Fiber Optic Training & Certification FAQs

Yes. The Fiber Optic Academy is a Veteran-owned, FOA-approved fiber optic training school. Students who complete our hands-on courses take the FOA certification exam at the end of class.

The Certified Fiber Optic Technician (CFOT) is the Fiber Optic Association's primary entry-level certification for fiber optic technicians. It covers fiber optic theory, cables, connectors, splicing, termination and testing, and it is the prerequisite for most FOA specialist (CFOS) certifications.

The FOA does not require prior experience for the CFOT, but it recommends completing its free online fiber optics training first. At The Fiber Optic Academy you complete the CFOT online training at Fiber U (fiberu.org), bring your certificate of completion to class, and then attend our 2-day, instructor-led, hands-on course and take the FOA exam.

Fiber U is the free online learning resource provided by The Fiber Optic Association. It covers fiber optic technology, installation, testing and terminology. A Fiber U certificate of completion is not itself an FOA professional certification: FOA certification is earned by passing the FOA certification exam and meeting FOA eligibility requirements.

Not if you are new to fiber optics. FOA certifications for new technicians are earned through FOA-approved schools that include hands-on lab training. Experienced technicians with documented fiber optic work experience may qualify for FOA direct certification; see foa.org for current requirements.

Fiber U online study is self-paced. Our hands-on CFOT course then takes 2 days, ending with the FOA exam. Specialist courses such as splicing (CFOS/S), testing (CFOS/T), fiber to the home (CFOS/H) and outside plant (CFOS/O) are 2 days each, and the Certified Premises Cabling Technician (CPCT) course is 5 days.

Hands-on training at The Fiber Optic Academy is $299 per student, per training day. Tuition includes the FOA certification exam and all course materials. That makes the 2-day CFOT course and each 2-day specialist (CFOS) course $598 per student, and the 5-day CPCT course $1,495 per student.

Yes. FOA certifications are renewed every three years. Renewal is handled directly with The Fiber Optic Association; see foa.org for current renewal fees and options.

The CFOT is the general fiber optic technician certification. CFOS certifications are specialist credentials in areas such as splicing (CFOS/S), testing (CFOS/T), outside plant (CFOS/O) and fiber to the home (CFOS/H). Most CFOS courses require a CFOT first.

Yes. We bring FOA-approved fiber optic training to company locations across the United States, including CFOT, splicing, testing, FTTH and outside plant courses. On-site training is $299 per student, per training day. Contact us to plan a class for your team.

Our training facility is at 323 Catherine Cove Loop, Malvern, AR 72104, near Hot Springs. Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (LIT) in Little Rock is approximately one hour away, depending on traffic.

In today's high tech world, certification is considered proof of professional status and is often required for jobs. The FOA was chartered as a professional association to promote professionalism in fiber optics through education, certification and standards.  FOA certifications are recognized by the US Department of Labor and many other organizations worldwide.

FOA has color code guides you can print yourself or download to your smartphone or tablet. See https://foa.org/tech/ColCodes.html

What is included in grants depends on the project submission. A 'middle mile' project could include the fiber optic cable plant with drops for users to connect to dark fibers or be a complete communication system with carrier Ethernet service points to users to connect. In either case, it includes all the construction, cable plant installation and testing. A communications system proposal could also include connecting users if the originator of the proposal knew the number of users to be connected -each one of which adds costs. Same for a FTTH network. It could just be the cable plant, a functioning PON system with drops available to all users passed or include connecting users. One could do an educated guess on the percentage of homes passed that would connect, or include a user paid connection fee to cover the costs. It depends on the proposal that was submitted and approved.

Those are the two wavelengths used with singlemode fiber. They are used because they were two wavelengths that the fiber would be singlemode (>1270nm) and wavelengths that it was easy to make solid state lasers 40 years ago when they were introduced. Longer wavelengths like 1550nm have lower loss in the fibers so the fibers for very long distance links are optimized for 1550nm

The loss can be connections, including dirty connections, bad splices, damaged cables, even a bad splitter. Have you tested with a high resolution OTDR?

Among the most established ones here in US are ArcGIS, IQGeo, 3-GIS, Vetro and OZmap. All seem to have proponents but we do not have much practical experience except one of the FOA Tech Advisors uses OZ map.

The typical loss for SM fiber is ~0.35-0.4 dB/km at 1310 nm or ~0.15-0.2 dB/km at 1550. We assume a system like this will be using 1550 nm. You can use the FOA online Loss budget Calculator https://foa.org/tech/ref/Loss_Budget/Loss_Budget.htm to estimate the total link loss

We have been asked that question a lot. It often involves cheap fiber on eBay or from surplus dealers. With the advances in fiber technology and manufacturing, 20 or even 10-year old fiber is essentially obsolete. Lots of service providers are replacing that fiber with today’s higher performance fibers because networks are going from the ~2 gigabit speeds then to terabit speeds today. We would never recommend reusing fiber removed from service. You have no knowledge of how it was installed originally and environmental conditions can be hard on some types of cables. Besides, the cost of the cable is only 5-15% of the project cost. Most of the cost is in the labor of installation so the savings would be minimal and the risk high. We have been telling people who have leftover cable from projects to offer it to FOA schools. They are always in need of OSP cables.

The work on achieving minimal latency has been gong on for decades, primarily driven by the computerized stock traders who rely on microsecond trading. One recent project used an experimental fiber with a hollow core becasue light travels 50% faster in the air than glass. Most low latency networks try to use the longest fiber links possible using submarine cable technology because the electronic switching takes too much time. But most electronics require digital signal processing in the transceivers which takes time, switches to the trading computers takes time and while you can minimize it all, it can never reach “0”.

Microtrenching is a technique for installing underground fiber. It is done by sawing a groove in the road or sidewalk and dropping a small (~1/2 inch or 13mm) plastic tube (duct) into the groove and filling it up with material like the surface so it almost disappears. The cable is “blown” into the duct with high pressure air - actually the air floats the cable in the duct to reduce friction and the cable is pushed into the duct. Here are photos of a microtrenching installation in Toronto. Here is the explanation of microtrenching in the FOA Guide section on OSP Construction (about 3/4 down the page.) We don’t think any of our schools teach this in the US but Triple Play does in South Africa.In the US we recommend going to one of the companies that makes the construction equipment, primarily Ditch Witchs

If it has reached a point where the loss or dispersion limits its use, it probably should be replaced.

Because of the large number of manufacturers and variety of models and applications, The FOA generally tells people to follow the manufacturer’s directions for use and be especially careful about keeping the splicer unit, cleaver and stripping tools clean, then having it serviced regularly by the manufacturer or an authorized service facility.

That's a very complicated question, because 'rural' has a lot of meanings. Is it a small town where building a FTTH Network is easy or remote users in Alaska? An interesting set of data was made available this month from the US Department of Agriculture, announcing $700 million in grants and loans in the 4th round of the ReConnect Program https://lnkd.in/gFe9T4b7.

Any 1310/1490/1550 test source should have adequate power to test them with a regular power meter. A 64 port splitter has only 18dB+any excess loss- so 20dB or so - and any power meter can measure that with a ~0dBm to -6dBm source. More on testing FTTH Networks

The 'dead zone' is the length of fiber near the OTDR that is blanked out by the overload from the test pules. See this page on OTDRs in the FOA Online Guide: https://foa.org/tech/ref/testing/OTDR/OTDR.html

See https://foa.org/tech/ref/testing/test/visual.html in the FOA Online Guide

That is a very hard question to answer, other than to say ”it depends. ” The number of fibers is definitely a factor because each fiber must be stripped, cleaned, cleaved and spliced then placed in the splice tray.

In the US the answer is NO. There is no Federal or State law which requires marking anything other than hazardous liquids and gases. It is purely a business decision or a moral decision to invest in signs/markers to protect buried fiber. If a fiber gets cut it can disrupt 911 service and all kinds of vital communication related to hospitals, air traffic control, etc.

The FOA has a page on its Online Guide that covers color codes (https://foa.org/tech/ColCodes.htm). It is the most popular page in the FOA Guide! It works great with a smartphone.