Hot take: fiber splices got worse after the 2000s tech boom

I started installing in 1998 and back then you had to fusion splice everything by hand with a cheap clamshell rig. Those old splices held for decades with practically zero loss. Now these newer guys roll up with automated splicers that cost 5 grand and I'm seeing 0.5 dB loss on jobs from last month alone. Saw a crew in Tulsa redo a whole node because their $15K unit misaligned 12 splices in a row. The training is weaker too, nobody learns how to read a cleave angle anymore. Am I the only one who thinks the old ways had less issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

bens811mo ago

Huh, that's a really good point. Reminds me of how people treat cars now compared to thirty years ago. Back then, everyone knew how to gap spark plugs and set points in a distributor because you had to. Now folks just plug in a computer and let the software tell them what's wrong, but they can't actually fix anything if the computer's wrong. @sam17 is right, learning the hard way makes you understand the whole system, not just one part of it. Seems like every trade has traded practical skills for fancier gear that just creates new problems.

sam171mo ago

Clamshell rigs taught you patience or you went home crying. Now you press a button and the machine does the worrying for you until it doesn't. Last month I watched a guy spend twenty minutes trying to figure out why his auto splicer kept erroring out, handed him a file and told him to clean the V-grooves, and he looked at me like I was speaking another language. The old rigs forced you to understand the physics of light bouncing through glass, not just which menu to click. Sure my back hurts from bending over those old splicers but at least the splices stayed put.