pulling fiber in old house

[Wolfcastle]

I have been lurking for a few days but this is my first post so please excuse if some variation of this has been asked a million times before. I recently moved into an older house which has no Ethernet anywhere. Long story short I am going to have to pull something from the machine room in the basement where I am setting up router/switch etc to my office on the second floor. Originally I was going to do Cat6A, but I think that it makes more sense to make the long run with fiber. Runs to the first floor will be easier since I am planning on opening the ceiling anyway and putting in hanging ceiling (likely just running cat6A for those and changing for fiber in the future if I need more bandwidth).

I don't have any extreme bandwidth demands but I would like to futureproof the long run at least to 100G ethernet so that the main run doesn't have to be pulled again for the many, many years. Distance is hard to gauge because the "easiest path to pull" goes all over the place and so won't be straight at all. Best guess is 30-40m total distance. Likely will be putting Brocade ICX switches on either end of this run for now.

Options are:
- Cat6A: copper cable is cheap and likely easier to pull than fiber but likely will never be able to do anything more than 10Gbe.
- OM4 Duplex: cheap-ish transceivers, cheapest fiber, 100G transceivers exist and there's an IEEE standard in the works. 2nd hand switches with 40G aggregation are cheap and likely the next logical step after 10G but no IEEE standard for 40G transceivers in simple OM4 duplex (this is probably not an issue?). Maybe the best bet?
- OM4 MTP: Complicated and expensive fiber, cheapest transceiver as data rates go up. 40G transceivers exist and can be split into 4x10G which could be handy . Don't think it's worth dealing with the associated hassles
- OS2 Duplex: cheap fiber, transceivers are expensive but probably will get cheap in the future since they are widely used.

Re-reading my post, I guess the question is duplex MMF or duplex SMF. I am leaning towards duplex MMF for the cheaper transceivers. MMF having a larger core also makes it less problematic to clean MMF has a straightforward path from 10G to 100G and honestly, I can't see any scenario in the next 10+ years where I would need more than 100G.

Thoughts?

 

[kpfleming]

I have 10G SMF transceivers in my network and didn't find them to be costly at all.. I think I paid around $60 per pair for BiDi (one fiber - two directions) from 10Gtek. If your equipment can support 25G transceivers those are around the same price, although they'll use two fibers instead of one.

The fiber cost itself is usually not a big factor; pulling an 8-strand bundle of SMF (or even MMF) would provide you substantial capabilities now and in the future.

 

[NablaSquaredG]

transceivers are expensive

are they?

You can grab 100GBase-CWDM4 Transceivers for very little money on ebay.

40G is a different story, but there are also nice deals for 40G (~50$ per Transceiver) every now and then


I would definitely recommend to use SMF

 

[Wolfcastle]

are they?

You can grab 100GBase-CWDM4 Transceivers for very little money on ebay.

40G is a different story, but there are also nice deals for 40G (~50$ per Transceiver) every now and then


I would definitely recommend to use SMF

I’ll take a look at transceivers on eBay, I didn’t look much on ebay to be honest since I don’t know how good compatibility is across brands particularly with CWDM4 which isn’t an IEEE standard. I only looked on fs.com as a reference point.
How much of an issue is cleanliness with SMF if I don’t have a fiber microscope? I assume MMF is more forgiving.

 

[NablaSquaredG]

I’ll take a look at transceivers on eBay, I didn’t look much on ebay to be honest since I don’t know how good compatibility is across brands particularly with CWDM4 which isn’t an IEEE standard. I only looked on fs.com as a reference point.

I have never tried mixing CWDM4 transceivers, but buying the same model instead of mixing shouldn't be much of an issue?

How much of an issue is cleanliness with SMF if I don’t have a fiber microscope? I assume MMF is more forgiving.

Are you planning to splice the fiber yourself?

Otherwise: Don't worry too much. I've never had issues. I am, however, very careful when handling fiber and transceivers. If you want to make sure, buy one of those pen fiber cleaners

 

[Wolfcastle]

I have never tried mixing CWDM4 transceivers, but buying the same model instead of mixing shouldn't be much of an issue?


Are you planning to splice the fiber yourself?

Otherwise: Don't worry too much. I've never had issues. I am, however, very careful when handling fiber and transceivers. If you want to make sure, buy one of those pen fiber cleaners

I meant more in terms of the compatibility between the transceiver and the switch. No, not planning on splicing anything, a fusion splicer is not in my budget… just wanting to inspect fibers & transceiver ports to ensure they’re clean.

 

[klui]

Cleaning fibers is the same for SM and MM. If you think about it, since MM cores are larger, they are statistically more likely to be impacted by dust/dirt than SM. The benefit of MM fiber is you can shine a regular flashlight on one end and can spot check if a trunk/cord is "good." SM needs a laser fault locator.

I had the same dilemma when I pulled fiber and decided to run both SM and MM for my home office. I spent some time deciding on LC or MPO. MPO is more of a hassle and there are lots of attributes to get straight but I decided it gave me more flexibility so went with that. Be aware SM MPO mostly come in APC polish while SM LCs are commonly available with UPC polish.

If I were you I would also pull some copper for the main trunk for added flexibility. Unless your run is longer than 55, Cat6 is sufficient.

If you decide to pull through conduit, make sure all bends add up to less than 360° or it will be very difficult to pull.

 

[Wolfcastle]

Thanks for the input @klui! I am not running through conduit, I have considered running through the air return but I wasn’t sure whether that would follow code in my area so I decided against it. I am pulling from the basement into an unfinished garage up into a closet that is above the garage, into the attic, then down into a closet in my office.

Interesting that you went with MPO SMF... I think I will go with duplex SMF and Cat6A (already have the cable). Practically speaking, I think by the time I can use the bandwidth, there will always be cheapo plugs available from hyperscalers a couple of jumps ahead. I don't see myself using 100G before hyperscalers are using 800G or 1.6T and trying to get rid of their old 100G plugs. Same goes with switches for that matter... Took a look at Ebay and there are already some cheap CWDM4 100G plugs available (switches, on the other hand, are another story).

 

[klui]

If you run through your air ducts, make sure your cables are plenum rated.