Restoring fiber after a storm isn’t as simple as plugging a cable back in. Fiber lines are made of glass strands, and each broken or cut strand needs to be lined up perfectly with the corresponding strand where the break or damage in the line occurred. Here’s why splicing our Truestream network is such a detailed and time-consuming part of the restoration process:
We Have to Find the Damage – and we Know we Have Hundreds of Damaged Sections of Line.
The ice storm didn’t damage the fiber network in just one neat spot. Trees fell, poles snapped, fiber lines stretch, broke, or needed to be cleared from roadways. Sometimes that damage isn’t visible right away. As electric restorations occur, fiber crews have been able to move in to inspect and test long stretches of lines to find every point that needs to be repaired.
Every Splice is Precision Work
Each damaged fiber strand must be cleaned, trimmed, aligned (within microns!), and fused. Fiber lines contain dozens or even hundreds of individual fibers—and they all must be spliced correctly. It’s a bit like doing surgery. Factors such as weather conditions, and location of the damage also play a role.
Average Splicing Times
Mainline 432 count – 10-16 hrs.
Mainline 288 count – 8-10 hrs.
Mainline 144 count – 6-8 hrs.
Distribution 96 count – 4-6 hrs.
Drop to home – replace the entire length
We Have to Work Safely
Your safety — and the safety of our crews and community — is always our top priority. Every restoration effort begins with making sure the environment is safe to work in.
It’s a Step-by-Step Process
Before we can restore service, we must rebuild the path from our central operations fiber hub to your home. That means repairing and restoring the mainline fiber, then restoring distribution lines, and finally reconnecting individual drops to each home or business.
We’re All in This Together
The damage from this storm has been devastating to many of the communities we proudly serve. Our team is working tirelessly to restore Truestream service and help ensure the well-being of our members. Please know we are committed to restoring service for every single Truestreamer and we won’t stop until everyone is back online.