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glatt · 01-05-2009, 07:47 AM

The fiber optic cable goes from the telephone pole at the end of my driveway through the air to the side of my house. It uses the same wall anchor that the original copper phone service uses. It drops down next to the original service box outside, and comes into the basement through the original service hole (which had been cleared of the original copper wires.) Inside, there is one large box mounted to the wall. The fiber terminates in there. There is a battery backup in that box. Coming out of that box are a phone line, a coaxial internet cable, a ground wire, and a power cord. The phone line goes to the original phone mounting junction located at a nearby joist and connects to all the phones in the house. The coaxial cable goes to a separate wireless router supplied by Verizon. This router has 4 Ethernet ports, and I've got two of them used by cat5 and cat6 I fished upstairs for the current computer location and also a future computer location. My father tested the wireless signal with his laptop, and it's very strong throughout the entire house. The power cord plugs into a compact surge protector that is plugged into a new GFCI outlet I installed. The previously mentioned ground wire is clamped to a nearby pipe that goes from our boiler to an upstairs radiator. (I think, but am not certain, that this constitutes a good ground, because metal pipes appear to be used continuously from the water service entrance to the boiler and then to this radiator pipe. They are also tied in to the gas pipes and the electrical panel ground.)

I can post a picture if you are interested.

I find the ground wire curious. I'm not sure what they are grounding. It must be the phones in the house, but I think that system is already grounded from the phone junction on the joist. The electrical system is already grounded. And the fiber optic cable is not conductive.

01-05-2009, 07:47 AM	#38
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	The fiber optic cable goes from the telephone pole at the end of my driveway through the air to the side of my house. It uses the same wall anchor that the original copper phone service uses. It drops down next to the original service box outside, and comes into the basement through the original service hole (which had been cleared of the original copper wires.) Inside, there is one large box mounted to the wall. The fiber terminates in there. There is a battery backup in that box. Coming out of that box are a phone line, a coaxial internet cable, a ground wire, and a power cord. The phone line goes to the original phone mounting junction located at a nearby joist and connects to all the phones in the house. The coaxial cable goes to a separate wireless router supplied by Verizon. This router has 4 Ethernet ports, and I've got two of them used by cat5 and cat6 I fished upstairs for the current computer location and also a future computer location. My father tested the wireless signal with his laptop, and it's very strong throughout the entire house. The power cord plugs into a compact surge protector that is plugged into a new GFCI outlet I installed. The previously mentioned ground wire is clamped to a nearby pipe that goes from our boiler to an upstairs radiator. (I think, but am not certain, that this constitutes a good ground, because metal pipes appear to be used continuously from the water service entrance to the boiler and then to this radiator pipe. They are also tied in to the gas pipes and the electrical panel ground.) I can post a picture if you are interested. I find the ground wire curious. I'm not sure what they are grounding. It must be the phones in the house, but I think that system is already grounded from the phone junction on the joist. The electrical system is already grounded. And the fiber optic cable is not conductive.