Customer Reviews

Fiber Optics Installer and Technician Guide

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As the publisher of the only weblog devoted solely to fiber to the home (...), from time to time I receive books to review. So here it is.

As fiber to the home gathers momentum, the need for skilled workers installing and troubleshooting fiber access networks is bound to increase. For the next 15-20 years this will be a well paying job with little fear of outsourcing. The technical publishing and training industries are starting to respond to the challenge with training materials, books, and courses.

Sybex has recently released a textbook titled "Fiber Optics, Installer and Technician Guide" written by Bill Woodward and Emile B. Husson. This book is designed as a study guide to help students pass the Fiber Optic Installer (FOI) and Fiber Optic Technician (FOT) certifications. To this end, the book has obviously succeeded, with questions at the end of each chapter and an accompanying CD-ROM with practice questions, exams, and a .pdf version of the book. Topics covered in the book include history of fiber optics, various aspects of fiber optic technology, a chapter on safety, sections on cabling, splicing and connectors, system design considerations, and testing and troubleshooting.

If one is not preparing for the exam, there is some information in the book that I have not seen in other text books. This includes a safety chapter detailing the hazards of various chemicals used in preparing fiber optic connections, some very thorough information on cabling used in access installations and the installation methods. Finally sprinkled throughout the book are sidebar sections called "Real World Scenario" with installation examples that the authors collected from their students "in the trenches".

This book is great reference material for the cable installation work we provide here in Iraq.