Patrick's 2021 Fiber Build-out

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nickf1227

Active Member
Sep 23, 2015
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Hi Patrick. What do you mean the run is too long for single mode? I have single mode running several miles for links between my sites?
 

klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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So a bit of an update. My office to the server room is going to be too far for the single mode just because of the route we need to take.

Looking at other options now.
One way is to use a coupler but one end's plug have to be male (with pins) and the other female (no pins). Some vendors' SKUs have the ability to change key up/down, pin/no pin.

This is a prime example of the most expensive cable is the one a foot/meter too short.
 
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Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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@fohdeesha is correct. ~33m cable bundle on a run that needs 45-50m.

The original plan was to just do coupling. I decided against it because it is the run that goes to my office. Putting a coupler in the ceiling or wall would mean that there are 24 cable connection points that could fail and places for dust to work its way into. It would also be hard to access. That seemed like a bad idea.
 
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WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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@fohdeesha is correct. ~33m cable bundle on a run that needs 45-50m.

The original plan was to just do coupling. I decided against it because it is the run that goes to my office. Putting a coupler in the ceiling or wall would mean that there are 24 cable connection points that could fail and places for dust to work its way into. It would also be hard to access. That seemed like a bad idea.
Ping Sylvia at FS and see if she can put some more fiber in your diet? :)
 
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klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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@fohdeesha is correct. ~33m cable bundle on a run that needs 45-50m.

The original plan was to just do coupling. I decided against it because it is the run that goes to my office. Putting a coupler in the ceiling or wall would mean that there are 24 cable connection points that could fail and places for dust to work its way into. It would also be hard to access. That seemed like a bad idea.
Could you at least return the shorter cables? I thought since your screenshot has Qty 5 not that big a deal and you can install a 3-/4-gang electrical box but clearly an uninterrupted drop is better.

I'd be also curious about the challenges of pulling them since they don't have any pull eyes.
 
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Patrick

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@WANg I spent ~1/10th of FS prices. I think there are maybe 2 FS transceivers, and a few cassettes, but mostly using higher-end and MUCH less expensive Commscope cables for the bigger bundles.

@klui I am more looking at this as an opportunity. I had one fewer SM versus MM (the MM is slightly longer so it will run no problem.) So now that gives me 6x MM+SM runs. Actually had an idea to do something cool with it as well. We are also making our own pull eyes since the industrial eyes on these big pulls are too big/ overkill.

The challenge is that now the ETA on the new cable is Wednesday so it may slow the install.
 
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tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
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@WANg I spent ~1/10th of FS prices. I think there are maybe 2 FS transceivers, and a few cassettes, but mostly using higher-end and MUCH less expensive Commscope cables for the bigger bundles.
Man I thought fs is unbeatable in terms of transcievers. They're good for home use, I don't want to spend hundreds of bucks for brand transciever that will less likely fail if I can just swap the thing with another one from my spare box. I didnt' know about cables.
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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This is a crazy build.

@tinfoil3d FS has a high failure rate. Their marketing people do all kinds of fake reviews online. They're banned from reddit for that.

I mean even their reviews on their website are fake. I mean, Patrick was polite but this is damning.
 
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tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
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FS has a high failure rate. Their marketing people do all kinds of fake reviews online. They're banned from reddit for that.
Well I certainly won't buy their switches. I mean that price speaks for itself lol.
I have boxes of their sfp/+ modules i wonder when would they fail. So far so good but only been half a year. I also use ubiquiti and mikrotik modules too. FS ones have compatibility issues whereas ui and mt have been behaving better that's true.
 

WANg

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Jun 10, 2018
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They were advertising/praising fs products here too without asking for permission...
Oh yeah -we caught one of their sock puppets here on the forums and I regaled that spammy thread with a (true) story of how their shipping department screwed the pooch with my $dayjob when their merch was purchased through Amazon (their direct sales operation did dropship things to us faster, assuming that they have it in stock)…i wish that we kept that thread around. And yes, for a bunch of people posting fake reviews you figure they’ll put up more of an effort with the photos. Hell, offer a discount for existing customers to send photos in…or at least rearrange the rack so it doesn’t look the same…but nope.

As for whether their fibers/transceivers are any good? Can’t tell you on their fibers, but $dayjob use their generic transceivers (Arista and Cisco) - their failure rate is roughly 10-12% (ballpark about 120 transceivers spread amongst 3 cages, with 12-14 needed to be swapped) within 2-3 years. Not super, but considering that it’s significantly cheaper and the vendor transceivers are often backordered…we try to mix-n-match with the vendor transceivers to save money without impacting reliability (although…depending on the case the remote-hands/site visits to swap them out will eventually eat into those savings). It does mean we need a few extra transceivers to stash around in the cage just in case, though. As for the home lab I use 10gtek and fs transceivers/media converters for OS2 runs in my home…they are okay within the past 3 years or so, but the converters are gigabit only and are protected via a UPS/surge protector setup, so unless they are completely trash, I don’t expect them to fail me that easily.

But yeah, @Patrick, that was more of a “if you need it urgently to finish this build” thing. I harbor no illusion that they are the cheapest option out there, especially when it’s something needed urgently.
 
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tjk

Active Member
Mar 3, 2013
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This is a crazy build.

@tinfoil3d FS has a high failure rate. Their marketing people do all kinds of fake reviews online. They're banned from reddit for that.

I mean even their reviews on their website are fake. I mean, Patrick was polite but this is damning.
This is a master class in passive aggressiveness, I haven't seen anything so well done in years!
 

tinfoil3d

QSFP28
May 11, 2020
873
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Japan
While looking for multifiber cables from HPE, stumbled upon these results: HPE 24 Fiber MTP SM 40m Cable - R1N85A | eBay

The price seems too good to be true, besides I cannot find any hpe links for these, are they even legit hpe products? They cannot be found on their website either, they mostly have OM4 ones there.
Can anyone confirm?..
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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@tjk no idea what you mean. :oops:

@tinfoil3d You can find a lot of good deals but the hard part is often figuring out model names and translating them to what is being sold.
 

zir_blazer

Active Member
Dec 5, 2016
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Going full fiber for home is one of my long list of unrealized dreams. Lower latency, lower power consumption (Hey, I know it is not that much but it makes me proud), no chance of issues related to electrical discharges, and you may be able to use a faster link speed if using newer gear without changing the actual cabling.


I know it is absolutely unlikely to happen, but how much would the Motherboard BoM change if instead of using NICs with built-in Ethernet PHYs for RJ-45 Ports they changed those to optical PHYs and SFP/SFP+ Cages? 1G Ethernet modules are dirt cheap so we can say that backwards compatibility with existing networks barely increases the price, but you get the choice of migrating to direct fiber later on. I do think than the very deep cages could actually conflict with traditional placement of the Processor and DIMM Slots, so it may be hard to put those on the I/O back panel...