Fiber Installation - SF Bay Area (Hayward) - Transition Box and ONT Location?

[cwatson774]

Hey everyone,

I'm a current Sonic.net Fusion customer and I'd like to upgrade to fiber. I'd like to know in advance about the transition box and ONT installation, in order to have everything setup beforehand if possible.

First, where will the transition box be installed on my house? I'm guessing it'll come from the same pole as my current AT&T phone lines, and mounting it there won't be a problem.

After that, a fiber line is ran from the transition box to the ONT, which will be mounted somewhere inside the house. I'd like to have a space setup for the ONT that isn't unsightly. I think an in-wall enclosure would look nice compared to an unsightly hole in the wall for the fiber line.

Here's a rough picture of my house:



Assuming the transition box is mounted where my phone lines currently come in, I think having the ONT installed on the inside of that room would be ideal. I could possibly put it in a closet in that same room. From there, I'd just need to run an ethernet cable from the ONT to my computer room, which is where I'd install the modem / router ideally. Will Sonic run the ethernet cable or will I have to do that?

Sorry for the rambling question, but any info on what to expect come installation day would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Sonic Guest]

You have quite a bit of say where the transition box/ONT goes but I would imagine it should be reasonable (for example, someone might balk if they were asked to feed the fiber through 1000 feet of dirty crawl space). The problem you might run into is the fiber that comes down from the pole is quite sturdy and armored but once it gets past the transition box it is not as protected.

Since you're entering into living space an in-wall enclosure is a really great idea. In fact, if your enclosure is large enough, have the transition box and ONT both mounted inside. Just ensure it has power and enough space for a UPS. Also see if they have an older combo transition/ONT unit.

[chris.w]

Hi cwatson,

By default, Sonic will probably run your fiber drop along pretty much the same route as your current phone cable and install the transition box somewhere near the network interface device box that your phone cable terminates on, typically on an outside wall of your house. If that won’t work for you, Sonic generally accommodates customer requests regarding drop routing and transition-box placement if they’re reasonable and practical.

From the transition box, a secondary fiber cable enters the house through a small hole drilled in the outside wall. The fiber can either run directly into the adjacent living space or it can run into a crawl space and from there into living space elsewhere in the house. Either way, once the secondary fiber penetrates the interior wall, it terminates on a jack in a wall plate, visually and functionally similar to a telephone or Ethernet wall jack.

A final, short length of thin fiber cable runs from the jack to the ONT (optical network termination, the fiber equivalent of a modem), which is typically mounted on the interior wall near the jack. The ONT has an Ethernet jack to connect to your router or RG as well as a phone jack. A 12-volt power supply powers the ONT. This can either include battery backup (a mini-UPS) or not (a wall wart).

If your installation plan calls for an extended or in-wall run of Ethernet cable from your ONT to your router, you’ll need to do that yourself or pay someone else to. On the other hand, if you can arrange to route the secondary fiber cable from the transition box to the computer room (e.g. via a sub-floor crawl space and an interior wall penetration), you might consider locating the ONT in the computer room, where it would be near your router and where visual aesthetics may be less of an issue. I’m pretty sure the Sonic installer would go along with that if the route is accessible and if you prepare the wall and floor penetrations in advance.

Good luck,
Chris