type of cable used in fiber

[ConstanceB]

I am thinking for switching to Sonic Fiber. I am doing renovation and have exposed framing where I can run a cable inside the wall from the outside to a small closet where I can put my router for fiber. I'm hoping that I can put my router in this spot so that I don't have to run a long cable along the baseboard. What kind of cable should I run to the outside? Thank you.

[igorru]

Hi ConstanceB,

My recommendation would be to put in a conduit instead. You can use a flexible plastic conduit. Usually, those are orange or yellow to denote low or no voltage. This will give you flexibility for the future as well, in case you ever need to run a new cable. Just make sure you have a pull string inside the conduit. Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Single-Outside-P ... B00FZ5X0X4
Plenty of other options out there.

Hope this helps.

[ConstanceB]

Thanks for the reply about the conduit. For Fiber, what kind of cable does it run in? In addition to doing the conduit, I could also just put in the cable for fiber but I don't know what that kind of cable would be. Is it just a coaxial cable like for Comcast? Or something different?

[igorru]

ConstanceB,

No, it is nothing like a coax cable for Comcast. It is a fiber optic cable. I am not sure what would be an equivalent one to look for to purchase on your own because the one they install is Sonic Telecom branded. Maybe someone else knows?

For conduit, any low or no voltage conduit will do the job. In fact, really any kind of conduit will do the job. You could even run an EMT conduit. The flexible plastic one I suggested is probably the easiest to run though.

[joeyyung911]

Why would you need to purchase any cable?

Fiber comes off the pole, down to your house, "terminates" to an ONT, ONT to Router via RJ45. Both the fiber and ONT is Sonic-owned, so you ain't do anything with that.

Why do people make is complicated?

[Larns576]

You're not supposed to tamper with the fiber cable pre ONT. After the ONT is regular Cat5 cable. You can ask the installer to run the fiber through the new conduit to the closet or just place the ONT where it comes into the house, then Cat 5/6 to the closet where the router will sit.

[cdrayson]

Cat 6a will future-proof your ethernet; it's capable of 10 Gb speeds. Assuming you plan to use it for quite a few years, the additional cost is minimal over cat 5. If you have a garage, they will probably put the ONT in there, so just run some ethernet from there to you router.