Ting Fiber Internet Construction Overview

Updated

October 7, 2024

Signing up for Ting Fiber brings you closer to reliable, high-speed internet. The next stage is getting the fiber to your home!

Our field technicians plan a route to run the fiber from the street to the side/front of your home. The fiber is buried in your yard, which we describe as "future-proofing." Burying the fiber prevents unexpected damage to your internet to ensure you continue receiving uninterrupted service.

While our technicians handle all the necessary work of digging, burying, and restoring your yard after completing construction to the best of their ability, please ensure your private lines are marked appropriately before we start construction to avoid unnecessary damage during the installation.

Notice damage or have construction concerns? Ting has a Construction Experience team available to assist.

Construction Expectations

We take great care to minimize the impact of our work, but it may still cause temporary disruptions to foot and road traffic in the area. Our team will work hard to ensure that any impacts are minimal and that people are informed before construction.

Here's what you can expect when we build the fiber network in your neighborhood:

Pre-construction communication - Neighborhoods receive letters or postcards informing them of upcoming construction work.
Utility marking - A utility marking service will mark underground utilities (water, gas, electric) with paint or locate flags in and near the public right-of-way.
Signage during construction - During the construction, we put up temporary no-parking signs that indicate the exact duration of the construction.
Whenever possible, we construct our projects in the public right-of-way (ROW).

The fiber drop is the section of fiber running from the mainline conduit on the road to your home's NID. The orange line in the image below illustrates the fiber drop.

Image of the front of a house with sidewalk and street. There is a purple line in the public right-of-way by the sidewalk illustrating where the mainline fiber conduit on the road would be. Then an orange line connecting the purple line to the house to illustrate the fiber drop.

Preparing for Construction

Attention

If you’ve ordered Ting Internet to your home, you’ll be responsible for calling to locate and mark any private utilities like sprinkler systems, septic and invisible fencing. Please see the Marking Private Utilities for Ting Fiber Internet Construction help article for more information.

Before any digging takes place, we identify all public underground utilities.

Public Right-of-Way (ROW)

Public right-of-way refers to the area on, below, or above a public roadway, highway, street, alley, easement, or waterway.

Your city or town sets aside the two to four feet extending from the sidewalk toward your property for utilities. This right-of-way is where utilities, including power, water, and, in this case, the conduit that carries fast, reliable fiber internet to homes and businesses, are buried.

Construction work will happen in the city-owned, public right-of-way; the area on the street side of your home that’s reserved for utilities. If you’ve ever noticed a water meter cap in your lawn, that’s typically around the dividing line between your property and the city’s property.

How far does the public right-of-way extend before my property begins?

The right-of-way measurement can differ depending on your neighborhood. Contact your City for specific details regarding your right-of-way.

The diagram displays the route of the underground fiber line, which is located in the city-owned right-of-way area between the sidewalk and property line. The handholes are positioned above the fiber line, and the water main cap is on the property.

Utility Locates

"Locates" are ground markings to identify the position of underground equipment. The locates help our crew identify where equipment is buried to avoid causing damage while dropping Ting fiber.

Ting issues a locate request through 811 before starting construction. The utility companies are given ten days to mark any equipment buried in your yard.

The underground equipment is typically marked with paint. This paint will fade and wash away over time.

Ting fiber technician in front of a handhole where a fiber mainline is accessible. Public utilities have been marked with pain on the sidewalk and lawn.

Locate color codes

Each utility company will use a specific color for its locates. For example, Ting Fiber will use Orange, indicating a communications line.

Image of a table indicating what the different colors of public utility paint marking mean. Red indicates Electic. Yellow indicates Gas, Oil, or Steam. Orange indicates Communications. Blue indicates Potable Water. Purple indicates Reclaimed Water. Green indicates Sewer/Drainage. Pink indicates Survey Marks. White indicates Proposed Excavation.

Construction Methods

Note

All construction is carried out in the public right-of-way.
We only dig on your property if you request to bring fiber from the street to your home.

We strive to ensure that the construction of the Ting fiber network is carried out smoothly and quickly with minimal disturbance. Although you may notice some noise and dust during the construction, we adopt non-invasive methods such as micro trenching or boring to keep the process as clean and swift as possible.

Micro Trenching

Micro trenching is a construction method that is faster, less disruptive, and equally reliable compared to traditional construction methods.

It significantly minimizes disruption to the surrounding area.

Cut - A specialized machine is used to cut trenches that are 12 to 16 inches deep in the street, running parallel to the curb.
Debris Removal - A vacuum removes the debris as the pavement is cut, keeping the area clean.
Fiber Placement - The fiber, which is housed within a protective conduit, is then placed in the trench.
Trench Filling - The trench is filled with durable, flowable cement that blends with the existing pavement.

Three pics left to right. First, the conduit that protects the fiber underground. Second, the conduit being laid in the trench. And third, the sealed trench. — (L-R) The conduit that protects the fiber underground, the conduit being laid in the trench, the sealed trench.

Boring

The Boring method involves a series of steps to ensure a safe and efficient installation of fiber internet:

Machine Placement: Our construction team positions a directional boring machine at a strategic entrance point, typically found on street lots at the beginning of a street or on corner lots. This initiates the creation of a pathway for the fiber conduit.
Directional Boring: The directional bore can travel up to 500 feet underground. To prevent damage to subterranean utility lines, a crew member skillfully operates the machine.
Work Zone: The work takes place in the right-of-way (ROW), a stretch of land 2 to 4 feet from the sidewalk into your yard, owned by the city or town and reserved for utility easements.
‍Digging: Our team digs a hole at every alternate property line to access the fiber.

Our crew digging a hole in the dirt. — Our crew digging a hole.

Box Installation: We position a box in the dug hole to protect the conduit and cover it with a green lid. Most yards require a small box, but corner lots, where fiber splicing occurs, may necessitate a larger box due to the extra equipment.

A fiber box, covered and sitting flush with the lawn.

Safety Measures: If we are unable to complete a hole with a covered box within a day, we mark it for safety and prioritize its completion the following morning. ‍
Restoration: We strive to restore the area to its original state. When directing the bore underground, it is normal to see water and mud, especially if your property is near an entrance point. Upon completion of the boring, we make every effort to restore the grass to its original condition. The water seen is not from the water main.
Traffic Management: Our construction may briefly affect traffic flow. Any disruption should only last a day, and we aim to minimize impact as much as possible.

Equipment Installed

Fiber Optics Conduits

We install fiber optic conduits, a kind of fiber optic protective tubing that surrounds individual fiber strands to prevent the delicate fibers from physical damage, moisture, and other environmental factors from affecting their performance. Our teams install this equipment in the public right-of-way so that the lines can be branched out to connect individual homes, and it allows our fiber technicians to easily access the lines for maintenance or repair.

Fiber Boxes

We install two fiber storage boxes within the city-owned right-of-way to establish fiber connectivity in your city or town. These boxes are flush to the ground, but in some cases, we may need to install above-ground equipment on parkways. They resemble valve boxes or control boxes typically found in a lawn irrigation system. Both come with a lid that sits flush with the ground.

Toby box - Every property with Ting Internet has a small 10 x 13 inch box known as the service box or a flowerpot. Located at the property boundary, this box houses the fiber optic connection point. Essentially, it serves as a bridge between the main network and the individual property, acting as the connection point for the fiber optic cable.
Handhole - A bigger container designed to access the underground fiber infrastructure for maintenance or modifications. These containers are usually green and are located along the fiber route every 20 properties.

An example of an open green handhole flush with the grass and dirt ground. Inside are some red and white fiber internet cables, along with rocks for drainage.

Network Interface Device

The NID (Network Interface Device) is a small white or grey plastic box we install on the side of your home. The installation height of the NID is between 36" to 60".

The NID serves as the fiber entry point into your home. The fiber drop runs from the ground, up the side of your home, and into the NID.

A photograph of a blue plastic NID box labeled 'Ting' attached to a house's side panelling on the outside of a home.

Completing your Fiber Installation

Ting support will contact you to set up a final installation appointment. This involves a technician entering your residence to configure the fiber to your modem.

Construction and installation information

The construction process may last up to a few weeks, depending on your location. A Ting onboarding advisor will contact you to schedule a home installation appointment. This involves a technician entering your residence to configure the fiber to your modem.

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