CenturyLink Fiber Optic

[CJH]

Person from CenturyLink knocked on the door today and said they are installing Fiber Optic in our neighborhood. I had company over, so I couldn't really talk to her about it, so she said just to call in if we are interested.

From doing some online searches, I can't really find anything bad about this line of their service (lots of complaints with the low speed DSL). From my research it looks like it is Fiber to the node and then copper to your house. From what I have been reading, it seems like it is more stable and consistent with their speeds. Supposedly speeds are around 40mb's down, 20mb's up. (I have to call in to get the exact numbers).

I have Comcast triple play now, and the cable has been solid (around 30mb's), although it seems to bog down a lot more now than when we first got it. Anyway just checking it out and seeing if anybody knows anything about it or has experience with it? Thanks!

[fishkins]

I know nothing of their fiber optics,,,but as a company they suck.

[upnorth]

The fiber I am familiar with is good for upto 10Gig. You won't see that to the house, but it is what be considered backbone. From there you are going be running feeder lines to the neighborhood and homes. The link into the house isn't the problem spot in most cases is the main feeder/backbone being large enough to support all the feeders.

It is almost like pressure on the water line. Works fine when less than half of the people are using it, but get 3/4 or more using it and the pressure at the tap will drop.

[delcecchi]

Verizon does fibre to the home.... called FiOS. Too bad we stuck with CenturyLink.

[Kyhl]

Yeah, I was disappointed when VZ gave up it's right to offer Fios here.

I was excited for it as an option for competition for TV and internet. Love that crony capitalism that allows corporations to carve up regions into distinct non-compete monopolies.

[delcecchi]

Verizon wanted to actually come into Minnesota and lay fiber? I hadn't heard that. I find it disappointing.

[Kyhl]

I don't know that they 'wanted' to come here but my understanding is that they 'agreed' not to build here.

[Kyhl]

I tried to find the story with no luck. It was a few years ago. IIRC they agreed not to build fiber here as a stipulation for a merger.

Guess it doesn't really matter at this point because it sounds like they have stopped expanding Fios anyway.

Sorry that I brought this so far off topic.

Back on topic, I don't know about Century Link's fiber but have had no issues with their DSL.

[masoct3]

Person from CenturyLink knocked on the door today and said they are installing Fiber Optic in our neighborhood. I had company over, so I couldn't really talk to her about it, so she said just to call in if we are interested.

From doing some online searches, I can't really find anything bad about this line of their service (lots of complaints with the low speed DSL). From my research it looks like it is Fiber to the node and then copper to your house. From what I have been reading, it seems like it is more stable and consistent with their speeds. Supposedly speeds are around 40mb's down, 20mb's up. (I have to call in to get the exact numbers).

I have Comcast triple play now, and the cable has been solid (around 30mb's), although it seems to bog down a lot more now than when we first got it. Anyway just checking it out and seeing if anybody knows anything about it or has experience with it? Thanks!

40 mb/down is not anything to yippy about. My friend has standard comcast and that is what he gets down. The up is fine, but torrents are gone and how many youtube videos do you need to upload?

[delcecchi]

What do you mean "torrents are gone"?

[CJH]

40 mb/down is not anything to yippy about. My friend has standard comcast and that is what he gets down. The up is fine, but torrents are gone and how many youtube videos do you need to upload?

Well, I think the max I can get in my neighborhood is 30mb down/6 up right now from Comcast. Although I read they are increasing all of their speeds, however who knows when that will apply to my neighborhood. Its about what is available in your area. Heck, Comcast has a 300MB residential speed available on the east coast.

I have read that the ping speed is better with the fiber vs cable, is that true?

[upnorth]

The transport media has little effect on latency. It is more about the equipment and available bandwidth. 100 people on a fiber link at 1 Gig speed = fast 100 people on a 100 MB connection = not so fast. It is all about how many people on the media not necessarily the media.

That being said fiber has the capability of 10 Gig speed, cable could also be using fiber to a switch block somewhere and then copper to the destination and even copper now days can(depending on the circumstances) carry Gig.

All depends on the circumstances and equipment.

[delcecchi]

I think typically it works the other way. Fiber for the backbone, and copper to the house with some sort of caching controller in between. I am pretty sure that is what Charter does here.

[upnorth]

More like a switching/routing device Del, you wouldn't care for the latency if they used a caching device.

And yeah, that is what I was referring to. Fiber as a backbone and copper to the lesser destination.

[delcecchi]

Local caching would improve latency, to the extent that they had what I wanted stashed in their device down the block instead of across the country. But maybe they don't actually do that. Or not any more.

I know Charter has a combination of coax and fibre.

[eyesonly]

I think typically it works the other way. Fiber for the backbone, and copper to the house with some sort of caching controller in between. I am pretty sure that is what Charter does here.

That would Be it - I Love my Fiber 12x2 I have at home from centurylink.

[upnorth]

There maybe some local caching somewhere. Mostly like if that is the case it would be at the main office where the fiber would run back to.

Mostly like the fiber is the link back to the main and the copper coax or Ethernet depending on the topology style would then link to the edge/user.

[Bueford27]

other companys must do it different, cause every time we have installed fiber, we always have a fiber feeder with fiber also going to the house. It goes to your nid on the house then it uses the existing cable in your home. It mostly depends on how strong the light is from the phone company on how fast its going to be. Another thing to remember. If they are installing fiber in your area and you dont take it then, you will have to pay for it on your own if you want after they leave!

[Whoaru99]

Quote:

40 mb/down is not anything to yippy about. My friend has standard comcast and that is what he gets down. The up is fine, but torrents are gone and how many youtube videos do you need to upload?

No, but it is still quite a bit faster than what most people actually require to stream their videos, browse the web, and send email.

[upnorth]

other companys must do it different, cause every time we have installed fiber, we always have a fiber feeder with fiber also going to the house. It goes to your nid on the house then it uses the existing cable in your home. It mostly depends on how strong the light is from the phone company on how fast its going to be. Another thing to remember. If they are installing fiber in your area and you dont take it then, you will have to pay for it on your own if you want after they leave!

I work as Network Analyst for a large organization, and although the principle technology of getting a packet from here to there is the same, there are a few typologies to get that done. I can say with some certainty there are more than one topology that organizations or businesses use to get a packet from here to there.

[delcecchi]

other companys must do it different, cause every time we have installed fiber, we always have a fiber feeder with fiber also going to the house. It goes to your nid on the house then it uses the existing cable in your home. It mostly depends on how strong the light is from the phone company on how fast its going to be. Another thing to remember. If they are installing fiber in your area and you dont take it then, you will have to pay for it on your own if you want after they leave!

I definitely have coax from the pole to my house. Charter also uses the semi-rigid foam insulated coax on the poles, so I don't know where the fiber ends and copper starts. I would assume somewhere up the road where there is a cabinet for the equipment that has the necessary connection to power. My guess is it is a few blocks away.

[Chef]

All residential providers use the cheapest delivery methods possible. The cost for any of them to install the equipment capable of delivering "business class" services is way too high. Most of what you're being sold/told on actual delivery speeds is pure B.S.

Also, every one of their residential networks are over-subscribed. That's why you get latency after 3:00 p.m. during the work week and pretty much all weekend when everyone is on the same backbone taking up all the bandwidth.

Typical offices today use Gig Ethernet on their LAN's right to the desktop.

CenturyLink and other's don't even deliver true, full-duplex Internet into anyone's residence, it would cost too much. So 40Mb is a lie. It's probably 1-2MB at best if you're the only one using it on your block.

Ethernet

Another Internet access type worth mentioning is Ethernet - the most widespread wired LAN (local area network) technology, also used in wireless LANs. The Ethernet technology may ensure various speed levels and can thus be divided into several types: regular Ethernet, providing transmission speeds of up to 10 mbits/s, fast Ethernet, offering up to 100 mbits/s, gigabit Ethernet, supporting 1 gbit/s and 10-Gbit Ethernet, coming at up to 10 gbits/s.