Fibre to the premises - Hardware Queries

[tvrulesme]

I am in the process of signing up to a full fibre FTTP service with Trooli for a house I am buying which currently has no internet service. Before anyone asks it's cheaper than any of the FTTC services as they are doing a promotion.

In terms of hardware I've always been in to getting the very best I can at the time of install, mostly because it's fun to learn about the new tech.

I'm slightly confused when it comes to fibre and cabling though, even though I have done a whole lot of home CAT6 runs and terminations myself.

The house is kind of split in to two separate parts, the main house and a garage which will in future be converted to a living space. The FTTP cable will enter the property in the garage where I will have my server cabinet with a bunch of stuff and I want the best possible link to the main house where I will have a switch connected to access points, ethernet wall sockets etc etc.



This link between main house and garage will follow the green arrow in this picture and will all be in conduit/trunking underground or under the floor. I need to dig this out for other utilities anyway so a good opportunity to sort out networking while I'm there.

I've been thinking along the lines of a switch in my server cabinet with an SFP+ link to another switch in the house. I've been looking at this for both locations

https://mikrotik.com/product/css610_8g_2s_in

My questions are:

1. Does this make any sense technically speaking
2. What about the fibre modem in to the switch? Assuming this will be some kind of CAT6 or higher?
3. What sort of cable would I look for which can be buried in trunking to serve as the SFP+?
4. Is there an alternative that would give me an even better link between the two locations?

Distance of the cable run will be very roughly 9m.

I'm also well aware that this is all very over the top but interested in technical answers, not if this is a waste of money.

 

[WJA96]

I've been thinking along the lines of a switch in my server cabinet with an SFP+ link to another switch in the house. I've been looking at this for both locations

https://mikrotik.com/product/css610_8g_2s_in

My questions are:

1. Does this make any sense technically speaking

Yes

2. What about the fibre modem in to the switch? Assuming this will be some kind of CAT6 or higher?

It's only FTTP so any network cable will do so long as all 4 pairs are connected (1GbE) so CAT5e or CAT6 will be fine.

3. What sort of cable would I look for which can be buried in trunking to serve as the SFP+?

A fibre. Just buy the two SFP+ transceivers and the fibre optic cable as a set and you'll be set forever. I can't remember the top capacity of an optical fibre but it's into the hundreds of gigabits per second. Truly future-proof. They're also dirt cheap so run two for redundancy.

4. Is there an alternative that would give me an even better link between the two locations?

I don't think so. This seems like a decent plan.

 

[Caged]

Trooli are a small enough provider that they might be able to terminate a couple of fibres for your garage to house link if you have ducting in place and a draw line. Then you'd just need some Bi-Di SFP+ modules and the relevant patch leads to go from what is probably SC APC to LC UPC.

 

[Armageus]

As it's only 9m length, personally I'd just look on ebay or similar and pick up some 15m patch cables, there's a couple of "15m OM4 Fibre Optic Cable LC to LC" for £13 each that have test certificates attached.

 

[Sin_Chase]

Other than serving Internet will you have any other services running? NAS, Media Streaming etc?

Other than throughput is there any reason you can't just uplink with cat6?

Don't get me wrong, they fibre link option is sound but you did mention other options. The only technical reason I can see that fibre makes more sense at present is throughput, and this would only prove advantageous at present if you are serving multiple clients from the garage with high bandwidth local services that would exceed the 1Gbit availability of a single port. That is with your max WAN throughput being a shade under 1Gbit anyway.

Fibre will absolutely prove more future proof however and if the pull/run is particularly finicky then defo do it.

 

[Biffa]

I have an almost identical setup to you. I don't have FTTP but thats irrelevant, just because you have FTTP doesn't mean you need to keep going with Fibre from there into the house. I just go CAT6 from garage to house and use 10GB Ethernet. Even that is overkill for purely internet use, but I have servers, nas, plex and other high bandwidth requirements in the garage. But for the internet bandwidth you're only going to get at max 1Gb connection.

Think about your endpoint usage, TV's, well they only have 10Mb ethernet at best, yes you can get a Gb dongle for some of them which will improve things, in order to take advantage of high bandwidth network connection to a plex server or some other media storage you'd need like a media pc with 10Gb connections.

Plan out your endpoints, what they need, then distribute the network accordingly. But for the link between garage and house, I'd go for buried outdoor grade shielded CAT6 and 10Gb ethernet switches.

 

[tvrulesme]

Trooli are a small enough provider that they might be able to terminate a couple of fibres for your garage to house link if you have ducting in place and a draw line. Then you'd just need some Bi-Di SFP+ modules and the relevant patch leads to go from what is probably SC APC to LC UPC.

Thanks so much. Unfortunately this part of the route will not be ready before they do the install

As it's only 9m length, personally I'd just look on ebay or similar and pick up some 15m patch cables, there's a couple of "15m OM4 Fibre Optic Cable LC to LC" for £13 each that have test certificates attached.

Thank you. This is where my knowledge was lacking. Wasn't really sure if I needed OM3 OM4 etc so this is a big help and much cheaper than I thought

 

[tvrulesme]

Other than serving Internet will you have any other services running? NAS, Media Streaming etc?

Other than throughput is there any reason you can't just uplink with cat6?

Don't get me wrong, they fibre link option is sound but you did mention other options. The only technical reason I can see that fibre makes more sense at present is throughput, and this would only prove advantageous at present if you are serving multiple clients from the garage with high bandwidth local services that would exceed the 1Gbit availability of a single port. That is with your max WAN throughput being a shade under 1Gbit anyway.

Fibre will absolutely prove more future proof however and if the pull/run is particularly finicky then defo do it.

Thanks so much. NAS, Media Streaming 100% also I do a lot of video processing with CCTV footage for facial recognition so use a fair amount of bandwidth. CAT6 could definitely handle it but you've hit the nail on the head with both finicky and future proofing. It's a pretty windey run and even with fat trunking I would struggle to pull future cable through.

 

[tvrulesme]

Think about your endpoint usage, TV's, well they only have 10Mb ethernet at best, yes you can get a Gb dongle for some of them which will improve things, in order to take advantage of high bandwidth network connection to a plex server or some other media storage you'd need like a media pc with 10Gb connections.

Thank you. So I swap out hardware and upgrade all the time. Max I currently use is 1GB connections but my thinking is that this is literally the only time in my lifetime I will have this big service hole in the ground. I so don't want to be sitting there in 2030 thinking "now Netflix have introduced that smellovision which is taking up 18GB I wish I had just put that £15 cable in the ground".

 

[Hyburnate]

I'd suggest OM3 to be honest, you won't go wrong with OM4 but for the length you're looking at, there is no benefit.

Test certificates 'enclosed' are useless, pointless and don't show anything, the amount of times contractors have installed pre-term links and shown these to clients is hilarious, the way fbre works means the installed cable /should/ be tested (in a commercial environment). The fact the end-faces were clean and the cable that was neatly spooled up has a within tolerance loss is pointless once it's been drawn through a duct, or plugged in.

LC-LC Duplex is the connector type you want to be using, I would recommend buying some of these, if you're doing a duct and going underground you don't want to be installing simple LSZH patch leads.

https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/multimode-om3-armoured-fibre-patch-lead-duplex.html

MCL Data Solutions have loads of good kit, use them in the commercial world all the time.

For context here, I employ fibre optic contractors.

 

[WJA96]

I have an almost identical setup to you. I don't have FTTP but thats irrelevant, just because you have FTTP doesn't mean you need to keep going with Fibre from there into the house. I just go CAT6 from garage to house and use 10GB Ethernet. Even that is overkill for purely internet use, but I have servers, nas, plex and other high bandwidth requirements in the garage. But for the internet bandwidth you're only going to get at max 1Gb connection.

The OP has specified SFP+ switches. And it's a building to building link. Why would you not use an optical fibre? A pair of 10GbE LC adapters is about £35 if you buy the Mikrotik ones and a pre-made fibre cable is £10-£20 depending in the length. To go 10GBaseT with a CAT6(A) cable would be £45 each end for the SFP+ adapters at least and limit the OP to 10GbE. It doesn't make sense financially, it doesn't make sense from a performance perspective, potentially (but very unlikely) there could be earthing issues between the buildings and there is nothing as future-proof as a fibre. It's just the right way to do this.

 

[ChrisD.]

For that length, run two or more cables in case one fails and use either copper or fibre - it won't matter due to the length as long as it's decent copper. Go with whatever works out cheapest which looks to be fibre given you have SFP+ switch ports as pointed out above.

 

[Caged]

I don't see the point in using multimode. The optics for single mode aren't much more expensive than multimode and it gives you the most options in the future if for some reason you wanted to send a satellite TV feed out to the garage, SDI video, or wanted to move the ONT into the house for some reason.

 

[Hyburnate]

I don't see the point in using multimode. The optics for single mode aren't much more expensive than multimode and it gives you the most options in the future if for some reason you wanted to send a satellite TV feed out to the garage, SDI video, or wanted to move the ONT into the house for some reason.

Don't disagree with this, just make sure that attenuation levels are all good over such a small link, likely won't be an issue.

 

[tvrulesme]

Thanks so much all.

So for my stupid brain, the best of the best would be OS2 as its single mode and LC - LC as the connectors?

I ask because it's surprisingly cheaper than multi mode?

https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/fibr...singlemode-g652-simplex-yellow-12-metres.html

The cable type is where my brain (and internet searches) are letting me down

 

[Caged]

You'd want a duplex cable (or two simplex ones) as this is what most SFPs are designed for. I'd also go 'armoured' as you're less likely to cause damage pulling it through a duct and it's nicer to handle.

https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/singlemode-armoured-fibre-patch-lead-duplex.html

LC UPC at both ends.

 

[tvrulesme]

You'd want a duplex cable (or two simplex ones) as this is what most SFPs are designed for. I'd also go 'armoured' as you're less likely to cause damage pulling it through a duct and it's nicer to handle.

https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/singlemode-armoured-fibre-patch-lead-duplex.html

LC UPC at both ends.

Thanks a million

 

[Hyburnate]

Thanks so much all.

So for my stupid brain, the best of the best would be OS2 as its single mode and LC - LC as the connectors?

I ask because it's surprisingly cheaper than multi mode?

https://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/fibr...singlemode-g652-simplex-yellow-12-metres.html

The cable type is where my brain (and internet searches) are letting me down

Singlemode is a simpler cable to manufacture and it's bought and manufactured in much larger quantities, it's good for 100G over several kM, it's a bloody solid cable - I love it. The optics in higher-end kit are much more expensive and therefore it's not really used outside of ISPs.

Post the SFPs you're going to buy as some can't accept the same level of power they kick out and you're unlikely to be having much 'loss' of signal over such a short link.

 

[tvrulesme]

Post the SFPs you're going to buy as some can't accept the same level of power they kick out and you're unlikely to be having much 'loss' of signal over such a short link.

Thank you. So settling on OS2 Armoured. Assuming that if I get the 4 fibre version that would constitute the redundancy so only 2 fibres would need to be connected to the Transceiver. Is that correct?
https://www.fs.com/uk/products/70220.html?attribute=3823&id=273383

So then we get to another list of options I don't understand

https://www.fs.com/uk/c/10g-sfp-plus-63?connector=21695&page=1&sort_order=price

In my mind I can update these at a later date but with my very short 9m distance there is little point in going above something like this

https://www.fs.com/uk/products/11552.html?attribute=77&id=274071

I've read that Mikrotik are not at all fussy with these so hoping that sounds about right

 

[Caged]

I wouldn't buy such small quantities from FS - look at the shipping costs