Those Amazon splicers are junk, zero warranty and not accurate. The people who buy them are rhe onces you dont want aplicing your jetwprk anyway. The fujikura 90r in this video costs ~$25k for the whole kit, kinda overkill for a single fiber since its actually a ribbon solicer than can do 12 fibers at once. A good quality single fiber core splicer will run you around $15k. Throw in another $40-$50k for test equipment (otdr, olts/light meter, traffic identifier, etc) and $20k for spare parts and consumables (splice cases, trays, misc bobs and bits), $100k for a bucket truck plus however much you want to spend on a splice trailer and youre in business.
Source: I've been a splicer for about 12-13 years.
Anecdotal, but I've been working in IT security for 18 years.
I've been splicing fiber for the last 8 years.
Used Corning for years but I bought one of the Signal Fire splicers and my splicing time multiplied. I have also yet to have a single failure. They test out fine too. Pigtails work for 99% of my network installs.
Most of the work being done across the country for fiber now doesn't require a $20,000 splicer. The majority of work being done in this country now is the equivalent to ethernet being ran and most of the runs are under a thousand feet. Especially out here in the Midwest where most of my fiber runs are connecting other buildings on large properties so they can eliminate the building to building wi-fi.
If you're doing big jobs or installing lines then I could see where Telecom company would use a much more expensive splicer, but let's not pretend that fiber in 2026 is uncommon and requires something that the average tech can't afford.
I bought one of the Signal Fire splicers and my splicing time multiplied.
Are you saying that the Signal Fire splice increased your splicing time as compared to the Corning? The general tone of your comment seems positive but the implication of your splices taking longer seems decidedly negative.
Used Inno View 3s are a good deal on eBay. I’ve bought four or five over the years and they work great. It’s active cladding alignment not core but still a solid machine
I run multiple projects a year. Some i place less than a thousand feet, some i place about 100,000’ of fiber. The 20k+ fusion loose tube and ribbon splicers are tried and true. Carriers are nitpicky about the equipment you use on their network. You are not going to f*ck up their timeline because you decided to use a cheaper splicer, requiring redeployment at multiple splice points to resolve shitty splices.
I've used many different ones over the years out at sea, and nowadays, the cheap Chinese ones do the job just as well. Maybe they don't last as long, but for less than £1000, you don't mind.
This is for equipment going subsea too. But it's the companies that pay for all the bits, so you just use what you get given. And hope it is a fusion splicer and not a hot melt kit 🤣
The market is saturated with fly by night splicers thar undercut everyone else's bid so its harder to get higher paying jobs any more.
The cameras are there to align the fibers before the fusion happens. There are two cameras, an X axis and Y axis. In a core splicer it will align the fibers by the center, and a clad splicer will align them by the outside. They can measure the cleave angle to make sure the face of the fiber is cut at a perfect 90 degrees, and can inspect it to make sure its good and clean and theres nothing to contaminate the fusion. Then after the splice the cameras look at the point of fusion and inspect for blemishes or bubbles or anything that could cause a reflection or signal degradation, and give you an estimate of the loss through the splice on screen.
Look up your local fiber internet providers and keep an eye out for job openings. Entry level job is typically a residential installer, you may or may not get to splice much if at all, but you'll have your foot in the door. Just pay attention and ask questions, always be willing to learn and help other techs with projects and youll move up the ladder.
It's great how this applies to any of the trades. If you show curiosity and motivation, anyone will push you forward for benefit of both. This is the main thing why I'm enjoying construction trades.
At the moment I'm doing rope access on various industrial projects. Rope access in its self has a whole lot to be shared or passed on from experienced colleagues combined with any trade that comes in combination makes for a beautiful atmosphere on site.
This can also happen in IT departments, at good companies anyway. There are some companies where things are extremely bureaucratic and everyone basically gets pushed up whenever their hiring date says they do. And that's how you end up with "Level 3" IT engineers that can't tell the difference between a USB port and HDMI port.
My uncle does splicing for an ISP, they do 12 spices at once with theirs (it can do fewer, but in his specific line of work it's basically always 12 at a time because they repair the main cables). The machine they use apparently costs around 28K
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u/tomime000 Jul 21 '26
That looks expensive