In this lesson,
we're going to talk about fiber optic connections.
Now, fiber optic connections are not just conduits for data,
but they serve as the backbone
of our hyperconnected lifestyles
inside of our homes and small offices,
if you're lucky enough to get a fiber optic connection
where you live.
Now, these fiber optic pathways come in various forms,
and they're usually categorized
by how close the fiber optic cable
gets to the end user's premises.
There are four basic terms that we're going to talk about,
FTTH, FTTC, FTTN, and FTTB,
and each one defines the extent of this fiber reach
and is crucial to understanding the infrastructure
that supports our insatiable demand for higher speeds
and more reliable internet.
Let's take a look at each of these terms.
First, we have FTTH or Fiber to the Home.
As the name suggests, Fiber to the Home
is going to bring your fiber optic connection
directly into your individual residence.
Imagine having a direct line of pure high speed data
right to your doorstep.
Well, that's what FTTH brings you.
If you happen to have AT&T fiber in your area,
they use Fiber to the Home
and they'll run a fiber line
directly into your home office
or into your point of presence at your facility.
This is going to offer you the highest speed and reliability
because the entire connection,
all the way from the service provider
to your user's terminal,
is going to be a fiber optic cable.
This is ideal for those
who demand the best in internet connectivity,
whether for professional grade home offices,
avid gamers, or streaming enthusiasts.
I was lucky enough to have Fiber to the Home
in one of my previous properties,
and I can tell you it is blazingly fast.
With the service I had,
I was able to get about five gigabits per second
on the download and the upload in both directions.
And this was extremely helpful
because of all the live streaming
and all the video that I upload on a daily basis.
Now, the second one we have is what's known as FTTC,
Fiber to the Curb,
or Fiber to the Cabinet
is really what we're talking about
when we talk about FTTC,
and with this, our fiber optic cables
are going to run to the curbside or a nearby cabinet,
and from there you'll use a traditional copper cable
to complete the journey into your home or office.
Now, this isn't as fast as Fiber to the Home,
but Fiber to the Curb
or Fiber to the Cabinet is still really darn fast,
and it has great speed improvements
over an entirely copper based network connection.
This does a good job of striking a balance
between cost and performance
and makes it a common choice for many urban setups.
When it comes to fiber to the curb,
essentially you're going to have one fiber optic connection
going to the curb, and then you might have three
or four copper connections coming off of that to connect
to the various houses, like you
and your neighbors on either side of you.
The third one we have is what's known as FTTN,
which is Fiber to the Node or Fiber to the Neighborhood.
FTTN will extend the fiber optic connection
to a central point in a particular area or neighborhood.
And then from that node,
you'll have copper cables branching out
to the various individual locations,
such as different apartments, condos, or housing units.
Now, the distance between the node and the premises
is typically going to be greater
than when you're using Fiber to the Cabinet,
which can affect your speed and reliability.
However, FTTN does allow service providers
to leverage existing copper infrastructure,
and this can help them offer improved speeds
without the need for full fiber optic cabling
to each and every home.
In fact, I used to live in Italy
and in the neighborhood I lived in,
we had FTTN or Fiber to the Neighborhood.
There was one fiber connection
that was brought into the neighborhood,
and then all 40 or 50 homes in that neighborhood
had a copper cable run to them
from that fiber endpoint.
Unfortunately, we're not getting the speeds
that you would typically get with a direct fiber connection.
I wasn't getting five gigabits, for example, over there.
Instead, I was lucky to get about 50
to 100 megabits per second
by using Fiber to the Neighborhood.
So it is not one of my preferred methods,
but it is still better than not having any fiber
in your neighborhood at all.
The fourth and final one we're going to talk about is FTTB.
Now, FTTB stands for Fiber to the Building
or Fiber to the Basement.
In a FTTB configuration,
fiber optic cables will reach the building's
main communication room or basement,
and from there, the connection to individual units
or offices within the building
is usually going to be done through copper cabling.
This setup is very common
if you're in a multi-dwelling unit,
like an apartment, a condo,
or an office complex, where it's practical
to bring high-speed fiber close to the users,
but not directly into each unit.
Generally, if you're using an FTTB configuration,
you'll run your internal wiring
using something like CAT 6A,
that can handle one gigabit per second
or 10 gigabits per second.
And that way, even if you have a very fast
fiber optic connection going into the building,
all of your rooms are future-proofed
and ready for any increases in fiber speed
that may come down the line as well.
Now, understanding these different fiber optic terminologies
isn't just understanding these technical concepts,
but it's understanding when somebody
is trying to sell you fiber,
you need to understand
what they're really selling you.
If they're selling you fiber to the home,
that is the fastest
and best type of fiber connection you can get.
But if instead they're trying to sell you something
like Fiber to the Curb,
or even worse Fiber to the Neighborhood,
that really isn't as fast as some other options out there.
For example, when I had Fiber to the Neighborhood,
that was the fastest I could get where I lived.
But if I was back in the United States,
I could actually use a cable modem
and get faster service on the downloads
than I could with Fiber to the Neighborhood overseas
where I was living in Italy.
So you need to keep these things in mind
because a lot of times markers will use the term fiber,
get you to buy something,
even though it's not a very fast connection,
depending on how they're installing the fiber.
So remember, when it comes to fiber optic connections,
it really does matter what the last letter in the FTT is.
If you're FTTH, that's really fast.
If you go to FTTB, that's also pretty fast.
If you go to FTTC or FTTN,
you start getting to the slower side
of fiber optic connections
in home and small office environments.
So keep this in mind when you're working in fiber,
but in general, fiber is a great tool for us
as we have growing needs for connectivity
and we need higher speeds to be able
to conduct all of our streaming
of high definition content,
managing our smart homes,
or powering data-driven business applications.
In our current digital landscape,
you're going to see more
and more fiber optic configurations coming online,
and you'll see that it's going to get faster and faster
as more competitors enter this market
as fiber optic internet service providers.