Google Fiber networks are designed and constructed in two ways, and the network design used in your community depends on a number of factors including when and where we start building.
For an overview of what to expect during construction, check out the GFiber construction video on our YouTube channel.
The GFiber network designs are illustrated and described in the following sections.
Design 1: start to finishDesign 1 describes how our construction team builds the GFiber network from start to finish.
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Our construction team pulls distribution fiber cable from one of the huts in your city to one of the LCP cabinets in your neighborhood. This is a very thick cable that contains the fiber strands for many households.
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The same team then pulls an access fiber cable from the LCP cabinet in your neighborhood to either the utility poles or through conduit to underground vaults on your street. The access cable contains many individual fiber cables. One end of each individual fiber cable is connected to a switch in the LCP cabinet for your home, and the other end will be connected to your home in step 5.
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Another team goes out and performs a thorough quality check to ensure that the fiber is well distributed in your neighborhood.
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When everything checks out, GFiber lights up the fiber to the poles or vaults.
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Another team goes out and pulls fiber from the nearest pole or vault to a Network Interface Unit (NIU) that they install on the outside of your home.
After all these steps are complete, we send you an email asking you to schedule an in-home installation appointment.
Design 2 displays and describes the components and construction of the GFiber network.
- Internet backbone. The routes of fiber-optic cable that connect networks and cities, making the Internet possible.
- Aggregation site. Also known as a point of presence, this is the location where we connect our local GFiber network into the Internet backbone and the world wide web.
- Fiber ring. A ring of fiber cables encircle each city to make it easy to branch service into any neighborhood.
- Fiber hut. Located along our fiber ring, these huts act as the main switchboards for our network. Inside the huts, we connect fiber cables to devices that receive and transmit signals between your computer and the Internet. These fiber cables then exit the hut in bundles, called distribution fiber.
- Fiber Distribution Hubs (FDHs). Enclosures where we separate large bundles of distribution fiber into smaller, neighborhood-sized bundles of access fiber. FDHs are placed underground, typically next to roads and along rights-of-way.
- Fiber-to-the-Home. Access fiber runs through neighborhoods where it's either buried underground or attached to above ground utility poles. When a resident requests service, we pull fiber from the access fiber bundle to the Network Interface Unit (NIU) on the outside of your house. After that, installers bring cables directly into your home or business, connecting them to GFiber.