Lincoln Telephone Doubles Its Speed of Home Connections Per Day with the Simplicity of the YOURx-TAP and FieldShield FLATdrop from Clearfield

Lincoln Telephone provides voice, video and internet services to the Lincoln, MT, area. The company has a multi-year project to connect rural residents by increasing access to broadband. This involves over 1,000 homes — often a long distance apart — with as little disruption to tenants as possible. The tenants also want equipment that is aesthetically pleasing for their home environment.

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Challenge

Lincoln Telephone initially considered using outside optical network terminals (ONTs), but the deployment design was not proceeding as smoothly as hoped. Clearfield only needed a small space on the outside of the house to terminate the drop fiber and from there, feed the fiber into the home.

Image of Yourx TAP fiber product from Clearfield

Solution

“We’ve used Clearfield for years,” says Aaron L. Daniel, Manager, Lincoln Telephone. “Clearfield provided our first fiber base for rural and small community deployments.”

Prior to this multi-year FTTH project, Lincoln Telephone used the Clearview® xPAK for duplex fiber needs — such as twin homes or dual business buildings — and likes its in-cassette splicing because it’s “simple and clean,” per Daniel. Engineered to land small port count fiber assemblies and optical components as conveniently and inexpensively as possible, the xPAK simplifies fiber management to the level of a consumable good. The xPAK can be deployed as a stand-alone device, or with FieldSmart® Fiber Delivery Point (FDP) Wall Box products optimized for both indoor and outdoor deployments.

The Clearfield solution for Lincoln Telephone’s fiber to the home (FTTH) challenge consists of running a FieldShield FLATdrop fiber drop cable assembly from the street to a house. FieldShield FLATdrop conveniently connects to the network through traditional splicing in the hand hole. The demarcation test access point on the house is the Clearfield YOURx-TAP equipped with the FieldShield Deploy Reel with 900 μm FieldShield StrongFiber, which is easily pulled through conduit into the home. This design eliminates the need for a large, bulky and unsightly outdoor ONT box on the side of a home to store excess or unused fiber and provides the final point in a completely protected fiber pathway.

Image of Clearfield fiber product on side of residential house

Results

With the Clearfield solution, Lincoln Telephone typically connects 10 houses a day with just 2 technicians. “It just doesn’t get any simpler,” says Daniel. “It’s unreal how much time the Clearfield FTTH solution saves,” says Daniel. “If something breaks, we can repair it quickly because we’re using an all-ducted solution now. And when it comes to fiber, the labor side is the most expensive. Buying materials is the least expensive. Our total cost was cut in half. Now, it’s all Clearfield fiber to and in the home.” Targeted to be done in three years, the project is on track for over 50% completion by the end of the first year. An additional 40% will be finished by the end of the second year and the remaining connections will be done in the final year. “This saved us so much time,” says Daniel. “We’re so happy we chose Clearfield.”

Clearview xPAK

FLATdrop

FieldShield StrongFiber Cable Deploy Reel

StrongFiber Deploy Reel

StrongFiber

About Lincoln Telephone

Lincoln Telephone has provided phone services to the Lincoln, MT, area since 1921. The company’s services include analog, digital and VOIP telephone; video; and high-speed internet. It is delivering fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology to its exchanges over the next few years.

About Clearfield, Inc.

Clearfield, Inc. (NASDAQ: CLFD) designs, manufactures and distributes fiber optic management, protection and delivery products for communications networks. Our “fiber to anywhere” platform serves the unique requirements of leading incumbent local exchange carriers (traditional carriers), competitive local exchange carriers (alternative carriers), and MSO/cable TV companies, while also catering to the broadband needs of the utility/municipality, enterprise, data center and military markets. Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, Clearfield deploys more than a million fiber ports each year. For more information, visit www.SeeClearfield.com.