fiber optics question on bhn......

[razorphreak900]

i have just realized something wich i was going to ask on my other thread but i figure this is completely different question so here i am again , i kno bhn has their system all in fiberoptics, but i just wondered why is it that if they are in fiber o why dont they put fiber optics to the house?, dont get me wrong as previously stated...my cable works fine, but i guess it would be better if they did EVERYTHING fiber all the way.....any personal opinions on this?....thanks again guys....ill b around

 

[Khandurian]

This is a tricky question to answer. Yes, they would have enormous amounts of bandwidth if they ran fiber up to every house. However, (this is only true in Brevard county, I dont know about others) all of their system is not fiber optics.

They do have fiber on alot of the poles, but that fiber is used to feed each area. I will have to contact someone about how it's specifically used, but I think it's used to feed the different cities and sub-stations.

If you were to follow the actual fiber on the pole (again, in my area only), you would travel a good distance before you would see it connecting to anything. Sometimes it's a booster to continue on it's journey, and usually it will stop at a box and then from there be converted for use on copper.

To convert the entire area over to fiber would be extremely costly. Which is why FIOS is taking such a long time to accomplish!

 

[stevenl]

Well a simple layout of the oralndo system is as follows Fiber runs from the "Head End" (the nerve of the system where all signals are received and modulated) then sent to the "Hubs" which usally house routers/vod equipment and such and certain special channels are modulated into the system (local city owned channels and such) Then from the hub the fiber runs to the "Node" which from the node it feeds the individual streets. Usally a node will handle about 500 passings (500 customers possible or less) So in a sqare mile area you may have 2-3 nodes depending on population, and usally your large subdivision will have there own node and some apt complexs. BHN runs what is called an HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coax) Network which means we use both traditional coax feeder system with Fiber "trunk" system. Fiber acts like the backbone of the system and the "feeder" /coax acts like the connection to the customer.

Now BHN Orlando is working on upgrading the majority of its plant and "split" the nodes so that there is even more fiber backbone and free badnwidth but its a very costly operation. Fiber to the home is overkill at this stage of technology because the coax can run everything that is needed. These telcos like verizon who are running fiber to the homes are doing so at HUGE expense. Much like that undertaken when cable companies ugpraded there networks to digital and fiber.

 

[razorphreak900]

thanks alot for your guys's input .......but one thing i dont understand either is that fiber is cheaper to produce,so why havent they done it already? i mean fully fiber like fios...fiber has been out for years its not like its new..so idk why they still got fiberoptic system to coax dropout to customers. i truthfully dont care.but their system would run so much better and with less issues and of course better quality service.thought i do kno that it takes time and money TO INSTALL....but like i said fiber has been out for years..why havent they done it yet?....i do agree also that nowadays with coax you can do so much more..cause they do everything by digital signal wich you can do so much at the same time and put various type of signal on one wire...but with fiber (all the way) they would somewhat save money in the longrun (like not as many splitters etc etc) and have extra bandwith for w/e.......


one more thing..u think bhn will go higher than 15.0 mbps speeds? wich i use..but would b nice if they offer a higher speeds for the heck of it lol...thought i kno they can support much more higher speeds to the customers ....jw....ill b around again guys..peace

 

[korsjs]

on their trucks, it says they are the fiber leader.

 

[razorphreak900]

on their trucks, it says they are the fiber leader.

i dont get it......lol

 

[korsjs]

i don't get it either. verizon is the fiber leader hands down. that's what makes it funny with them putting it on their trucks.

 

[stevenl]

Well those statements were made before verizon came along obviously. And before the "fiber to the home" services came along we did have the most fiber in the neighborhoods.

and as far as fiber being cheaper you are incorrect on that. For 1 you have to have alot more expensive equipment on your truck to handle the fiber, and splice it in. Some of the fusion splicers we have are > 10k each. right now the most expensive thing the avg tech has is his qam meter whcih is roughly 5k. So they double the cost on that not to mention they need a sterile enviroment to work on it, and its harder to train people, so theyd need to pay people more money to learn fiber. Then there is alot more equipment to buy and place at customers house instead of a 4$ splitter youd need to install a few hundred dallor reciver and transmitter at the house (for fwd/rev) I think i read somewhere where verizon is spending over 500$ per sub? or somthing to that affect where as brighthouse spends about 50$.. So you see where the cost differnce is ? it will take verzion to have the customer for 1 year before they can make a profit on that customer. BHN can be profitable on a customer within 2 months or less.

So it makes no sense for BHN to change yet. Although they are working on decreaseing the passings per node which increase the fiber. and upgradeing the system to 1ghz

 

[Khandurian]

Stevenl - I was informed today that in our area its the same as you described for Orlando division. I knew fiber ran out of the headend, I was just unsure how it was divided in our area.

razor - Also, dont forget that each tech would have to go back to school at the business expense to be trained on the "how too's" of fiber. That would also increase the initial cost as well.

 

[stevenl]

Verizon is making a huge gamble. Tehy are investing HUGE amounts of money and if it works cable comapnies will follow suite if it fails well cable loses nothing.

Remember when BellSouth Launched its microwave service "AmeriCast" Everyone in the "know" thought it would revolutionize everything and be the best tech every blah blah blah... Well have you even heard of AmeriCast?? I doubt many have..

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

on their trucks, it says they are the fiber leader.

fwiw, BHN has a larger fiber network than Verizon Fios in Florida. It's just not used for the last mile (to the house).

I was given the figure several months ago that a backbone (Level 3 maybe) had a slightly larger fiber network in Florida, but BHN was a close second.

 

[Khandurian]

A little unknown bit of information, but running up and down the east coast of florida, 18 feet parallel and 12 feet down is "slab" of fiber. I call it a slab, cause it's said to be as thick as your leg!

Who owns it? FEC! (Florida East Coast Railroad!) What do they use it for? heh, to keep the trains from colliding with each other! what a waste of fiber!

 

[razorphreak900]

i did ment to say fiber itself is cheaper. but i do understand that it cost and is time consuming to train,and i do kno that parts are more expensive. i still rather go fiber all the way regardles..true its easier to start all new than to change the hardware already done,like i kno it would take a while to change coax into fiber,but from my understanding it aint hard to learn and to do,maybe a few weeks at most if your in the cable industry for the training seccion. another thing for example,we see electrical poles everywhere, i personaly think it would be so much better underground, thought i do kno once again its time consuming and it cost money, BUT,in the long run just like anything else it will be better and it will be safer...especially in areas like fl where we get hurricanes and nasty thunderstorms, they wont have to worry "as much" fixing and going after broken poles where there might be live wires,and somebody would die...atleast with the "newer" system all they would have to fix is the substation instead of the streets or something..if u guys get me...fiber is about the same,its somewhat safer,last longer,can hold much more capacity,u can do more at the same time,and you can get away with longer wirings before using a booster again or w/e they are called lol wich saves money in the long run...and like i said they will have a better system,much more capacity and easier to maintain...regardles of what needs to be done, from my understanding once again they already "have" more than half in fiber in the system. why not finish the rest in fiber to consumers, its not like they gotta start rebuilding everything in fiber....

hope i wrote that clearly as in my english vocabulary aint that great....take care guys ttyl....