When you want to purchase fiber equipment, you have the choice to work with one of two types of companies. You can buy from partners or suppliers.
Suppliers are more common. These companies distribute fiber equipment, typically at great scale and sometimes at lower quality. They may stock a variety of brands; they may manufacture their own equipment (often overseas).
The key characteristic of a supplier, though, is that they don’t expect regular customer communication. They provide a product selection, and customers are expected to find what they want and order it. That’s about it.
Partners are less common. These companies offer consultation (and sometimes other services) in addition to product selection. They expect customer communication.
At FIBERONE, we are a partner with the organizations we serve. We’ve spent over two decades building relationships with network professionals. Based on that experience, we strongly recommend that, while you can use suppliers to order commodity parts, you should ensure that you also work with a fiber product partner.
Here’s why.
1. A partner ensures that you get the right equipment.
It’s a frustrating feeling to order a certain part for an application, only to discover when it arrives that it doesn’t fit your needs. This happens often when ordering from product suppliers. It never happens when you order from us.
There are two reasons for mix-ups: Lack of knowledge and miscommunication.
Sometimes, technicians don’t know what fiber products are needed for an application, so they order online what they think they need only to find out they were wrong. This is understandable – even if you have a general understanding of how networks work, you may not be an expert in every fiber application.
Other times, technicians know exactly what they need, but they have certain terminology for it, while the product supplier has different terminology. It’s understandable, because there’s a ton of jargon in this industry, but miscommunication leads to misfits and returns, as well.
At FIBERONE, we avoid these mix-ups by providing extensive educational material and consulting through the purchasing process. We’re available for questions; if technicians aren’t sure how a piece will fit, we can jump on a phone call to make sure the application is understood. We will also clarify unclear terminology before sending a part out.
The bottom line is that, when you partner with us for fiber products, you won’t have to return them, because you’ll get the piece that you need.
2. A partner can enable you to get custom equipment.
Sometimes, networks are built in ways where a unique component would be far more helpful than a common, commoditized piece. Another benefit of partnership is that it gives you the ability to meet customized product needs.
For example, we recently helped a contractor that was working on cell towers. They were putting connectors on a cable that had power conductors and fibers – a configuration that’s fairly custom. We were able to source the cables and ensure they had the products they needed to make the network work.
With a product supplier, you have to settle for whatever is on the shelves. Sometimes, that leads to more work and more tedious network designs.
3. A partner allows you to plan for the future.
Finally, choosing to order fiber equipment from a partner also gives you the ability to plan ahead.
When you order from a product supplier, you have to cross your fingers that the products you need are in-stock and ready to ship on your timeline. Often, this works out – but sometimes it doesn’t. You may have unexpected project delays while you wait for product inventory to be filled.
When you work with a partner, you have the ability to communicate upcoming needs. For example, if you expect that you’ll be using 20 pieces in the next six months, you can let us know. We can take care to keep those in stock so that they’re accessible when you need them.
Working with a partner makes the future more predictable – and that’s good news for your project timelines.
Ready to work with a fiber product partner – not just a supplier?
If you rely on a fiber product supplier rather than a partner, you will likely make more returns. You certainly won’t have the capability to order custom products. And you won’t be able to confidently plan for the future.
Working with a fiber product partner is better. If you’d like to give it a try, get in touch with us.
When you order from us, we expect to communicate with you. Each component is manufactured in our US-based facility and can be shipped quickly to meet your project timelines, and we always ensure that you get the right components so that you’ll never need to make a return.
Our experts are available to consult with you and help you to build a system that meets your fiber network needs. Let’s build a partnership that leads to better results.
