Items tagged with fiber
It’s been a while since we’ve talked about Google Fiber, after Google scaled back its ambitious plans of spreading 1Gbps internet to millions of Americans. However, Google Fiber is back in the news again this week and this time it’s not because it’s pulling out of an existing market or canceling previously-announced Google Fiber Cities — instead, Google is announcing that a big speed increase to 2Gbps is coming. Although Google Fiber was among the first to offer 1Gbps fiber service in the United States, many other ISPs including AT&T and Comcast have countered with similar (or faster speeds). In order to make its service more attractive, Google...
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If you thought that Google’s underwater FASTER fiber cable system was fast, Nokia is here to show that “Anything you can do I can do better.” Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, a division of Nokia, announced today that it has set a record with a staggering 65 Tbps data transmission via an undersea fiber link running over a distance of 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles). To put that achievement into perspective, Nokia says that the 65 Tbps capacity is enough to stream 10 million HDTV channels… simultaneously. Nokia says that this high water mark also provides 13,000 times more capacity than the first undersea amplified transatlantic system, which was deployed in 1995.Underware fiber cable install...
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Image Source: Flickr (Mike Mozart)The race is on to bring gigabit Internet service to as many residential homes across the nation as possible. One of the participants is AT&T, which announced plans to expand its fiber-optic network to 11 more metro areas. The expansion is part of a broader initiative to bring AT&T Fiber, the new name for what was previously known as GigaPower, to at least 67 metro areas, including 45 metro areas by the end of the year. "Customer demand for high-speed connectivity is exceeding even our high expectations. Today we’re also introducing the AT&T Fiber umbrella brand, which lets us bring ultra-fast internet to even more residential and business customers...
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In early August, we reported that 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had no authority to prevent states from imposing restrictions on municipal internet. This was a result of the FCC stepping in last year in an effort to use its authority to “remove barriers to broadband investment and competition”. However, the courts sided with the states, which said that the FCC’s order impeded on state rights. In the end, this ruling was not a win for the consumers, but clearly favored firmly entrenched big brand operators like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and AT&T, which lobby hard to keep competition at bay (see Google Fiber’s fight in Nashville, Tennessee)....
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If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you have a new option when it comes to tapping into high-speed fiber internet. AT&T announced this week that its 1Gbps GigaPower fiber internet service is now available in the area. More specially, AT&T GigaPower will be available to residents of San Francisco, San Jose, Dublin, Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Ramon. AT&T joins Comcast, which brought its 2Gbps Gigabit Pro fiber internet service to the San Francisco Bay Area last year. Interestingly enough, Google is the laggard here, as the Mountain View company has yet to launch its Google Fiber service in the San Francisco Bay Area. And even when it does launch, it will be limited to...
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If there’s one thing that monopolistic (via region) ISPs like Comcast and Time Warner Cable hate, it’s competition. If your small town or city is looking to startup its own high-speed fiber Internet service to provide its residents with the speed and access that the big boys just won’t offer, chances are that the telecom lobby will strike with a vengeance. And if municipal fiber Internet wasn’t "bad enough", cable companies also have to contend with services like Google Fiber, which is slowly starting to creep across the United States in major markets. So what happens when municipal fiber Internet joins forces with Google Fiber? Well, that’s enough to make well-entrenched players call in for...
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When Google released its Fiber Internet service five years ago, it was quite something to behold. While most of us were dealing with modest broadband speeds (or worse), the big G was offering Internet speeds that could max out our home routers. At 1Gbps, Google was allowing people to both download and upload up to a theoretical 125MB/s, which is what most hard drives will peak at. It's still impressive. Not long after Google began hitting some cities with gigabit Internet, we began to see a number of other companies follow suit. Unfortunately, almost all of these are ISPs that focus on a certain area, so a wider rollout is in most cases unlikely. One such ISP is Chattanooga's EPB Fiber Optics,...
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We’ve all been there before; you’re sitting at your desk — either in your home or at your office — when the internet goes out. Given how connected we’ve all become these days, this can often lead to sudden panic, followed by tremors and profuse sweating (ok, we made that last part up). If the problem isn’t with our own home or work networks, it’s most often a problem with the internet service provider (ISP) — be it routine maintenance, faulty equipment, or a natural disaster that is causing the outage. While inconvenient, these service interruptions are to be expected from time to time and is something that we all get used to. But what happens when that outage is caused by vandals just looking...
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You think Google Fiber’s 1Gbps speeds are fast? That’s mere child’s play, my friends! Or how about Comcast’s 2Gbps Gigabit Pro? Fuhgetaboutit! The folks at Verizon are chompin’ at the bit to deliver Internet speeds at least five times faster than what’s possible with Gigabit Pro. Verizon announced today that it has completed successful trials of a high-speed fiber-to-the-premises network that offers symmetrical upload/download speeds at an eye-sizzling 10 Gbps. The telecommunications company is using new optical line terminal (OLT) technology, which is capable of generating four wavelengths (colors) of light, each with the capacity to deliver 10Gbps downloads and 2.5Gbps uploads. But that’s not...
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Researchers at the University of California in San Diego have just crafted a new fiber optic technology which could dramatically improve our Internet's backbone, as well as reduce costs. While fiber optic connections to the Internet are a luxury for home and business, they're imperative for the outside sources that bring us our data. The backbone of the entire Internet is laced head-to-toe in fiber, as it's the only possible option for delivering and sustaining the bandwidth needed to serve everyone. But, its current design has a couple of caveats. At the forefront, current technology doesn't allow signals to be sent without some severe distortion -- severe enough that the receiving routers would...
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Still licking its wounds following the spectacular collapse of its bid to acquire Time Warner Cable (TWC), Comcast is refocusing its energy on expanding 2Gbps fiber Internet across the country. Comcast kicked off its 2Gbps Gigabit Pro service in Atlanta, and later in parts of Florida and the San Francisco Bay Area. Gigabit Pro is now expanding to none other than Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was just seven years ago that Comcast threw down the gauntlet, suing the Chattanooga Electric Power Board (EPB) to block the creation of the city’s own fiber Internet and cable TV service. The EPB only took this step after it fought for years to persuade Comcast to improve its Internet speeds. After Comcast...
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Google and AT&T have been slowly rolling 1Gbps fiber Internet services across the United States. Google struck the first blow when it launched Google Fiber in Kansas City, Kansas, and AT&T has followed suit as Google Fiber’s shadow in many markets (and in markets where Google is not already available, AT&T has seen fit to price gouge customers). Now, both AT&T and Google are about to get some competition from Comcast, which is set to launch an even faster fiber-based service this year starting in Atlanta, Georgia. Starting next month, 1.5 million Atlanta metro area residents will have access to Gigabit Pro, Comcast’s fiber Internet service that will offer symmetrical (upload/download)...
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Google Fiber launched in Kansas City, Missouri in September 2012, and now AT&T is looking to creep in and compete toe-to-toe with its own ultra high-speed fiber network. AT&T’s U-Verse with GigaPower network is launching not only in Kansas City, but also “parts of Leawood, Lenexa, Olathe, Overland Park, Kan. and in surrounding communities located throughout the metro area.” "We're proud to launch in these cities as the first locations where we will offer ultra-high speeds to local consumers and employers in the Kansas City area," said AT&T Kansas president Mike Scott. "The AT&T GigaPower network will help encourage economic development in the area by facilitating a new wave of...
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While AT&T is pausing its fiber network rollout in 100 U.S. due to its opposition to President’s Obama’s proposed net neutrality rules and Google is delaying its fiber expansion in 34 markets, it looks as though US Internet is forging ahead with an even faster fiber service. US Internet this week announced that it has already switched on a 10Gbps fiber Internet that services parts of Minneapolis, MN. "The launch of our 10 GBPS Internet service will make Minneapolis the first city in the world to receive access to the Internet at speeds never before experienced in our country, or any other country for that matter, both in terms of 10 GBPS download and upload speeds," said Joe Caldwell, Co-CEO...
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At a time when many are still in awe of the speeds that can be reached with Google's Fiber service, Danish researchers have come along to show us what those fiber wires can really do. The "High-Speed Optical Communications" team at DTU Fotonik in Lyngby, Denmark, have managed to secure a world record by achieving a transfer speed of 43Tbps across fiber using just a single laser. This achievement far exceeds the previous world record, of 32Tbps. Making this world record possible is a brand-new fiber cable; unlike regular fiber which contains a single thread, or core, this new fiber contains seven. Despite that, the resulting cable is no thicker than standard fiber cables. To help put things...
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It happens all too infrequently in the ISP business, but when it does, it's a beautiful thing. We're talking about good, old-fashioned competition, and that's what Google is getting now that AT&T is upping its fiber efforts. After Verizon nixed FiOS expansion a couple of years ago, the only real fiber-to-the-home growth has happened in small towns here and there, and lobbyists are working hard to put those to an end. Finally, AT&T is announcing a "major initiative" to expand its fiber network to 100 candidate cities and municipalities across the United States. The expansion would (in theory) bring 1Gbps access to homes in 21 new major metropolitan areas as well. It's being called U-verse...
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There’s a rumor that Google may jump into the wireless provider game, which would be huge news except for the fact that Google wouldn’t be launching a fifth competing wireless network; it would simply function as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), reselling one of the big four’s services. The rumor comes from The Information (behind a paywall), and according to the site’s sources, Google may partner with Verizon to be an MVNO and launch wireless services in areas that have Google Fiber. Verizon Coverage Map MVNOs are terrific for the industry, and services like Republic Wireless and FreedomPop are doing a great job disrupting pricing and service structures. But...
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The lucky residents of San Antonio in the great state of Texas will probably be next to have access to Google's uber-fast fiber-optic network. As part of a long-term contract, Google will lay down 40 "fiber huts," which are 12-foot by 26-foot communications shelters that contain the infrastructure for Google's fiber-optic gigabit Internet. "What we've seen in other communities in which Google Fiber has moved in is that it lowers the cost of Internet access for everyday consumers," said San Antonio mayor Julián Castro said. "And that's a great thing in a place like San Antonio, where we do still see a significant digital divide." While Google has agreed to serve the area its gigabit network,...
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The advent of gigabit Internet continues its slow-but-steady growth with the news that Bright House Networks is working with the Metro Development Group to bring gigabit Internet to new communities in the Tampa Bay, Florida area. The groups are building new housing developments and will construct them with fiber, pre-wired for gigabit Internet speeds. The homes themselves will be wired, but the neighborhood clubhouses, playgrounds, and even nature trails will have high speed WiFi. Tampa, Florida “Bright House Networks is pleased to join Metro Development Group in this revolutionary project,” said Nomi Bergman, President of Bright House Networks in a statement. “Bright House...
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In Amazing Fantasy #15, an epiphany occurs to Peter Parker after his Uncle Ben is murdered. He learns that "with great power there must also come great responsibility," an altered version of which is later attributed to Ben himself. Regardless of its origin or where you may have first heard the quote, the sentiment applies to all facets of life, not just that of super heroes, and in a way it's being applied by Mozilla in Chattanooga and Kansas City. The browser maker just launched the Mozilla Gigabit Community Fund, a project in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NS) and US Ignite that will support local innovators in the two above mentioned locales as they build real-life open...
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There’s really no other way to say it: BT and Alcatel-Lucent claim that they’ve reached Internet speeds of 1.4Tbps over an existing fiber connection. To be clear, that terabits, not gigabits; we’ve covered a good amount of news related to the latter lately because almost nobody has access to those kinds of speeds as it is. So, yes, terabit Internet speeds. The companies conducted this field trial in the UK, using a fiber link between the BT Tower in London and the company’s Adastral Park research facility in Suffolk. The underlying technology is a flexible grid infrastructure called “Flexgrid” that ups the density of each transmission channel and varies the...
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Google Fiber was far from being the first fiber-to-the-home Internet provider in the United States, but it has no doubt garnered attention in ways that earlier, smaller, more local fiber outfits simply could not. Google Fiber has made the notion of widespread fiber across the U.S. one that isn't so far-fetched, and by developing an ISP that gives everyday consumers access to 1Gbps service at a reasonable rate, other outfits are following suit. Just this week, mobile operator C Spire announced a new project that "promises to transform communities into magnets for investment and economic growth by bringing the technology of tomorrow to thousands of homes in cities, towns and neighborhoods in its...
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