You only have one chance to do it right the first time.

I am an evangelist for fiber jumper routing the right way. When I was a Central Office supervisor in downtown Minneapolis, proper jumper routing on fiber frames was critical not only to the aesthetics of our frames, but also to the integrity of the circuits in it.

Whenever I provide training on Clearfield products such as cabinets and fiber frames, I emphasize the importance of following our guidelines for proper jumper routing.

I’ve seen some real nightmares; below is an example (thankfully, not a Clearfield cabinet):

An issue contributing to this is multiple technicians and contractors having access and routing jumpers, which highlights the importance of “Doing it right from the first time.” Set an example from the beginning for all that follow to see.

Take the time to train employees and contractors correctly. Make sure everyone who may route jumpers understands the correct routing scheme set forth by the manufacturer. And hold each person accountable for doing it right.

The above may be an extreme example, but it doesn’t take too many misrouted jumpers before additional jumpers can no longer be routed correctly.

This is what they should look like:

And remember…you only have one chance to do it right the first time.

If you want to know more, please reach out to Clearfield. We’re happy to help.

By Jim Pilgrim

Jim Pilgrim has 40 years of experience in telecommunications with Northwestern Bell/US West, Fujitsu and Clearfield. His work experience includes Central Office switching, fiber optic transport, Fiber to the Home (FTTH) and engineering. Jim currently works as an application engineer at Clearfield, where he helps customers design Fiber to the Home networks across the country.