Town of Arlington I-Net
At the Arlington Studio (former Dallin Branch Library)
at 85 Park Avenue in Arlington Heights.

The proposal is that RCN terminate their fiber lines in the basement, on the wall in the vicinity of the Comcast coaxial cable I-Net cabinet.

Photo 1:

In this photo, the entrance for both the coaxial and fiber cables is through the round holes below the window in the lower center. What appears to be a tangle of wires is primarily an excess length of fiber optic cable. The Comcast I-Net cabinet is at the upper left of this photo, with the door open partly blocking the view of the window in the background.

To the right is part of the ductwork for the heating / cooling (HVAC) system for the building. Some items are stored on the floor in front of the ducts but could be removed.

Photo 2:

This shows the wall to the left of the window. The Comcast I-Net cabinet stands open, showing coax coming in from the street on the right and coax to other parts of the building exiting to the lower left of the box. I believe that this box contains both I-Net and Subscriber Loop lines.

Photo 3:

This shows the contents of the Comcast I-Net cabinet. The cabling protrudes enough that the door cannot be shut and hangs open in this position.

Photo 4:

This is a close up of the area just below the box shown above. It appears that CAT-5 wire is connected from this patch bay (in black) to various rooms and locations throughout the building. However, it is not currently used, and some wire appears to have been cut. We would have to test these connections before putting them to use. Clearly, there is a separate block to the left for telephony.

Photo 5:

This shows Jeff holding the end of the fiber cable brought in by RCN. In addition, there is a nylon strap that comes in that we believe can be used to pull subscriber lines for RCN into the building from the street. RCN personnel have not installed anything yet because they arrived at a time when Jeff and Dennis, the two staffers there, were not prepared for them and had other activities going on in the building at the time.

Photo 6:

This shows the ductwork and HVAC system that occupies most of the rest of the space in the room.

Our mission is to decide:

- where to have RCN mount the fiber termination box
- where to have RCN mount the subscriber line termination box (likely coax, as would be an ordinary residential drop?)
- if the CAT-5 wire can be used to carry Video over IP from the studio upstairs down to this room, to interface with the fiber lines
- if there is enough room on the wall to mount the necessary equipment
- if the environment in the room is suitable for such equipment
- how to route subscriber coax from this location to where it's needed, elsewhere in the building.

- Glenn Koenig

Home | Consulting | Arlington