.webp "Fiber Mux & OADM")
Fiber cables offer several advantages over traditional long-distance copper cabling.
- Fiber optics have a higher capacity. The amount of network bandwidth a fiber cable can carry easily exceeds that of a copper cable with similar thickness. Fiber cables rated at 10 Gbps, 40 Gbps and even 100 Gbps are standard.
- Since light can travel much longer distances down a fiber cable without losing its strength, it lessens the need for signal boosters.
- Fiber is less susceptible to interference. A traditional network cable requires special shielding to protect it from electromagnetic interference. While this shielding helps, it is not sufficient to prevent interference when many cables are strung together in close proximity to each other. The physical properties of glass and fiber cables avoid most of these issues.
Fiber to the Home (FTTH), Other Deployments, and Fiber Networks
Whereas most fiber is installed to support long distance connections between cities and countries, some residential internet providers have invested in extending their fiber installations to suburban neighborhoods for direct access by households. Providers and industry professionals call these "last mile" installations.
Some better known FTTH services in the market today include Verizon FIOS and Google Fiber. These services can provide gigabit (1 Gbps) internet speeds to each household. However, even though providers also offer lower cost, they typically also offer lower capacity packages to their customers.
- FTTP (Fiber to the Premises): Fiber that's laid all the way up to the building.
- FTTB (Fiber to the Building/Business/Block): The same as FTTP.
- FTTC/N (Fiber to the Curb of Node): Fiber that's laid to the node but then copper wires complete the connection inside the building.
- Direct fiber: Fiber that leaves the central office and is attached directly to one customer. This provides the greatest bandwidth but is more expensive.
- Shared fiber: Similar to direct fiber except that as the fiber gets close to the premises of nearby customers, it's split into others fibers for those users.
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