Fiber to the Rescue?

BeachiFi is in the fixed wireless business, but our engineers and experts from our parent company have a lot of background with all types of fiber systems, including FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home). Here are some things they would like you to know about fiber.

There is absolutely no question that a properly designed and operated fiber network, connected to the right upstream service, can provide bandwidth and overall performance that no other technology can match, period. But the real question is “Does that actually matter?” The average residential customer could not begin to use even a fraction of the speed that fiber can provide, and will not be able to do so any time in the foreseeable future. Rather than re-hash, you can just read our other post: The Great Internet Speed Myth.

There is a good reason why most serious FTTH projects are in urban areas where compact installations can be leveraged over a very large group of customers easily and quickly. But the economics get out of hand fast as you move outward, for the same reason that any sort of physical connection – electricity, water, etc. – is capital intensive when customers are dispersed: someone has to buy miles of “stuff” – pipe, wires, fiber, etc. Then someone has to dig a ditch or climb a pole and run all that stuff.

Then the stuff has to be monitored and serviced and updated, and there are far fewer customers per fiber-mile to pay for it. And – just like electricity and water – it is only as good as the source that feeds it. If the FTTH system isn’t connected to quality upstream DIA (Dedicated Internet Access – industry jargon for bulk service) from one of the high-tier backbone providers, it will never provide the promised performance or reliability. Those providers become scarce or nonexistent outside cities, and the price goes up exponentially.

There is a lot of talk about how FTTH can increase property values. Hard data on this is difficult to come by, but one thing is certain – the only places it is even remotely verifiable are where both the network build and the service being provided has the name of one of the Big Boys on it – think AT&T U-verse, Google Fiber, or Verizon Fios. And sorry, but none of them are coming this way any time soon. It’s very much like the school system: it’s a plus if it’s good and reputable, neutral or a minus if it isn’t.

An alarming trend we see is community or property owners’ groups considering deals where an individual service provider – frequently a small, independent one – is proposing to build out a fiber project in exchange for a long-term contract for Internet service over that same infrastructure. Some of them work out OK, most don’t.

The customers (who often pay substantial “commitment fees” up front) generally know nothing about the design or quality of the system being built, what DIA is to be upstream, or even the skills and expertise of the provider. When problems arise, they often find that the terms of service have little or nothing in the way of guarantees, and they don’t own or control the system they paid for.

Think about it: if a provider really has the credentials and a business plan for a viable, profitable project, they should be able to get funding without requiring commitment fees or service contracts in advance. Conversely, if the property owners are going to pay for the system anyway (even if that cost is amortized across the term of a service contract), then why not just borrow or put up the money themselves, have it designed and built properly, and own the system? Then take bids from providers to connect the DIA and operate the service.

It should come as no surprise that we here at BeachiFi truly believe that fixed wireless is the way to go, especially for most semi-rural situations. Regardless, we would love the chance to help you reach your goal. If that turns out to be FTTH, we can certainly provide design, consulting, and project management services, or even turn-key and operate a complete system for you, with total transparency.

If you are a community group looking for solutions to your connectivity problems, we’d love to share our vision and innovation for self-contained “Community Wireless” systems in overcoming many of the real and perceived limitations associated with wireless. The technology has progressed to the point that it is hard to justify the cost and time involved in FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) systems, especially in established communities where the infrastructure was not built in during initial development.