How does one splice a cable with such a complex geometry? Is that a solved problem already?

nicholasbraker 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

You probbaly need a specialised crew to do this and as such such fiber won't be installed in your own neighbourhood for your Fiber-to-the-Home connection anytime soon I guess. But, maybe in a few decades it will.

When such technology becomes practical for the large telco's it will be implemented soon as this saves on attenuation equipment.

	▲	bob1029 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		The termination/splicing of HCF would likely occur at long haul endpoints, not in neighborhoods and last mile. There wouldn't be any meaningful upside to this. Crews are currently splicing fibers reliably in <5 minutes using gear from Amazon or AliExpress. We don't want to mess with something that is working this well.

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binbag 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I can say from direct experience doing research with hollow-core fibres that they are not easy to splice either to each other or to standard fibre. Imagine trying to use heat to melt together a pipe and a solid cylinder without creating a mess.