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Podcast #4, Broadband Internet, WiFi, Fiberoptic, and More
Verizon's investing $3.1 billion in a huge fiberoptic network in NYC, and $23 billion overall to create a fiber (optic) to the home (FTTH) network from New York to Florida. Verizon sees this as their only way to establish an infrastructure to compete against cable companies who are starting to cannibalize their phone service at the rate of 1000 users a day. Over this network, Verizon will be able to deliver phone, television, and internet services at higher quality and a competitive price. They estimate that the cost of FTTH to each home is around $1000, but as economies of scale increase, the cost could drop down to $500/household.
Some different forms of internet access:
(a) Same speed as standard DSL, but ubiquitous:
(1) Wi-Fi - Metrofi, SkyPilot, Earthlink - wireless mesh networks for cities, 100 square yard range, 18 to 20 access points (ap) required per sq mile
(2) Wi-Max - each ap works for 5-10 miles - 1 node per 5 square miles, less cost with more coverage, but the standard has not quite been adopted yet. Sprint has committed to build out a WiMax network for it's 4g cellular network.
(3) M2Z - Wi-Max like technology (appealed to FTC to supply wireless internet access to 95% of country, in 10 years),
- 1/5 DSL rate for free - adult and inappropriate content filtered out
- DSL like rate available for a monthly fee
(1)Cable (Comcast) - A new cable standard, Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.0, was recently released meaning that cable companies will soon be able to offer download rates of 160 Mbits/s and upload rates of 120MBit/s.
(2)Fiber to the home (Verizon) - run fiber optic from the internet backbone to everyone's home - expensive but will result in speeds over 100 Mbits/s.
(3)Fiber to the node (AT&T) - run fiber optic cable close enough to a group of subscribers, then run the signal over existing copper wires the rest of the way - cheaper to build but restricted to 25-30 MBit/s speeds; Service will be VDSL or very high data rate Digital Subscriber Line
How is Internet Broadband Changing the way we watch TV?
IP TV normal offering from cable company, new and more versatile 'Set Top' boxes -
ITV - things like YouTube, Neave.TV, you can just use your computer and access videos on-demand, why do you need traditional television services?
As always, if there is something you'd like to add or contribute, feel free to post a 'comment' below and we will bring it up in the next show.