Fiber Optic Installation, Splicing and Testing
Fiber is how you move serious bandwidth over serious distance — between buildings, between floors, from the main equipment room to a satellite rack, or up to a 10-gigabit access point. It is also the one part of a network where the installation technique matters as much as the material, because a splice or connector that tests marginally on the day will fail in a year. We install, splice, terminate and test it.
What's included
- Multimode fiber for in-building and campus backbones
- Single-mode fiber for long runs between buildings
- Fusion splicing with tested loss on every splice
- Termination to panels and cabinets, LC and SC
- OTDR testing that measures loss and locates faults by distance
- Inter-building links and riser backbones
- Fiber termination and documentation for handover
Single-mode or multimode
Multimode is the usual choice inside a building or across a campus — it is cheaper to terminate and ample for the distances involved. Single-mode is what carries you over kilometres, which is why inter-building runs and anything spanning a road or a large site usually want it. The right answer depends on distance and on the optics at each end, and we plan it that way rather than defaulting to whatever is on the van.
Why splicing and testing are the real work
A fiber link is only as good as its worst splice or connector. Fusion splicing fuses the two glass ends with a controlled electrical arc and gives a stable, low-loss joint; mechanical splices are quicker but lossier and less suited to permanent infrastructure. Every splice we make is measured, and every link is proven with an OTDR test that shows loss and locates any problem by distance, not by guesswork.
That test record is also the baseline. When something degrades two years later, a comparison tells you what changed and where.
Where fiber pays for itself
Backbones between floors, links between buildings on one site, connections to a satellite rack where copper cannot reach at the speed you need, and uplinks to high-density wireless. In each of those cases fiber is the cheaper long-term answer because it removes a distance limit you would otherwise have to route around.
How far each fiber type actually reaches
Fiber reach is set by the transceiver and the fiber type together, not by the cable alone. For 10-gigabit links, these are the numbers that matter:
| Fiber type | Core | Wavelength | 10G reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| OM3 multimode | 50 µm | 850 nm | 300 m |
| OM4 multimode | 50 µm | 850 nm | 400 m |
| OS2 single-mode | 9 µm | 1310 nm | 10 km |
Loss budget is where a fiber job succeeds or fails. We work to roughly 0.3 dB for a fusion splice and 0.3 to 0.75 dB for a mated connector pair, with single-mode attenuation around 0.35 dB per kilometre at 1310 nm. Add those up before you order the transceivers, not after.
That is why every fiber link we hand over has a measured loss figure attached to it. An OTDR trace or a light-source reading turns “it should work” into a number you can compare against the transceiver budget.
Quebec’s building code answers a question most people get wrong. In the RBQ’s published interpretation of the Code de construction du Québec, Chapitre I – Bâtiment (articles 3.1.4.3 and 3.1.5.21), optical fibre cable may be installed in a building where it carries a recognised flame-spread rating, tested to methods such as CSA C22.2 No. 0.3 or ULC-S143, or where it runs inside a non-combustible raceway. Two points surprise people: the Code does not require a two-hour fire rating for fibre the way it does for electrical cable (ULC-S139), and the RBQ does not test or approve cable at all — that belongs to the certification bodies, ULC and CSA.
Where we work
We install and certify this work across Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the Québec City area and the surrounding regions — see our service areas.
Related services
Often installed alongside this work:
Fiber Optic Installation, Splicing and Testing questions
Yes — fusion splicing with measured loss on each splice, plus termination to panels and documented test results.
Yes. Multi-building sites are a normal fiber job, and it is usually the cleanest way to link separate premises without running into copper distance limits.
With documented OTDR test results showing loss and distance, handed over as part of the job so there is a baseline to compare against later.
Both. Most projects are copper to the desk and fiber for the backbone, and we install and certify the whole thing.
Yes — including the longer runs and rougher environments that industrial sites involve.
300 m on OM3 and 400 m on OM4 with 10GBASE-SR optics. Beyond that, single-mode is the answer.
Budget about 0.3 dB for a fusion splice, and 0.3 to 0.75 dB per mated connector pair. Those figures are what determine whether a link will pass once the transceivers are in.
When the run goes past a few hundred metres, or between buildings. OS2 at 1310 nm reaches 10 km, which is why we use it for backbone work between sites.
It needs a recognised flame-spread rating, but not the two-hour fire resistance rating that applies to electrical cable. The RBQ’s published interpretation of the Construction Code, at articles 3.1.4.3 and 3.1.5.21, is explicit that the two-hour requirement is not imposed on optical fibre.
Get a free site survey
Tell us what needs to be cabled and we will come out, look at the space and put together a written quote. Call (438) 817-4587 or send the details through the quote form.