Internet Connection

The times they are a-changin’.

This post seems to be older than 2 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.

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Last updated on June 22nd, 2020 at 10:20 pm

The times they are a-changin’.

This post seems to be older than 2 years—a long time on the internet. It might be outdated.

Contents

  • 2020 May 02: Installed 100 megabit symmetrical fiber connection (Ziply Fiber)
  • 2020 June 4: Relocated the ONT, I had to extend the inside fiber run using a 15M – Singlemode Simplex Fiber Optic Cable (9/125) – SC/APC to SC/APC (sold by Ultra Spec Cables, https://amzn.to/3hFBKAq). This was pretty much just a cable swap, removing the 1m cable Ziply had installed and connecting the 15m cable I bought.
  • 2020 June 12: Upgraded to 1 gigabit symmetrical fiber connection (Ziply Fiber). No tech was needed.

Future Plans

  • Enclose and secure fiber with split corrugated plastic conduit
  • Move the ONT from the external Ziply-provided unit to an SFP PONT in my pfSense box (see below)

Using an SFP ONT

In theory, I should be able to connect the fiber line into my pfsense box using an SFP ONT similar to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WWO_4p4UP0.

In practice, I can’t.

I posed the question on /r/ZiplyFiber and one of the Ziply SysAdmins (maybe the SysAdmin?) was able to confirm that the system does use 1310nm/1490nm, but that they can’t support third party ONTs in provisioning:

the systems we run are 1310/1490/1550 (the latter is the video). I can also confirm that we can’t support third party ONTs in provisioning anyway.

Sorry to rain on the parade here.

/u/jwvo
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZiplyFiber/comments/gz4ugn/bypassing_ont_and_directly_connecting_fiber_to/ftfvt9y/

Ziply’s provisioning process for the Frontier/Ziply-branded Nokia ONTs:

depends on the model of the OLT, but the end provisoniong ends up with a double tagged Q in Q VLAN id being assigned to the customer traffic that we then peel apart using juniper MX series routers which are directly connected to the OLT (that first IP hop you see is the juniper FDR router which is connected with an LACP bundle to the OLT). In short all the subscriber isolation is actually handled at the juniper end of things which is why I have been saying that we plan to roll out v6 for the FTTH network since it only relies on the juniper platform and not the feature set of the OLT.

/u/jwvo
https://www.reddit.com/r/ZiplyFiber/comments/gz4ugn/bypassing_ont_and_directly_connecting_fiber_to/ftjm24h/

Physical Connection

Direct burial fiber at the exterior demarcation point (installed by Ziply Fiber). I originally picked this spot on the side of the house because there was an existing penetration hole and power access adjacent on the inside (it was originally used for an electric fence).
View inside the exterior demarcation point. Originally there was a 1m fiber connection to the former interior demarcation/ONT. I replaced this was a with a 15m fiber connection when I relocated the ONT to the server rack.
Original interior demarcation point with Ziply-provided ONT and Wireless router. Note the short yellow fiber cable.
Former interior demarcation point. Now with 15m fiber connection that goes up and over to the server.
I’m currently just running the fiber connection along the wall and then the ventilation duct until it drops down into the server. I’ve ordered some split corrugated plastic conduit I’m going to secure the fiber in.
Fiber drops into the server rack. I’ve zip tied it to the side (green zip tie; I used a cut-off drywall anchor to protect the fiber from being crushed/pinched by the zip tie).
Ziply Fiber-provided ONT sitting on top of my repurposed Barracuda Web Filter 610 (which now runs pfSense).

ONT

Frontier-branded (now Ziply Fiber) Optical Network Terminal (ONT) tear-down photos.

GPON ONT Model: FOG421

Bottom of ONT
Top of PCB
Profile view of fiber input to PCB
Unlabeled programming pins, plus a what appears to be a pogo pin contact point for test
Bottom of PCB

Power Supply Unit, CyberPower Model: CA25U16V2-WHT

Speed Tests

For speed tests:

speedtest --server 31467

…this is A) the closest Speedtest.com location to me; and B) also testing within my ISP network (gives a better sense of how oversubscribed the local ISP link is, in my opinion)

For RTT testing:

traceroute google.com

…and then just picking the hop outside of my network (which is the first hop).

2020 June 15 @ 9:42 pm:

Hosted by Ziply Fiber (Everett, WA): 5.336 ms
Download: 505.71 Mbit/s / Upload: 822.58 Mbit/s

RTT from my pfSense box (which directly connects to the ONT) to Ziply’s FDR router: 1.984 ms, 2.679 ms, 1.651 ms

2020 June 21 @10:11pm:

(one day after moving fiber and I was concerned about kinks, nicks, dust, FOD, etc)
Hosted by Ziply Fiber (Everett, WA): 6.665 ms
Download: 468.12 Mbit/s / Upload: 847.20 Mbit/s

RTT from my pfSense box (which directly connects to the ONT) to Ziply’s FDR router: 1.556 ms, 1.061 ms, 0.983 ms

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