Sonic.net

Checking in from Willow Glen (San Jose). My10gig Fibre installation was just scheduled for later this month. (woohoo!)

I was hoping someone could give me an overview of what equipment is currently being deployed, and how the fibre/other cabling is normally run into a property. I have managed 2 AT&T fibre installs previously, so I'm curious how Sonic's current setup differs.

For our first install in 2017, fibre was strung from a utility pole to the side of my house, where a large exterior ONT box was installed. Two Cat5e cables were run from the ONT box to my equipment rack inside, with one used to feed power back to the ONT, and the second connected to an AT&T residential gateway.

Earlier this year we installed AT&T Fibre (GPON) at my wife's office, where the fibre line was run directly from the pole to the (basement) equipment room, where it was terminated with an optical socket. A fibre extension cable connected the socket to an SFP ONT module, that was in turn installed into a BGW320 gateway.

Ultimately I'll be connecting the Sonic equipment to a 10gig SFP port on my router (UDM-SE), but I'm expecting there will be a gateway, and likely Cat6a connecting to a transceiver. I'm curious if the current Sonic install spec is similar to the AT&T GPON guidelines, with fibre run inside, or if exterior equipment is still used.

DB.

Which part of WG are you in?

drblack2k wrote:
Checking in from Willow Glen (San Jose). My10gig Fibre installation was just scheduled for later this month. (woohoo!)

I was hoping someone could give me an overview of what equipment is currently being deployed, and how the fibre/other cabling is normally run into a property. I have managed 2 AT&T fibre installs previously, so I'm curious how Sonic's current setup differs.

For our first install in 2017, fibre was strung from a utility pole to the side of my house, where a large exterior ONT box was installed. Two Cat5e cables were run from the ONT box to my equipment rack inside, with one used to feed power back to the ONT, and the second connected to an AT&T residential gateway.

Earlier this year we installed AT&T Fibre (GPON) at my wife's office, where the fibre line was run directly from the pole to the (basement) equipment room, where it was terminated with an optical socket. A fibre extension cable connected the socket to an SFP ONT module, that was in turn installed into a BGW320 gateway.

Ultimately I'll be connecting the Sonic equipment to a 10gig SFP port on my router (UDM-SE), but I'm expecting there will be a gateway, and likely Cat6a connecting to a transceiver. I'm curious if the current Sonic install spec is similar to the AT&T GPON guidelines, with fibre run inside, or if exterior equipment is still used.

DB.

Hey DB,

That's awesome to hear that we'll be installing our 10gig Fiber for you soon!

For our process of installation, we will bring the Fiber cable off of the utility pole near the home and anchor it to the home to prep for installation. This is what we call the "Fiber Drop" this typically happens before the scheduled install, but it's sometimes done the same day.

When we come out to do the full installation, we will determine a place to mount our transition box, which is where we create a termination point for the Fiber jumper cable to bring inside. These are typically located outside, but can be installed inside of areas like garages. From there, we will run the Fiber jumper cable to where ever the router will be located and mount our ONT. However, if you already have CAT5e/CAT6 internal wiring, then we can connect it to the home's internal wiring instead. Although, it's important to note that if you do install it that way while you are not renting our equipment and your internal wiring causes an issue requiring a dispatch, then you will be charged a truck roll fee. If you are still renting our equipment, then fixing your internal wiring (to the best of our ability) would be covered.

Our installers will also be talking with you throughout the process to go over all of the possible routes/options for installation to make sure that it's being installed the way you'd like it to be.

If you have any other questions, please let us know!

Kind regards,

jonathan.yuen wrote:
Which part of WG are you in?

Just down the street from Willow Glen Elementary (Lincoln and Minnesota)

brandonc wrote:

For our process of installation, we will bring the Fiber cable off of the utility pole near the home and anchor it to the home to prep for installation. This is what we call the "Fiber Drop" this typically happens before the scheduled install, but it's sometimes done the same day.

When we come out to do the full installation, we will determine a place to mount our transition box, which is where we create a termination point for the Fiber jumper cable to bring inside. These are typically located outside, but can be installed inside of areas like garages. From there, we will run the Fiber jumper cable to where ever the router will be located and mount our ONT. However, if you already have CAT5e/CAT6 internal wiring, then we can connect it to the home's internal wiring instead. Although, it's important to note that if you do install it that way while you are not renting our equipment and your internal wiring causes an issue requiring a dispatch, then you will be charged a truck roll fee. If you are still renting our equipment, then fixing your internal wiring (to the best of our ability) would be covered.

Our installers will also be talking with you throughout the process to go over all of the possible routes/options for installation to make sure that it's being installed the way you'd like it to be.

Kind regards,

Hi Brandon,

Thank you for the overview, it definitely gave me enough information to plan for having everything ready for the installation crew.

Regards,
DB.

Of course! Always glad to help.

If any other questions come to mind, just let me know.

Kind regards,

drblack2k wrote:

jonathan.yuen wrote:
Which part of WG are you in?

Just down the street from Willow Glen Elementary (Lincoln and Minnesota)

The thread had me excited that Sonic fiber had finally arrived in Willow Glen... Checked the availability page.. Nope, Sonic's still only offering over ATT fiber... Drat. More waiting.

(Edit to add - near Booksin, Hicks and Georgetta.)

gtwrek wrote:

drblack2k wrote:

jonathan.yuen wrote:
Which part of WG are you in?

Just down the street from Willow Glen Elementary (Lincoln and Minnesota)

The thread had me excited that Sonic fiber had finally arrived in Willow Glen... Checked the availability page.. Nope, Sonic's still only offering over ATT fiber... Drat. More waiting.

Sorry to hear that! We're rapidly expanding our Sonic Fiber infrastructure, so if it's already nearby, then it hopefully shouldn't be too much longer before we reach you!

Eagerly awaiting installation further south (Curtner/Cherry!)

A brief update for anyone curious/watching.

Fibre was dropped from the pole to the side of my house last week, and the official install happened this morning. The promised junction box was installed outside, and a 35m fibre cable pulled thru a hole into my crawlspace into my basement. We had a hard time getting to the back of my rack box in the crawlspace, so I've got the fibre temporarily pulled thru a wall-box closer to the exterior until I can get back there myself on a weekend. (gotta love foundation extensions in WG)

Once we had the fibre pulled, getting the Adtran 622v provisioned and connected took all of 3 minutes, and my UDM-SE connected to it right away with a Cat6 cable between the 10G port and a 10gig SFP module. As compared to my gigabit AT&T Fibre gear, the 622v is tiny and uses almost no power ... then again, it is purely a modem/ONT, as compared to the AT&T gateway monstrosity.

I'm "only" getting 6.2gb download (5gb upload) bandwidth right now, but I suspect I may need a higher grade Cat6 patch cable, and/or I might be hitting the upper limit of the WAN connection on my UDM-SE. I'll have to scrounge some more equipment this weekend to do further tests. To be fair almost all of my equipment is either gigabit, or connected to WiFi, so I won't be bumping up against that limit for a while.

Extra special thanks and a shout-out to my installer, who patiently humored my request to try and pull the fibre line into the deep-recesses of my crawlspace.