Dodging the coax infrastructure in favor of FTTH XGS-PON is a bold move. Zachary Cronauer (Head of Fiber Initiatives at Blue Ridge Communications) is explaining in this interview how they are doing it and why they are so successful. In this episode of the Become Fiberminded podcast, you will get intriguing insights into the mind of a cable operator. Blue Ridge has an existing Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network. This means, their end-customer are being served broadband through DOCSIS. The coax...

Proper fiber cleaning has one of the biggest influences on optical performers. So how do use these fiber cleaners? Do I always need to clean the fiber connector endface? This and more will be discussed with Brian Teague from Senko in this episode of the Become Fiberminded Podcast. Brian is also explaining what Senko drove to start developing these very small form factor connector systems (VSFF) like the CS and SN and what else they have in the pipeline and when we will finally see the...

Nielsen's law states that network connection speeds for high-end home users would increase 50% per year, or double every 21 months. How can the different parts of the network keep up with this trend? In this episode of the Become Fiberminded podcast Vincent Sleiffer is discussing with us, what the latest trends and technologies in 5G, data center interconnect and other network areas are. This includes auto wavelength tuning SFPs (G.metro), which enables a cost-effective and flexible 5G...

Building and planning a small-scale fiber-optic network is no small feat. Jared Mauch is explaining in this episode of the Become Fiberminded podcast his process in getting started and becoming his own fiber internet provider while still working at his day job.   Jared also sharing with us, how desperate some of the folks in his area are for fiber broadband access. Which in turn is quite understandable seeing, that broadband access has become crucial for so many services. Jared is also...

Automated fiber planning is relying on clean input data. But how do we get there? What are ways to increase data accuracy and make better business decisions? Building and planning a valuable fiber-optic network is no small feat. Raf is confirming in this episode of the Become Fiberminded podcast, that choosing to save time and money in the design process is one of the worst ideas possible. But actually, how can you actually make smarter business decisions and let the planners focus on things...

Changing the business at a 180° angle is certainly challenging. And this is exactly what Ryan is discussing with us. In this episode of Become Fiberminded we will go through the process and lessons learned when moving away from the wireless world to full fiber deployment. We are discussing the mindset shift, which happened to them when going from a wireless OPEX model to a predominantly CAPEX fiber business case model. Ryan will also share their process in doing site surveys and that the...

 Talking to someone who has worked his way up in fiber testing and did experience everything himself is truly a blessing. Kevin dropped some real gold nuggets during our conversation. We discussed the most common problems inside an optical fiber network. Following this introduction, we went deep on the fiber fault-finding part covering the best practices but also including some ninja tactics like changing the index of refraction to match the distance of a section. This will get you ahead and...

#3  Lucas Mays is a Product Manager for field fusion splicers and accessories at AFL. He has previous optics industry experience both in the field as a splicer and installer and as an engineer working in product development and R&D on fusion splicing. Lucas Mays is sharing within this episode of Become Fiberminded, how you can achieve the perfect splice. We will go into details, what equipment is needed for it and how the different splicing alignment technologies will influence the...

#2 Jim Hayes is the co-founder of the Fiber Optic Association (FOA) and the author of several books on optical fiber. Jim has over 40 years of experience in training and I'm so grateful that Jim joined me on the show to talk about fiber training in general and common misunderstandings. We also discuss how the FOA started and became the certifying body for fiber optic technicians recognized worldwide. This is a good place to start and the FOA is there to promote professionalism fiber optics...

I'm your host Christian Till, and for this first episode of the Become Fiberminded podcast, I want to give you some background information on myself. I'm a nerd at heart who learned about fiber optics the first time during my studies for a bachelor of science in applied informatics and communications technologies. Today, I'm well into my fiber optics career. In this first episode, I explain who the podcast is really for, what topics will be covered, why I started it, and what type of guest...