Fiber-to-the-Home (FttH) is the hotly debated step to replace the copper wires in the street, used for telecommunications, with optical fibers. We will see a lot of activity in the next 10 years : construction workers digging trenches and laying optical cables to our homes. But if optical fiber is so superior, why do we keep on using copper wires in our homes to connect our home gear? Some people believe all will be wireless in due time, but I have serious reservations about this projection. Wireless bits are always desperately seeking wires to continue their path. So will we see fiber-in-the-home?
Recently Swisscom has announced their plans to deply FttH in Switserland, in an unprecedented manner: cooperation with their competitors to create the network, to be used by all of them in competition.
Hardly anybody has noticed that Swisscom has at the same time invested in
Firecomms, a company delevering Plastic Optical Fibre (POF) solutions. Swisscom uses their products to offer a Swisscom-branded Fiber Optic self install solution to their customers.
” Firecomms home networking technology enables the quick and easy deployment of fiber optic cable in the home. Using low-cost, easy to use transceivers, like the company’s proprietary OptoLock® plugless transceivers, Firecomms makes possible a reliable and future-proof connection between IPTV set top boxes and home gateways. Plastic Optical Fiber technology is widely used in millions of cars worldwide, so Firecomms devices have achieved the low-cost and high reliability required for use in home applications”
So already today optical fiber has become a viable solution to be used in your home, for very reliable highspeed connections over short or long distances. Given the fact that good highspeed copper cables like HDMI cabling for 1080p HD television can be really expensive (
from Euro 20 to Euro 100 retail) and are limited in lenght the rise of optical fiber in the home may be much quicker than anybody expected.
About Herman
Herman Wagter is one of the founders and co-editor of Dadamotive. His work as interim manager and consultant (Citynet Amsterdam/Fiber-to-the-Home, Platform Sustainable Mobility) has involved him directly in the impact of hyperconnectivity and sustainability on society. As an independent agent and "mobile warrior" he has experienced the pro's and con's of how organizations and projects can be structured, and what the effects on the final result can be. In his opinion we are entering an era of profound change, driven by these fundamental forces. Following the trends, discovering the fun and debunking the half-truths is a passion he likes to share with others.
