Full fibre

[spectric]

Hi all

What are the technical differences needed to get fibre into the home?  I can see that in the property you need a device to convert the optical data into electrical to go into the WAN port on the hub but there must be more to it than this otherwise BT would be able to provide this  service without delay.  If the fibre is currently to a cabinet then surely all that is needed is to demux a particular line and send it up another fibre, rather than a copper wire.  

[imjolly]

FTTP does not come from the street cabinet

[gspearson]

Judging by what is going on around me it is a complete new fibre system, no cabinets, full new network underground, only surfacing (here) at telegraph poles for the final run to homes.  That way they can transfer whole areas in one go, rather than pick them off house by house.  Our street of 14 houses had the foresters here yesterday to clear the path for a new fibre to our one telegraph pole, on a route nowhere near Cabinet 8 in front of my house.  That's how it looks to me - an expert will be here soon to give the proper explanation.

[licquorice]

@spectric  I think you rather underestimate the physical logistics of providing a fibre cable to each property.

As others have said, FTTP doesn't come from the cabinet but even if it did the logistics would be still be huge.

FTTP is delivered from a headend exchange OLT, which is not necessarily your local exchange, to a splitter network to the individual properties ONT

[spectric]

Hi all

Interesting that the local cabinets will go but the bit that is now not making sense is if a single fibre can carry huge amounts of data then why would BT run a single fibre from a single house that far,  but I suppose it is only plastic so not expensive like copper.

[licquorice]

They don't, as I said, the fibre from the exchange goes to a splitter network to be distributed to individual houses. FTTP is a passive optical system (GPON)

[licquorice]

[pippincp]

Also if it were only plastic then it would be cheaper than copper. But it's not plastic.

[spectric]

Thanks for all the info, really interesting especially the passive optical splitter.  I was never into networks on large scales but worked on smaller communication interfaces like SPI, CAN and LIN in control systems.  It is amazing how technology keeps moving forward and in my fifty plus years so much has changed.

[spile]

Except that battery backup units have not been fitted for a while now.