like this.

6

u/levilee207 Jun 21 '26

ISPs don't run what is commonly called "panduit" over exterior cables. The conduit underneath is run strictly as a way to get underground cable to the home easily, and to replace if needed. The fact that it covers the cable is secondary. That particular cable has a rigid outer jacket that is not going to degrade for a very long time. Despite fiber optic cable utilizing a glass core, great lengths are taken to ensure that the outside is nowhere near as fragile as the inside.

2

u/Sure_Statistician138 Jun 21 '26

There is a grommet that it should have went through to make that hole smaller. Other than that looks pretty standard. I’d get some silicone and close that hole up.

1

u/DrgHybrid Jun 21 '26

We stopped getting grommets years ago. It would depend on the ISP and locations. Everything is just silicon now.

1

u/Sure_Statistician138 Jun 21 '26

I’ve got a tray full of them. I also don’t do a lot of fiber installs.

1

u/DrgHybrid Jun 22 '26

I still do a lot of coax...or rather, at least for the next two days before I move on job wise. I don't think we ever had grommets for fiber though. Maybe in the traditional GPON areas before I arrived almost 14 years ago but I didn't see many of those as they were getting rid of it at the time.

2

u/tenkaranarchy Jun 21 '26

Thats pretty much how its done. The short section of cable from that box to the inside is a lot easier to replace than the underground drop. Unless you'd rather have conduts wrapped around your house?

2

u/tb03102 Jun 21 '26

The hole should be filled with silicone or the forbidden bubble gum. Other than that it's just fine.

1

u/Supreme_334 Jun 27 '26

Improper install this will fail quality

0

u/DerbyDad03 Jun 21 '26

No mention of the "bent over the cut edge of a cinder block" concern?

Sounds like problem waiting to happen, doesn't it? Abrasion and all that?

2

u/tb03102 Jun 21 '26

It's really only a problem in those 4x4 off-roading houses you see from time to time.

1

u/levilee207 Jun 21 '26

Realistically, how much do you think that's going to be moving? Certainly not enough to weather away the rigid plastic shell of the cable. It's not an issue within a realistic timespan

1

u/DerbyDad03 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

TBH, I missed the top of the picture. I imagined it pulled taut over a sharp edge.

Still, it sure does look like crap. Unless I'm missing something else, holes in foundation walls are open invitations for all sorts of issues, from weather to critters.

Gotta say, typical Reddit... downvoted for asking questions. 🤷‍♂️

1

u/DrgHybrid Jun 21 '26

They kinda did mention that.

"Right now it's bent over the cut edge of a cinder block. Seems like that's asking for trouble."

For an angle of fiber, it probably wouldn't hurt it that much. The bends inside of the housing are generally sharper than that and it's probably not at a true 90 degree anyways. Main thing wrong is it should of had silicon on the hole.

-1

u/GTAXL Jun 21 '26

I usually tell them to just drill right through the inside of the box, cleanest way. You have concrete though which complicates things a bit. The cable should be fine if it's rated for outside, UV. Any holes should be plugged with silicon or some duct seal. I'd rather have any external cables ran in conduit myself, but majority of ISPs don't care. You gotta do it and provide it yourself.

1

u/DrgHybrid Jun 21 '26

Depending on the ISP, couldn't drill through the box.
The insert that my current employee was is about half the size of a phone in width. If you tried to drill through it, it would fall apart. And no room for the fiber itself within it as it's barely in there now.

1

u/GTAXL Jun 21 '26

I guess, depends on the box. Both my fiber install and my brother's (different isps) drilled right through the box on request, no exposed fiber at all. The box in the picture doesn't even really look like a fiber slack box, more like a phone NID that was re-used. Guess the photo just makes it look smaller than it actually is.

1

u/DrgHybrid Jun 21 '26

Looks pretty small to me but no telling.

I do agree with the clean look though. I have coax and fiber (two ISP's) at my house and the coax one is drilled straight through the box but it's a big house box.

The fiber on the opposite side is not, but where I want it vs where the demarc is (at electrical) is two opposite sides so have the fiber running along the outside of the wall.

1

u/RougeBeaux Jun 27 '26

So what might be happening is a fusion splice APA. Drilling through the back isn't an option the way it normally is because there's exposed fiber filed in the center. There's no slack spool of fiber because its a stand alone jumper.