As fiber optic technology continues to revolutionize various industries’ telecommunication and data capabilities, the average individual may need help understanding the advantages that fiber optic technology provides us in everyday life. Excitel’s Fiber optic technology has been a part of daily life for many years, although most of us may have yet to be aware of its impact. To better understand the advantages and capabilities of fiber optic technology, we’ll outline a few essential touch points of fiber optics and their contribution to our everyday lives.
What are fiber optics?
Data is sent using highly flexible, transparent fibre made of extruded glass or plastic in fibre optic technology. Each glass thread in a fibre optic cable, as thin as human hair, can transmit the information as light waves. Although constructed of glass, these wires are solid and flexible. The glass wires are covered with cladding, a unique protective covering. The material used for cladding can reflect light into the cable’s core, producing a wall that resembles a mirror. The glass cable is shielded from additional harm with a final layer as a buffer optical coating.
Fiber was made for the Internet
When home internet was first introduced, it was carried over phone lines (who could forget that infamous screeching and buzzing sound). Then cable companies began piggybacking internet connections along their copper cable lines to provide TV signals. Consumers demand more speed and bandwidth as the Internet has continued to evolve. Today’s fiber-optic networks are the first purpose-built to meet the needs of today’s internet users and the only infrastructure that can grow with the Internet into the future. The advantages of fiber are many.
- Exponentially more download bandwidth – Your internet speed will vary depending on how much data the infrastructure can manage. A fiber-optic cable has approximately 10,000 times more bandwidth than a traditional copper cable. It can be attributed to the fiber’s method of transferring data via light pulses along glass fibers, each smaller than the width of a human hair. Because light is faster than electrical pulses, fiber can transmit more data per second.
- Faster upload speeds – One lasting impact of last year stay home orders on internet usage patterns will be the increased importance of upload speeds. Videoconferencing via applications like Zoom and WebEx, large file uploads, and online gaming rely on upstream bandwidth. Because copper lines are limited in the total amount of traffic they can carry, providers have been forced to allow the most available bandwidth to download streams at the expense of upload streams. As a result, many cable companies can offer high download speeds but fall behind in uploading speeds. Excitel fiber network, on the other hand, can provide upload speeds up to seven times faster than those of its major competitor operating on a legacy network.
- Resistant to electromagnetic interference – Electrical currents carried along copper lines are susceptible to the constant electromagnetic interference in the air caused by radio signals, cell towers, power lines, lightning, and the sun, to name a few. This interference degrades the current signals, which reduces bandwidth. Since fiber-optic cables do not conduct electrical currents, their signals are not susceptible to this interference.
- Better at carrying information long distances – All data signals weaken the further they travel. Fiber only loses 3% of its signal over distances greater than 100 meters, compared to copper, which can lose up to 94% over the same distance.
Frequently asked questions
What is the future of fiber Internet?
The fibre optic network market is likely to reach $8.2 billion by 2027, achieving a growth rate of 10.9% this year onward. Hence, there will be a rise in the need for single-mode fibre to the Home (FTTH) cabling in areas such as 5G deployment, FTTH broadband, etc.
How fiber optic technology has improved communication?
Sending data as light pulses over a tiny glass or plastic fibre strands enables fiber-optic communication. It allows data to move almost as fast as light rates, making it far more difficult for hackers or other bad actors to steal data signals.
How to Find the Best Fiber Internet Plans?
Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index. If you’ve ever wanted to test your Internet connection’s speed, you probably used Ookla’s popular Speedtest.net. Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index takes all the data from Speedtest.net and organizes it to showcase speed results for entire countries and individual cities.
