Fiber Optic Internet is the future of broadband. It uses fibre optic technology to achieve the fastest speed today, up to 1000 Mbps (1Gpbs). As we know, broadband is very important to the world we live in at present. Fiber optic Internet is powered by fibre optic technology and is far behind competitors. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about fiber internet, including how it works and the challenges associated with it.
1. The working principle of optical fiber
When we refer to “optical fiber” in this guide, we are talking about the fiber optic Internet, which is a form of fiber optic communication. We can transmit information by using an optical fibreglass cable to send a beam of light.
Optical fiber
Optical cables are made up of many smaller optical fibres. These fibres are very thin, to be precise, they are less than one-tenth the thickness of a human hair. Although they are skinny, they have a lot to do. Each fibre consists of two parts:
- Core: Usually made of glass, the core is the innermost part of the fibre, where light can pass through.
- Cladding: Usually made of a thicker layer of plastic or glass, the cladding wraps around the core.
These two parts work together to form a phenomenon called total internal reflection. Complete internal reflection is how light can move down the fibre without escaping. When the light shines on the glass at a very shallow angle (less than 42 degrees), then it is reflected back again like it is reflected on a mirror. The cladding keeps light in the core because its glass/plastic has a different optical density or a lower refractive index. Both terms refer to how the glass bends (refracts) so that the light slows down.
Light is transmitted through optical fibres through LEDs or laser pulses with extremely fast transmission speeds. These pulses carry binary data, which is a coding system that constitutes everything we see on the Internet, even the text you are reading now. Binary code is composed of bits, only 1 and 0. These bits send messages in an organized eight-part pattern (called bytes). It is easy to convert binary bits into light pulses. One pulse is 1, and no pulse is 0. These pulses can travel 60 miles before experiencing any attenuation. In order to transmit thousands of miles of data, these pulses must pass through an optical amplifier to enhance the signal so that the data will not be lost.
Last-mile
Once the pulse reaches its destination, the optical network terminal (ONT) converts the optical pulse into electronic Ethernet. This is how light becomes something you can use to connect your device to the Internet. This conversion occurs at the end of the “last mile” (Last-Mile). The “last mile” is not actually a mile at all, but refers to the last piece of optical fibre that connects consumers to the Internet backbone.
The backbone of the Internet makes it possible for people all over the world to connect through the network, and most of the networks are made up of fiber optic cables. Fiber optic Internet seems to be a brand-new technology, but in fact, it already existed in the early days of the Internet. In 1988, an optical cable connecting the United States and Europe was laid on the seabed. They were the first submarine cables laid, and they have now spread across the entire seabed crisscrossed.
The backbone is the core of the Internet. When you connect to a website, no matter what device or destination you are using, there are multiple steps to get you there, and each step is connected by the backbone.
Type of Last Mile Connection
Internet service providers (ISPs) can install several types of last-mile fibre optic connections, each of which depends on the actual purity of your fibre optic network connection. Each fibre is called “Fiber to X” or “FTTX”, where X indicates where the fibre connection actually ends.
- FTTP /FTTH/FTTB/FTTD: Fiber to the host, home, enterprise or desktop is the most direct fiber optic line. With them, you can directly connect to your residence with pure optical fiber without involving copper wires. For ISPs, these are also the most expensive fiber optic connections.
- FTTB: Fiber to the building, fiber optic cables are distributed throughout the building through copper wires. This is a popular choice for apartments, hotels, schools, or buildings that provide internet for different businesses.
- FTTC /FTTN/FTTS: Fiber to the cabinet/curb, community or street is the most common fibre connection. The optical fibre is transported to a street cabinet about 1,000 feet away from the ground and then dispersed by copper cables. For ISPs, this is the most affordable fiber optic Internet connection because they do not need to invest in expensive infrastructure to individual locations, and it can be redistributed if/when new houses or businesses move in.
2. Fibre Competitors
The biggest Internet competitors for fibre optics are DSL, wired and wireless Internet. DSL Internet is provided by copper telephone lines, which have been the standard for more than 100 years. Cable Internet also uses copper, but unlike DSL, the coaxial cable it uses was originally used for cable television services. A fixed wireless network is like a mobile phone service, which broadcasts radio waves through a transmission tower, and then sends it through frequency.
Like anything, fiber optics also have pros and cons compared to competitors.
DSL advantages
Low financial and environmental costs: DSL causes minimal damage to the environment and economy. Copper wire can be found even in the most remote areas because it was originally laid for telephone connections. These cables can be reused, so no new construction projects are required. Fibre optic infrastructure or wireless transmission towers can be expensive and will increase the cost of natural habitat, not to mention increased carbon dioxide emissions. On the other hand, fiber optic infrastructure does not require electricity, which is very environmentally friendly. Among all competitors, the cable generates the least data, but the output power is the most.
Usability: Similarly, most areas have already laid copper wires for telephones, so as long as the copper wires are in good condition, it is fairly simple to re-use them to create Internet services.
Currently, fiber optic Internet is not yet available in many rural areas, but bringing faster and more reliable Internet to rural areas in the United States is increasingly becoming the top priority of municipalities and suppliers.
DSL disadvantages
Interference: If not installed and maintained properly, the copper wire can cause serious damage. They will release electromagnetic currents, interfere with wires, and severely damage the network. Optical cables neither emit electromagnetic waves nor are they damaged by electromagnetic waves. They are made of plastic and/or glass, so they are not affected by harmful waves. Copper cables also conduct electricity, so there is a risk of fire if installed and maintained improperly. This fact also means that they are more susceptible to lightning, and if they fall during a storm, they can be very dangerous.
Attenuation: Attenuation refers to the attenuation or loss of signal. For a given distance, the signal sent over the copper wire decays much faster than the signal transmitted by the optical fibre. After 320 feet of cable, fibre only lost 3% of the signal, while DSL/cable lost 94% at the same distance.
Symmetrical speed: There are only two ways for everyone to use the Internet: download and/or upload. When you watch something on Netflix, you are downloading it. When you upload a video to YouTube, you are uploading. Download and upload are usually expressed at different speeds.
Most ordinary users only need to worry about the download speed, but remote workers and most enterprises who rely on telemedicine also need higher upload speeds. One of the advantages of fiber optic Internet is that it provides symmetrical speeds, which means that its download and upload speeds match. DSL and other types of Internet-only provide asymmetrical speeds, that is, download speeds are faster than upload speeds.
Advantages of cables
Price: Wired internet is one of the most affordable internet options. Unfortunately, you get value for money because they are not as fast as wireless or fiber optics, and usually include data caps.
Cable disadvantages
Sharing does not care: the cable can reach a download speed of 100mbps (still only one-tenth of the fibre, but more than DSL), but the cable Internet is shared from the ISP and the central node of the local coaxial network. This means that a node must be shared between 100-2000 households. Such sharing usually results in slower Internet speed during peak usage hours.
In order to do this, companies have been restricting users’ Internet, which means they will slow down your bandwidth after you have used a certain amount of bandwidth. The idea behind this is to provide the same amount of service to everyone sharing the node, but this tends to frustrate consumers. The cable company also sets an upper limit for your household data needs and then charges you for additional data.
Fixed Wireless Advantages
It is wireless: As its name proves, fixed wireless is indeed free. Once you have a tower, radio waves can transmit carrier signals across frequencies. This wireless means that fewer materials are required, reducing the total cost of purchase, construction, and maintenance. This also means that no cables will drop and cause service interruption.
Access: Many areas are very remote, and the supplier cannot justify the cost of laying fibre or establishing DSL for them. If you live in the mountains and have few neighbours, or your mail is sent by carrier pigeons, wireless may be your only option. Normally, even in the most remote areas, there will be some kind of tower nearby to measure the signal.
Fixed Wireless Disadvantages
Line of sight: For fixed wireless, the biggest limitation is that the consumer’s antenna must be within the line of sight of the provider’s wireless tower. If you cannot establish a line of sight, such as if you live in a mountainous area, wireless is not your choice.
Congestion: Fixed wireless networks have the potential to reach the speed of fiber optic Internet, but the environment prevents radio waves from catching up with photons. You already know that wireless speeds decrease as distance increases, but there is a bigger problem. As with wired connections, fixed wireless users share bandwidth on their local network, so when many people access the network at the same time, the speed will slow down. To better understand this problem, suppose you paid a 100mbps network fee, but you share the network with 10 families near you. If everyone turns it on at the same time, you can only get up to 10mbps. However, if you buy a 100mbps fiber optic network, then this speed is only applicable to your home.
3. The Importance of Broadband
In 2016, there were 34,249,712,237 Internet users worldwide. In the United States alone, 88.5% of citizens use the Internet. These numbers are growing every year, and the Internet is becoming more and more important to our daily lives, both at the personal and social levels.
Personal interest
Entertainment and connection: We are all used to this world at our fingertips. We can browse recipes, view the latest stock information, video chat, watch movies, download music, or play online interactive games. With fiber optic Internet, isp can provide enough bandwidth to complete all these things at once without sacrificing the quality of service.
Smart home and security: Smart home technology is one of the fastest-growing markets for the Internet of Things (IoT). Connect every aspect of your home and let it run seamlessly from your smart device. You can also use smart home security to remotely monitor and protect your home.
Telecommuting: The rapid access of the network makes it possible for professionals to work remotely. Remote work allows people to live wherever they want to live without sacrificing career opportunities. In addition, the symmetrical fibre speed makes uploading content to/working as easy as sitting in an office.
Distance education: Education and enrichment opportunities for each age group are rapidly becoming the standard of universities, adult education programs, and even virtual primary schools are emerging. Again, symmetrical velocity is a key part of this process. They allow students to quickly upload homework from home.
K-12 Education: In addition to the obvious learning information, children and their parents can always participate in the education process through the education portal. These portals provide an interface for communicating with teachers and administrators, real-time access to assignments and grades, and a large number of educational resources.
Access to health services: Telemedicine has made progress, making it possible to transmit digital information that once required traditional telephone technology. Today, high-speed fiber optic connections allow healthcare professionals to use telecommunications technology to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients in remote areas. Fiber optic Internet provides a seamless video connection, so patients in remote areas can quickly and effectively reach medical experts without having to travel long distances.
Independent life of the elderly or disabled: With the ageing of the population, the elderly and independent life are rapidly becoming more important to us. The most affordable home automation products are based on cloud computing and the Internet. From voice-activated devices to panic alarms, a variety of products can have a profound impact on the quality of life of the elderly, the disabled, and those caring for them. Broadband is an important tool for the government, no matter how big or small.
Social welfare
E-government and citizen participation: Transparency and public participation allow the normal operation of the government. Access to reliable, high-speed Internet, live municipal, state, and federal programs in real-time or, more importantly, on-demand. Government websites and social media provide a steady stream of information for the public, as well as forums for public participation. Citizens can pay taxes online, register vehicles, obtain hunting, fishing and pet licenses, and click a button to communicate with elected officials and staff via email. Many government entities have adopted an information delivery system that allows citizens to use any smart device to inform officials of everything from dangerous potholes to emergencies they may witness.
Public Safety: Chapter 16 of the National Broadband Plan explains the importance of broadband to public safety. The plan suggests:
“Broadband can help public safety personnel prevent emergencies and respond quickly when they occur. Broadband can also provide the public with new ways to seek help and receive emergency information.”
The plan lists four major benefits of broadband internet:
- Allow emergency personnel anywhere in the country to send and receive critical sounds, videos and data to save lives, reduce injuries, and prevent crime and terrorist acts
- Ensure that all Americans can quickly access emergency services, send and receive important information, no matter how the information is spread
- Completely change the way that Americans are notified of emergencies and disasters so that they can obtain information that is vital to their own safety
- Reduce threats to e-commerce and other Internet-based applications by ensuring the security of the national broadband network
Energy and environment: Transportation and power generation are the two aspects that have the greatest impact on global warming. Smart grid technologies for power generation, distribution, and metering, as well as improved transportation management, can increase efficiency, greatly reduce emissions, and ultimately reduce carbon footprint. In both cases, high-speed fiber optic Internet connections are indispensable.
Libraries: Especially during the economic downturn, libraries became a safe haven for the public, providing me with computers, Internet access, books and movies
Municipal broadband
The importance of broadband can no longer be denied, but almost 50% of people living in rural America do not have enough Internet service. More precisely, 95% of Americans are considered “rural America.”
Throughout the country, municipalities are working hard to build reliable broadband in their areas so that their communities can be competitive in the modern economy. Whether it is seeking the help of the Federal Communications Commission or seeking the cooperation of the local isp, the municipality is still undertaking an extremely expensive and complex project. Without tens of thousands of dollars in investment, municipalities need to consider the lifespan of the Internet media they choose.
Everyone knows that fiber optic Internet is the future of broadband, but building fiber-optic infrastructure is not a simple process. There is a reason why only 25% of the country has available fiber. This is not because ISPs and municipalities are not interested, but because there are huge obstacles in these projects.
4. Build Broadband
Whether you are an ISP or a municipality, there are challenges and concerns when building fibre-optic infrastructure. Consider the following five questions:
How to build
There are two ways to build fibre optic infrastructure, each of which has its own challenges to consider:
Aerial construction: The fibre is complex to the extreme. This is a 6 to 8-month process, with so many variables, there is no way to know the true long-term cost. ISPs with existing copper pole infrastructure will have the easiest time to set up new aerial optical fibres, but they still have to consider high personnel, installation and maintenance costs. There is indeed an immeasurable cost of leasing an existing pole, because, in theory, you will pay for the lease year after year. Not to mention, you have to consider the cost of personnel, installation, and maintenance.
The construction of new poles is not only a question of cost but also a question of geography and local policy. You may have all the funds in the world to build fibre poles, but you can’t build a pole in the middle of a lake or on the edge of a cliff. Once you find the perfect location, local regulations will determine whether you can build it there. Even municipalities dedicated to installing community networks must consider existing utility infrastructure when installing new utility poles. The advantage of installing or owning telegraph poles is that they can be rented out in the future.
Underground: underground is a broad term because different ways are available to bury fibres, such as:
- Buried in new or existing pipelines.
- Use special machinery to plough in.
- Use directional drilling.
- Buried directly in trenches/micro trenches.
- Blow into buried pipes.
- Buried underwater.
Cables buried in the ground can be dangerous if they are not properly labelled.
No matter which technology you choose, there will be some recurring challenges and concerns. The most important aspect of laying fibre optic cables is where the ISP/municipalities plan to dig them because many different things end up buried in the ground. If someone accidentally digs out anything with high voltage, failing to check may be life-threatening.
Dig Safe is a non-profit clearinghouse that cooperates with public utility service agencies to ensure the safety of the excavation site. Before anyone digs, they should dig a secure website to understand the correct procedure. Once you have marked the place you want to dig, you can call the toll free number (811) for digging the safe to ensure that the digging area you want is safe.
Equipment cost is another issue to consider. Special machinery must be used to pull up existing pipes, plough, dig trenches or drill holes underground. Trenching under the sea may be particularly expensive, but must be undertaken project. The last thing to consider is how much turmoil the excavation will actually cause. A municipality planning to provide new infrastructure for an entire town is likely to have to go directly through the town centre. This means demolishing existing infrastructure, such as roads and sidewalks, and then inevitably must be repaired. Not only is this expensive, but it also leads to road closures, which ultimately annoys everyone in the community.
This problem led to a mining practice. When municipalities are building public utility projects, such as water mains, they will also use this opportunity to install broadband structures. In this way, they can save money and avoid inconvenience to the community multiple times.
Personnel
Fibre projects include huge manpower, you will need many full-time employees. Some of them can be contracted, like trenching, but most jobs must be finished by professional engineers.
For example, you need to hire licensed professionals to run the heavy machinery. Experienced engineers are required in planning infrastructure to map out where and how networks can be built. It is necessary to hire both engineers and electricians full time to work in the central office, on poles, or in people’s homes to wire and maintain a network.
In addition, in the event that personnel do not have previous experience with fibre, they must be trained by the municipality or company.
Companies sometimes are forced to hire new individuals when they do not have enough of the right people on staff. Hiring someone new is more expensive than contracting it out, which often results in that project being shelved for another. The fact that ISPs have experienced and expensive personnel required to build fibre infrastructure tends to make it easier for municipalities to partner with them.
Return on Investment
As an ISP, this has the potential to pay for itself over time through a customer’s monthly fee. However, fibre involves a large upfront cost. An ISP building out to a rural area takes years to see a return on investment, as we will see in the following example.
Say it costs roughly $20,000 per mile for the ISP to build, plus an additional $600 for each home they build. For this example, we will say that there are 13 homes per mile, so if you do the math (20,000/(13*0.5) + 600) this company is looking at around $3,677 per home. Unfortunately, fibre is not available to every household. We can estimate a take rate of 50% for this example, with each customer paying $65/month.
In order to determine the actual profit, you have to subtract the general monthly cost of the provider from the monthly cost, which is usually over half of the monthly cost. It is most likely that the monthly profit for the provider here would be $30. 55. A company that has a monthly profit of $2,877 will have to wait ten years before it can see a return from its investment of $3,677.
A municipality building fibre is looking return on investment is going to be much different, because this investment is about community growth and prosperity, not a fiscal profit. The return on investment a municipality looks for is going to depend on what their broadband goals were. Some common returns on investment are:
- A thriving business district.
- New businesses opening in the town.
- A younger population moving in.
- More families setting down roots in the community.
Finance and Regulation
Broadband infrastructure is a hot-button issue in government right now. From Washington to your local statehouse politicians are trying to decide the best way to connect us all. The government can help build better broadband by providing grants to ISPs and municipalities. The changes the government makes, now or in the future, should be carefully considered by anyone building fibre infrastructure.
By developing a rural infrastructure fund, the FCC is helping to alleviate the high cost of building fibre in rural areas. This benefits the ISP because it balances out the high cost of building fibre around a specific area. ISPs can thus connect more homes. Additionally, the FCC provides grants for state governments to bolster their broadband infrastructure for rural municipalities.
For municipalities to be eligible for these grants, they must meet certain criteria. Standards vary from state to state, as does the definition of broadband. When we talk about “defining broadband”, we are not referring to the dictionary definition. We are referring to the minimum internet speed defined by the FCC and/or the state government.
This definition is now a changing target. In January 2018, the FCC decided to maintain its 2016 broadband definition, keeping it at 25/3 Mbps. This does not mean that every state’s broadband definition is 25/3 Mbps. In fact, some states have multiple definitions and change them when needed. However, to obtain any government funding, the speed of a community must meet the definition of broadband. ISPs that receive any government funding must be structured according to the definition, although some grants have specific structure definitions. Building to definition means that the ISP’s new infrastructure must meet a certain speed. If these speeds are asymmetric, such as 10/10, the ISP will have to build fibre.
Another factor in the government’s increased interest in broadband infrastructure has to do with policy. There are currently laws in 20 states that prohibit municipal governments from building their own broadband networks. Many laws in these states have been lobbied by large telecommunications companies to implement them. According to these laws, townships that are not attractive to ISPs have no choice when it comes to broadband infrastructure.
However, most states allow municipalities to build and maintain their own broadband, including 24 states where at least one community has its own fibre-optic Internet network. It is possible that in the future, the laws of these states will no longer apply. Congress has been studying a bill that will overturn these state laws and pave the way for municipalities to build their own fibre-optic infrastructure.
Planning for the future
When it comes to the construction of optical fibre, whether it is an ISP or a municipality, future construction is an important consideration. Obviously, the Internet of Things is constantly developing and growing, and there are new ways to connect our lives every day. The more things we connect to the Internet, the faster we need it. This is why so many Internet service providers and municipalities are now choosing to build future fibre-optic infrastructure instead of just replacing outdated copper within 10-20 years. More importantly, they must build for changes in population and economic conditions.
Future-oriented construction usually means building more fibres at once, rather than installing more fibres later. Fiber optic Internet is expensive, but these costs are more related to infrastructure than the fibre itself. The cost of two strands of optical fibre may be only a few cents apart, and the cost of changing the infrastructure in the future may be between thousands of dollars and even millions of dollars. Dark fibre is a type of fiber optic cable, but it is not currently used, which makes it a great asset for ISPs or municipalities. The dark fibre can be sold or leased in the future to help accelerate the return on investment of the ISP or provide additional funds for the municipality.
Fibre and Internet Service Provider
Despite these problems, many ISPs are committed to the deployment of fiber optic Internet. It has even been promised that some ISPs will only build fiber optic networks in the future and will actively replace existing copper networks. OTELCO is one of many ISPs that have decided to use fibre optics in all new infrastructure projects to embrace the future and is actively working to replace copper wires with fibre optics. Now that you have a better understanding of fiber optic Internet, you may be more interested in how a company deploys it.
5. Glossary
Aerial Fiber: fibre hanging on the ground, usually hanging on a pole.
Asymmetric Connection: Internet connection with different download and upload speeds.
Attenuation: Attenuation or loss of signal.
The backbone of the Internet: a series of networks that connect the Internet all over the world.
Binary: A code composed of 1s and 0s that can build everything you see on the Internet.
Bits: the individual ones and zeros that make up the binary code. It is expressed with lowercase “b”, which is used to measure network speed. Such as Kbps, Mbps and Gbps.
Byte: An eight-bit pattern to create a binary message. It is represented by a capital “B” and is used to measure digital storage capacity.
Cladding: The cladding is the second layer wrapped around the fibre core. It is usually made of a thick layer of plastic or glass to produce complete internal refraction.
Conduit: A tube or trough made of metal, plastic, fibre, or fired clay used to protect wires.
Fibre core: The fibre core through which light passes. The core is made of glass and has a very low refractive index, allowing the entire internal refraction phenomenon to occur.
Dark fibre: The fibre in the fibre optic network cable that has not been “lit” or used by the ISP. Usually, ISPs install dark fibre so they can light it up when needed, or lease it to other ISPs or interested parties at wholesale prices.
Optical fibre technology: A technology that uses light and optical fibre (glass or plastic wire) to transmit data.
Optical fibre communication: A technology that uses glass and light pulses to transmit information through optical fibres.
FTTX:
- FTTP: fiber to the host, last-mile fiber connection, providing pure fiber connection directly to the host.
- FTTH: Fiber to the home, last-mile fiber connection, providing pure fiber connection directly to the home.
- FTTD: Fiber to the desktop, last-mile fiber connection, providing a pure fiber connection directly to the user.
- FTTN: Fiber to the community, last-mile fibre-optic connection, provides fibre optic connections for community cabinets and then distributes to the community through fibre optic distributors or copper wires.
- FTTB: fibre to the building, or fibre to the basement, the last mile of fibre optic connection, the fibre is brought to the building, and then distributed to the entire building through copper wires. Fiber-to-the-business, also known as fibre-to-the-last-mile, refers to a pure fiber optic connection to the enterprise.
- FTTC: Fiber to the curb is the last mile fibre connection to the local cabinet and then distributed to homes and businesses through fibre distributors or (more commonly) copper wires.
- FTTS: Fiber to the street, where the last mile of fibre is connected to the local cabinet, and then distributed to customers through fibre distributors or (more commonly) copper wires.
GBPS: Gigabits per second, or billion bits per second.
Internet of Things: The Internet of Things is actually a complex and constantly changing thing. Simply put, it is the concept of connecting many different devices (phones, cars, electrical appliances, etc.) to each other, and these devices are embedded with the technology to connect them to the Internet.
KBPS: kilobits per second, or 1000 bits per second.
The last mile: the last piece of optical fibre that connects consumers to the backbone of the Internet.
MBPS: Million bits per second, or Megabits per second.
Optical Amplifier: A device that can amplify optical signals without converting optical signals into electrical energy. Also called an optical repeater.
Optical Density: The degree to which a refracting medium hinders the transmission of light.
Optical Fiber: A flexible transparent fibre made by stretching glass or plastic with a diameter slightly thicker than human hair.
Photon: Light particles.
Refraction: Refraction is the bending of light from one transparent material into another transparent material (sound, water, and other waves also occur).
Index of Refraction: The equation that describes how light passes through an object.
Symmetrical Connection: A broadband connection with the same download and upload speed, for example, 25/25 Mbps.
Telecommuting: Use technology to work at home.
Telemedicine: Remote care of patients through remote communication technology.
Total Internal Reflection: When the light shines on the glass at a very shallow angle (less than 42 degrees), then it is reflected back again, just like reflecting on a mirror.
