What is fiber to the jack?

One fiber strand pulled from the rack to each room, ending in a small module that presents one or four ordinary Ethernet ports at the wall plate. Devices plug in as they always have.

Does fiber replace the Cat6A in the house?

For the backbone, yes. Cat6A stays for devices that need power over Ethernet: cameras, access points, intercoms, touch panels and controllers.

Is it worth it in an existing house?

In a remodel with open walls, yes. In a finished house, usually not; a good Cat6A design does the job. It pays off most in new construction, where pulling fiber costs about the same as pulling copper.

Where in Tacoma do you install it?

North End, Proctor, Stadium District, Point Ruston, Brown's Point and the rest of the city, plus University Place and Gig Harbor.

Fiber to the Jack in a Tacoma Home | Rivas Technology Group

Why wire a Tacoma home with fiber to the jack?

Your provider may bring fiber to the house, but the wiring inside is still copper Cat6, and that is now the slowest link. Here is the hybrid fiber design we install in Tacoma new builds and remodels.

Fiber to the jack runs one fiber to every room and presents Ethernet at the wall, with Cat6A kept for PoE devices such as access points and cameras. Rivas Technology Group installs this hybrid design in Tacoma new builds and remodels so the wiring inside the house is no longer the slowest link.

By Ivan Rivas, Owner and Sales Engineer · 2025-10-15 · Updated 2026-09-17

Ethernet wall plate beside a home office desk in a Tacoma craftsman, fed by fiber inside the wall

What is the copper bottleneck?

The Cat6 run between your rack and your wall jack. This post is the Tacoma worked example; the design itself is on the fiber to the jack page. Fiber to the home brings a multi-gig service to the side of the house, and from there the signal moves onto copper category cable. Copper Ethernet is limited to 100 meters (328 feet) per run, picks up interference near electrical lines, and tops out well below what fiber carries over the same distance. Take a house that streams 4K in several rooms, runs cameras, hosts video calls and drives a theater. The copper inside the walls is now the slowest part of the network.

What does fiber to the jack change?

One fiber replaces a bundle of copper. Instead of home-running four to six Cat6 cables to a media room, we pull a single fiber strand to each wall location. It terminates in a compact module that presents one or four Ethernet ports. The result is multi-gig ready, loses no signal over long runs, is immune to electrical interference, and needs less material and smaller conduit. Fiber also has no lightning path and does not corrode, which matters in a wet climate. The general case for fiber is in fiber vs copper.

What is in the rack?

An IFP Connect fiber switch in place of a copper patch panel; the whole design is on the fiber to the jack page. The IFP-RKSW-10P is a compact, fanless rack unit with eight SFP fiber ports for room distribution and two copper uplinks to the router. It runs silent, keeps latency low for gaming and streaming, is expandable, and cuts the rack clutter that a copper bundle creates. Alongside it, an Alta Labs PoE switch powers the copper devices.

Where does copper still go?

To anything that needs power. Cat6A stays for PoE surveillance cameras, Wi-Fi access points, video door stations, touch panels and controls, intercoms and security hubs, and smart home processors. Fiber distributes the speed; copper delivers the power. Together they make the hybrid network we build in Tacoma homes:

Component	Purpose
Fiber backbone	High-speed data to every room
IFP Connect fiber switch	Fiber distribution and rack termination
Alta Labs PoE switch	Power and local copper distribution
Cat6A runs	PoE devices
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 access points	Whole-home wireless, wired back to the switch
Managed design and documentation	Labeled, mapped, supportable

Who is it for?

New builds and remodels first. Fiber to the jack suits whole-home Wi-Fi without speed drops, 8K theater and streaming rooms, and gaming rooms that need low latency. It also suits Dante audio distribution, silent rack builds, work-from-home setups and luxury prewires. In a finished house with closed walls, a well-designed Cat6A network is still the right answer. The fiber design earns its cost when the walls are open and the cable can go in before drywall.

What drives the cost?

Room count, run lengths, conduit and terminations. Fiber ends cost more to terminate than copper jacks, and the modules at each wall plate are an added part, so a small house with short runs stays copper. The cost gap closes on larger homes, long runs and multi-gig service, and it closes further when the fiber goes in at construction. For a range, use the instant quote; a plan review gives a fixed proposal.

Need it installed?

Rivas Technology Group designs and installs hybrid fiber networks in Tacoma's North End, Proctor, Stadium District, Point Ruston and Brown's Point. We also install in University Place, Gig Harbor and the rest of south King County and Pierce County, under WA electrical contractor license RIVASGL799DR. Start on the Wi-Fi and networking page and the Tacoma page, or book a plan review below.