INTERNET OF THINGS
ANSWERING YOUR FIBRE QUESTIONS
Although the uptake of fibre in residential communities has rapidly progressed, there are still a few burning questions in the industry around aspects of the offerings and deployment. Estate Living sheds some light on the matter with Frans Verwoerd- General Manager at FibreSuburbs Network.
Q: What makes up a fibre network?
A: A fibre network is made up of several components but there are basically four categories:
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The Access Network( or Last Mile) is the fibre that gets laid in a suburb or gated community. On greenfield developments, it is ideal that this infrastructure be installed by the developer while this can consist of cable trays or conduit in units.
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The Home Drop is the section of fibre connecting a living unit( house / apartment / townhouse) to the access network.
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The Backhaul, which is the fibre, sometimes kilometres of it, which connects the access network to a peering datacentre where various ISPs and other service providers connect to the network.
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Active Electronic Equipment or Headends are located at network rooms or central points of presence( POP) where the data signal is injected into the fibre, and a fibre termination unit( ONT / ONU / Router) installed in the subscriber’ s house.
Q: The architecture of a fibre network is key. What are some of the key components that make up a successful network?
A: As with any engineering project, two components must be considered to make up a successful network. Firstly, the network must be cost effective. Building a fibre network is a large investment and as such short-term cost savings vs long-term cost need to be evaluated. As an example, it may be much cheaper to use old overhead streetlight poles to run fibre cable, but this method needs regular maintenance in comparison to the more expensive and preferred method of trenching.
Maintainability and reliability are also important. Fibre equipment containing lasers is very sensitive to receiving a high-quality signal, and therefore requires installation by qualified technicians. It also needs to be properly tested to international standards and properly documented for future maintenance purposes.
Q. What products are available on the market to help reduce costs and damages when installing the fibre cable?
Q: What services can run on a fibre network?
A: A fibre network must be open access, meaning that multiple service providers, and not just internet service providers, can provide services. For example, a single house can get internet from their favourite ISP, telephone services from a telco, video streaming via a video streaming service such as Google TV or Netflix, and can have a security system which is monitored by an offsite service provider. This means there are four services on one fibre network.
Q: We are finding more and more that once the homeowner is connected to their wireless router, it actually does not
support the speed of fibre or the range required to reach parts of the home. Why is this?
A. Unlike 3G or LTE, Wi-Fi coverage uses a frequency that does not penetrate brick walls and concrete floors well. Various Wi-Fi repeaters and power line extenders are available, but have limited success. New wireless mesh technology is becoming less expensive, but for now the best is to use one or two of the router Lan ports and hard cable into additional Wi-Fi points installed in areas with poor coverage.
Q. What is the future of fibre?
A: Large investments are being made in metro areas and suburbs with previous old copper infrastructure. In future, developers will need to work with fibre companies to make sure they provide infrastructure in which companies can install fibre to make it cheaper to build and reduce overall capex. This again will reduce monthly availability cost. The next wave will be in secondary
cities and towns which have, until now, been widely overlooked. widely overlooked.
Q. What is the ATEC FibreSuburb Network offering?
A. FibreSuburb Network has historically been working with developers and HOAs to get FTTH in outlying and more remote areas. While roll-outs in these areas will continue, the offering is also focusing on high-density lower-LSM group developments where it believes there is the same need as in more affluent estate communities.
www. atec. co. za
A: One of the biggest challenges for an FTTH network owner is to reduce the home drop cost. One exciting product in the market is a pre-connected cable that requires no fibre technician and can be installed as part of a DIY kit.
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