Are you getting enough fiber?

[sandbox]

Fiber-optic lines transmit information in bursts of light, far faster than the electronic signals that course through traditional copper wiring in phone networks.
While many big office complexes are well-fed with fiber-optic lines, phone companies have said they were reluctant to spend the billions required to bring fiber to individual homes because of federal regulations that force them to lease their networks to competitors at regulated prices.
Only 37,000 U.S. homes are directly fed by fiber lines, up from 10,000 a year earlier, according to Render Vanderslice & Associates, a market research firm.
But in February, the Federal Communications Commission agreed to lift the sharing requirement on new broadband networks.

http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,59035,00.html

[kelly]

Dark Fiber.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/dark_fiber.html

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/biztech/12/10...e.ap/index.html

The Last Mile Problem

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/last_mile.html

http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/02/27/terabeam/

[Bernie]

I've had my fill of Fiber. Have you had your's Today ??

[sandbox]

Yes Kelly, the companies over extended themselves and may have laid a fiber network that will be obsolete before it’s used. I for one would buy a fiber connection, I’ve been thinking about running optic cable through my office before I read this change in the rules. A friend at Verizon told me it was coming, and I’m only 200 feet away from a trunk line (he said). If the price is competitive I’ll be their first customer. The Laser connection would be taxing here, the birds alone would interfere just because they could. It rains here almost every afternoon come summer for 6 months, and I mean rain, there isn’t a laser beam in Star Trek that could cut through that wall of water. Out where Bill lives it would most likely do well, but in places like this or let’s say a N.E. Blizzard, the lasers wouldn’t have a chance. I’ve played a little with laser surveying equipment, and it doesn’t take much to throw a guy off course. It will be an interesting challenge none the less.
--
Bernie said:
“Have you had your's Today ??”

Yup, Wheaties, Hops, and Rye Whiskey, does raw oysters count, they were kinda stringy, well anyway the batter on the fried clams was right up there on the Fiber Boulevard.

[kelly]

SB. I realy had no point to make about lasers.

Couldn't find any better article is all.

The thing is that Last Mile is where the trouble is.

That's what determines how much it all costs.

And also where the bottleneck is.

There's enough Fiber out there to circle the earth a zillion times.

You getting hooked up to it is the problem.

Fiber costs a lot to handle/install.

It's hard to make money connecting it to your house.

[jwboyd]

Here in rural northwest Kansas, one small telephone company has laid fiber all the way to the house in several small towns. I assume that is economically feasible because of our "wide open spaces" (few obstructions). The name of our company? "Rural Telephone Service Company" (RTSC).

The same phenomenon would no doubt apply to laser technology which, I assume, is "line of sight." My son-in-law uses laser instruments on construction jobs. He experiences few problems, but he says they are not infalliable and he tries to confirm his readings with other devices whenever possible.

The reported data transmission speeds are awesome!

[kelly]

How about  923 MBs per second?

The Internet2 Land Speed Record

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/broadba...3433096,00.html

This is the Future.

[devino]

I was recently in Brussels on business and remember someone commenting that much of the city is fiber optic ready, but now that they've spend all that money to do it, there seems to be some sort of microwave technology that requires no continuously connected network to achieve results as good.  *shrug*