Network-Powered Broadband — Bonding and Grounding

Article 830 covers systems where the broadband provider pushes power down the same cable that carries the signal, so the entry point needs proper bonding and grounding of the network interface and any metallic members.

It is the newest of the Chapter 8 articles and the most future-facing, written for the converged cables that deliver internet, phone, and TV on one line into the home.

When it applies

Network-powered broadband systems carry both the signal and its operating power on the same cable coming into a building. Section 830.100 handles the bonding and grounding of the entrance equipment and the cable shield. Because power rides along with data, that entry point gets grounded much like any other communications service to bleed off faults and surges.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the cable shield or network interface unit ungrounded at the entrance.
• Running an overly long or coiled bonding conductor instead of the short, direct path required.
• Bonding to an isolated ground rod that is not tied back to the building's grounding electrode system.

In the field

I always bond the broadband entrance back to the same grounding electrode as the power service. Separate, unbonded grounds are how you get a difference in potential and fried equipment during a surge.