How does the technology work and what are the advantages?
It is no longer possible to imagine our everyday life without the internet. Whether for work, leisure, communication with other people or even the household – we depend on our data being transmitted quickly and reliably. Fibre optic connections are playing an increasingly important role in this. In this blog post, we explain what fibre optic is, how the technology works and what advantages it offers.
An optical fibre is a long, wafer-thin fibre made of quartz glass. Unlike copper cables, it transmits information in the form of light rather than electrical signals. This means that data in the form of light signals can be transmitted at lightning speed over long distances – without any loss of quality. Internet speed reaches completely new dimensions with fibre optic technology: Data rates in the giga- to terabit range are possible per second.
Fibre optic cables are optical waveguides (OWG). In a fibre optic cable, many optical fibres made of glass are bundled together. The cable consists of three components: An inner core that transports data as optical light signals, a jacket around the fibre optic core that prevents the light from escaping, and an outer jacket made of plastic that protects the sensitive fibre optic cable. Unlike copper cables, which transmit electrical signals, fibre optic cables transport data in the form of light. More precisely, light particles (photons) transport the data from a transmitter to a receiver.
The biggest advantage of fibre optics is the almost unlimited performance of the internet connection. Compared to copper lines, fibre optic cables enable significantly higher data transfer rates. This means that huge amounts of data can be uploaded and downloaded at breakneck speed via a fibre optic connection. With the increasing amount of data that needs to pass through the network, this is becoming more and more important. This is the case as digitalisation advances in many areas and the use of internet-based applications and services increases. New technologies such as the Internet of Things or artificial intelligence also generate large amounts of data that must be transmitted and processed. In addition, higher resolutions for videos and images lead to larger file sizes and thus to a higher data volume. Other advantages of fibre optics over copper are lower susceptibility to interference, scalability and climate friendliness. A positive side effect: fibre optic connections have a positive impact on the increase in the value of a property. Fibre optic technology conserves resources and consumes 17 times less energy for data transmission than a DSL or VDSL copper network. In this way, fibre optics contribute to reducing global CO2 emissions.
FTTX stands for “Fibre to the X“, where X stands for different endpoints or connection types, such as “H” for “home”, “B” for “building”, “C” for “curb” or “D” for “desk”.
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FTTC, FTTB and FTTH are abbreviations for different types of fibre connections, which differ mainly in the laying of the fibre cable. Here are the differences in detail:
With FTTC, the fibre-optic cable extends to the distribution box or cable junction at the edge of the road. From there, the data is forwarded via copper cable to the building and the flats. Since the last part of the data transmission takes place with copper cables, the network is slower, more susceptible to interference and less stable than with the other two connection types.
Here, the fibre optic cable does not end at the distribution box, but inside the building. From there, the data is forwarded to the individual flats via copper cable. FTTB offers higher speeds compared to FTTC because the copper cable is shorter and causes less power loss.
FTTH is the fastest and most future-proof fibre connection, where the fibre cable runs directly to the homes. As there are no obsolete copper cables to slow down performance, FTTH is the most stable and fastest connection type with possible transmission rates of over 1,000 Mbit per second.
Glasfaserkabel sind die Zukunft der Internetverbindung. Glasfaser-Technologie ermöglicht eine schnelle und zuverlässige Übertragung großer Datenmengen über große Entfernungen. Im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen DSL-Anschlüssen bieten Glasfaseranschlüsse höhere Übertragungsraten, sind stabiler und weniger störanfällig. Allerdings ist der Ausbau aufwendig und teuer, sodass derzeit noch nicht alle Städte, Kommunen oder Länder vollständig damit ausgestattet sind.
Wenn KundInnen einen Glasfaseranschluss haben, wird die Internetverbindung entweder über ein eingebautes Glasfaser-Modem oder über eine externe ONT (Optical Network Termination) hergestellt. Unsere Self-Service Lösung berücksichtigt diese Anschlussvarianten und gibt entsprechende Hilfe beim Einrichten.
Obwohl Glasfaseranschlüsse die schnellste Möglichkeit sind, Internet ins Heimnetzwerk zu bringen, können die klassischen WLAN-Probleme weiterhin auftreten. Gerade mit Gigabit-Anschlüssen ist es wichtig, eine sehr gute WLAN-Anbindung und Abdeckung im Haus sicherzustellen. Hier setzt die Self-Service Lösung von Conntac an, die den technischen Kundenservice optimiert und bei der selbstständigen Entstörung des Internetanschlusses unterstützt. Mit der Lösung von Conntac können Ihre KundInnen die Vorteile ihres Glasfaseranschlusses voll ausschöpfen und Ihr Internet in Lichtgeschwindigkeit nutzen.
Forscher der Stanford University haben eine bahnbrechende Entdeckung gemacht: Sie haben ein „Milliardensensoren“-Erdbebenobservatorium gebaut, das aus bereits verlegten Glasfaserkabeln besteht! Diese Kabel werden normalerweise für High-Speed-Internet verwendet, aber die Forscher haben sie in kostengünstige seismische Sensoren umgewandelt, um kontinuierlich Erdbeben zu überwachen und zu untersuchen sowie deren Auswirkungen auf Gebäude und Brücken genauer zu erfassen und in die Konstruktion von erdbebensicheren Gebäuden zu integrieren (Quelle: Stanford | News Service).
