The Big Dig
What is with all of the trenching equipment and orange cable seen around the area as of late? Fiber optic cable, of course, being installed by Verizon for their new FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) offering. There are a multitude of benefits to having fiber optics available in every home.
FiOS, the flagship fiber optic service, is being marketed as a broadband Internet service (roughly three times faster than Comcast cable Internet service or Verizon's current DSL offerings), but the fiber optic cables provide for so much more than that. Fiber optic cables are capable of carrying vast amounts of data at the speed of light. A single fiber optic cable can carry Internet service, phone service, and television service with lots of room to spare.
Internet access and phone service will be carried over the lines initially, replacing the existing copper infrastructure for everyone that signs up for the new service. Later, television service will be carried over the new lines as well.
The truly interesting part of the new cables is the added competition that could be seen as a result. Voice over IP (VoIP), phone service routed over the Internet, is currently available and is quickly gaining momentum with prices around $25/month for unlimited talk time, including long distance, caller ID, and voice mail. Fiber optic phone lines are essentially VoIP provided by the phone company. It is highly likely that in the future all phone calls will be routed, in some form or another, from end to end, in a digital format over the Internet. Television service is likely to follow the same model, and in the coming years it may not be uncommon to buy usage rights for the fiber optic cable from Verizon, phone service from an inexpensive VoIP company like Vonage, and cable service from an Internet startup that provides a television lineup that is appealing. It should be possible to separate the company that owns the lines from the company that provides the content. Of course, this competition should lead to some great prices on Internet access, television service, and phone service. The companies that own the lines will almost certainly offer bundled services with a discount along with creating innovative features to attempt to beat the competition.
The vast capacity of the fiber optics could also lead to the introduction of new services. Fiber optics can easily provide for a large number of high definition television channels, video phones, and truly interactive television. In fact, television provided over the Internet (IPTV) could change the face of television the way the Internet has changed so many other areas. With IPTV, it should be possible for anyone to start a network or broadcast a new show from their home, the same way that anyone can now share their thoughts with the world through a blog. Additionally, on demand content could really take off. Instead of having set broadcasts it may be possible to watch whatever, whenever. The new episode of a show doesn't just play on Sunday at 8:00 PM, it can be played any time after Sunday at 8:00 PM. Shows wouldn't be broadcast, they would be downloaded. Of course, it would be very easy to offer channel playlists that function the same as the TV we know today. Movie rentals could be implemented in much the same way as fiber optic cables can easily transport DVD quality audio and video. The most interesting new services are those that have yet to be conceived because the infrastructure does not yet exist to allow for their creation.
Of course, rapidly burying enough fiber optic cable to service every home does have its problems. Incorrect underground cable markings have caused some other cables to accidentally be cut by the subcontractors laying the cable. Any construction project the size of this fiber optic installation is going to encounter the occasional snag or cut line, the price of progress. Verizon does occasionally place door hangers with the contact information for the contractors doing the fiber optic installation. Door hangers should be kept in case there is a problem with the installation, so that the contractor can be contacted to get things cleared up.
Verizon's fiber optic installation, while not without the occasional snag, is revolutionizing the communications infrastructure in the state of Maryland. New services that utilize the speed provided by the infrastructure will launch in rapid succession, and new features for existing services will be developed as well. Fiber optics provide the flexibility and expandability to carry Maryland well into the future of communication.
August 19, 2005 9:47 PM posted by J. Michael Cunningham
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