Spectrum (legacy TWC) Infrastructure - Contact Off List

Fri Feb 3 13:11:13 UTC 2023

At 08:43 PM 02/02/2023, Eric Kuhnke wrote:
>There is "microtrenching" and then there is 
>microtrenching. Very different things are 
>sometimes described by the same name. Some of 
>what Google tried to go was exceedingly shallow, 
>like 4 inches down. Cheap microtrenching done 
>too quick and too shallow has given the concept a bad name.

The local ILEC is doing that here - they use a 
spade to make a little slot in the customer's 
lawn and shove the cable in.  If they have to 
cross a driveway or sidewalk, they dig out the 
expansion joint, shove the cable in and dump some 
cold patch in the gap.  If they have to run 
multiple cables, they use a concrete saw to make the gap a bit wider.

>There is microtrenched fiber in Vancouver BC 
>that is close to 20 years old now throughout the 
>downtown core that is nearly problem-free. The 
>difference is that it is 12+ inches down and was 
>installed using large, noisy, water cooled 
>diamond-grit concrete saws cutting deep slits 
>into the joints between streets and curbs, or 
>concrete curbs and sidewalks,Â  duct inserted, 
>then backfilled with grouting. It's deep enough 
>where it crosses roads that re-paving the road 
>by first grinding off the top several inches of 
>surface is extremely unlikely to disturb the duct.

I'm familiar with the slightly more robust 
technique deployed by companies like 
Teraspan.  I'm sure it works much better in the 
milder climate in BC.   There are microtrench/VIF 
networks in Toronto and Ottawa as well.  A few 
years ago, they were re-building one of the roads 
in the downtown core in Toronto, and the entire 
microtrenched network (mini handholes and all) 
had been lifted out of the street area and laid 
on the sidewalk, and protected with barriers and 
safety cones, etc.    I just shook my head...

-- 

Clayton Zekelman
Managed Network Systems Inc. (MNSi)
3363 Tecumseh Rd. E
Windsor, Ontario
N8W 1H4

tel. 519-985-8410
fax. 519-985-8409        
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