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All The News. All The Time. Optical Power Meter
Members of the Houston City Council last week hired a firm that will help accelerate connections to its Fiber-to-the-Home internet system that began construction about two years ago.
The council budgeted $14,000 for the work across the city, which is divided into areas to make oversight of the system more manageable. Each is called a PON — which stands for Passive Optical Network. Each has a cabinet that allows service technicians to focus on any one of the areas.
Randon Brown, the city technology director, says the city is currently focusing on two phases south of Highway 17 that includes residential and business customers. The first section has been under construction for several months (known as PON 3 North) and is close to completion with required splicing just weeks away. The final remaining phase (PON 3 South) is currently in the bidding process and includes a lot of additional buried work which tends to slow things down due to the digging permit process, labor, and machinery that is required.
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Houston had hoped to tap funds for additional construction costs from the state’s Broadband Infrastructure Grant Program. When winners were announced Monday, most of the $261 million went to rural telephone companies and rural electric cooperatives. The only successful recipient in south-central Missouri was the Steelville Telephone Exchange that serves Iron, Crawford, Washington and Dent counties.
In PON 3 in southern Houston, work will consist of contractors running main distribution lines on city-owned utility poles. Once completed, quality checks are performed. The next step involves fiber optic splicers who will splice the main distribution lines into a black cylinder seen on poles that is known as a “dome enclosure.” These lines run back to the cabinet where they are spliced to connect everything together to the rest of the city’s network. The final step from third party contractors involves testing the network for quality assurance to ensure it is ready to serve customers. “This step is very critical to ensuring that city fiber crews do not run into issues when in the field,” explains Brown.
In Houston, PONS 1, 2 and 4 are activated and customers can sign up, Brown said. (See map)
Once quality assurance tests are completed, city crews make contact with a customer. An on-site walkthrough is scheduled to assess the location and network to determine what the customer’s needs are.
If the location includes a business or commercial entity, there is an additional questionnaire that must be filled out by the customer’s IT staff that includes the specific needs of their network. Brown said this allows City of Houston staff to allocate resources to programming to ensure that the customer’s business needs are met. Once completed, city hall staff sets up the account information. This ensures that billing and services are set up correctly for billing services.
In the meantime, city electric crews will splice a fiber run that goes from the home/business into the cylinder enclosures located on a nearby utility pole that corresponds to that particular home. City crews splice the fibers into the dome enclosure which is an involved process that involves careful preparations of the cable.
City crews will then place a box on the side of the home/business which is known as a NID (Network Interface Device). A fiber optic “pig tail” (A fiber without an end) will be connected from the line to the NID. City crews will drill a hole into the customer’s home/business. A fiber jumper cable will be run from the NID to the inside of the house and terminated to a wall plate that is mounted to the wall.
Another fiber jumper cable will be run from the wall plate to the router also known as an “ONT” (Optical Network Terminal). City staff in the storm shelter then perform any necessary programming to ensure that services are live and operating correctly. City crews will take pictures of the work performed that are then loaded in the customer management system to ensure quality of services. The job is then completed. Billing notifications are sent via email to the customer.
A City of Houston fiber-to-the-home internet project is the most ambitious utility effort in modern Houston history. When completed, homes and businesses will have access to speeds that rival that of metropolitan areas.
Celebrate Recovery meeting is 6:00pm at Faith Fellowship Church in Houston, MO. Meetings are free and open to the public.
Summersville Friends of the Library has formed an adult coloring group that meets the first Monday of each month at 1 p.m. inside Summersvillle branch of the Texas County Library. Materials are provided or bring […]
TOPS Club of Licking meets at 3:30pm every Monday at the United Methodist Church in Licking, MO
Weight Watchers weigh-in is 5:00pm and the workshop at 5:30pm, every Monday at the Houston Senior Center.
The University of Missouri Texas County Extension Council meeting is 6 p.m.at the Lone Star Annex in downtown Houston.
The Houston City Council will meet at 6:30 PM at Houston City Hall.
Eagles Club women's meeting is 6:00pm the first and third Tuesdays.
Licking Adult Education & Literacy classes are 4-7:00pm every Tuesday and 9:30am - 1:30pm Wednesday, in the basement at the First Baptist Church in Licking.
Raymondville Adult Education & Literacy classes are 5-8:00pm every Wednesday in the conference room at McClain Forest Products.
Piney Township meeting at 5:30pm at the township maintenance building.
Launch Student Ministries is the youth group at Faith Fellowship and meets at 7 p.m. each Wednesday inside the new Launch Student Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the […]
The Texas County Genealogical and Historical Society has a library open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its Grand Avenue building. Its meetings are on the first […]
Lynch Township meeting is 6:00pm at the township shed.
Public Water Supply District #2 meeting will be held at 6:00pm at the well house on Morton Road.
AA meeting is 7:00pm every Thursday at 511 S. First Street, Houston, MO.
Tyrone Fire Department meeting is 7:00pm at the Tyrone Community building.
The Steps to Recovery NA meeting is 7:00pm every Friday at St. Mark's Church, Houston, MO. Any questions, call Kevin at 417-260-5188 or Cheryl at 417-260-2870.
First Responders meeting and training is 6-8:00pm at the Roby Fire Station.
Celebrate Recovery meeting is 6:00pm at Faith Fellowship Church in Houston, MO. Meetings are free and open to the public.
TOPS Club of Licking meets at 3:30pm every Monday at the United Methodist Church in Licking, MO
Weight Watchers weigh-in is 5:00pm and the workshop at 5:30pm, every Monday at the Houston Senior Center.
Summersville Friends of the Library meeting will be at 5:00pm at the Summersville library branch.
Ozark Township meeting is at 6:00pm
Raymondville School board meeting is 6:30pm in the library media lab.
Houston School Board meeting. Open session begins at 5:30pm in the Houston Middle/High School library, with closed session to follow.
Summersville School board meeting is 6:00pm in the high school library.
Upton Township board meeting is 7:00pm at the township maintenance shed.
Eagles Club men's meeting is 7:00pm the second and fourth Tuesdays.
Licking Adult Education & Literacy classes are 4-7:00pm every Tuesday and 9:30am - 1:30pm Wednesday, in the basement at the First Baptist Church in Licking.
Licking Bridge Builder Senior Center meeting at 12:30pm at the Licking Senior Center.
Raymondville Adult Education & Literacy classes are 5-8:00pm every Wednesday in the conference room at McClain Forest Products.
Houston Park Board will meet at 6 p.m. at the Houston Municipal Swimming Pool.
Launch Student Ministries is the youth group at Faith Fellowship and meets at 7 p.m. each Wednesday inside the new Launch Student Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the […]
Cass Township meeting is 5:00pm at the maintenance shed at US 63 & Hwy UU.
American Legion Post 41 meeting is 5:30pm at the Legion Hall.
AA meeting is 7:00pm every Thursday at 511 S. First Street, Houston, MO.
TCMH Auxiliary meeting will be held at 2:00pm in the Mayuga Cafe at TCMH.
The Steps to Recovery NA meeting is 7:00pm every Friday at St. Mark's Church, Houston, MO. Any questions, call Kevin at 417-260-5188 or Cheryl at 417-260-2870.
VFW Post 473 monthly meeting is held at 10:00am.
Roby Fire Department firefighters meeting and training is at 6:oopm at the Roby station.
Celebrate Recovery meeting is 6:00pm at Faith Fellowship Church in Houston, MO. Meetings are free and open to the public.
Community Betterment and Arts Council of Houston will meet at noon at the Houston Senior Center.
Fiber Cleaver TOPS Club of Licking meets at 3:30pm every Monday at the United Methodist Church in Licking, MO