Fibre to the Home (FttH) & Fttx (x = c or d or k or p or ...) the push for Next Generation Broadband (NGB)
Fibre to the Home (FttH) or Fibre to the x acronyms
In supplying high speed broadband or other telecommunications services to people and organisations, the key aspect of the delivery is how close to the end-user the optical fibre is. The closer to the subscriber or end-user of the service the fibre optic cable terminates, the greater the possibility that faster services can be reliably delivered. This therefore become a key descriptor of the cabling infrastructure deployed by the operator for the fibre network, and the common acronyms are:
- FTTH of FttH = Fibre to the Home
- FTTB of FttB = Fibre to the Building or Basement
- FTTC or FttC = Fibre to the Cabinet (normally a street cabinet)
- FTTD or FttD = Fibre to the Desk
- FTTE or FttE = Fibre to the Enterprise
- FTTK or FttK = Fibre to the Kerb
- FTTN of FttN = Fibre to the Node
- FTTP of FttP = Fibre to the Premises
- FTTX or FttX = Fibre to the point X where X has not yet been defined or decided, also a generic term for all of the acronyms above.
It is unfortunate that the FTTx acronym development has run amok! Acronyms can be useful in summarising a solution or network technology, but this benefit is lost when every network designer decides to make a small variation and develop their own acronym...
Next Generation Broadband
What is Next Generation Broadband, and what is the driver that requires this?
The answers to these questions are the source of much debate and argument, with every interested party having their own definitions and theories. Our considered answers to these questions are given below:
What is Next Generation Broadband?
Previously broadband was widely defined as being a service provided at a minimum of 2 Mb/s (2 megabits per second, or 2 million bits per second) download with the typical ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) delivery over copper telephone wires resulting in a slower upload speed of a few hundred kb/s (e.g. 400 kilobits per second or 400 thousand bits per second). Obviously not all 'broadband' customers achieve these speeds, and current so-called 'broadband' offerings in the UK are generally delivered at speeds from around 250 kb/s to 8 Mb/s
Next Generation Broadband must be capable of delivering the services that are coming along, and hopefully some more digital services that we have not yet invented. It must therefore be considerably faster than standard broadband. Some telecommunications companies would like to define Next Generation Broadband as being broadband 'headline' speeds of around 30 Mb/s upwards, whilst some countries (notably in Asia) are building FTTH networks offering 1 Gb/s (1 Gigabit per second or 1 billion bits per second) download.
The result is that an average value for what we should term Next Generation Broadband is around 100 Mb/s, but with many parties arguing that this is not a 'headline' speed that may only be achieved occasionally, but must be a realistic speed without contention. Others also argue that it should be a symmetrical speed for Next Generation Access.
Contention?
With typical ADSL broadband services the capacity of the network is effectively shared across a number of users. With typical web browsing this may not cause any issues, but if several users start to download movies or other data-heavy applications, then the access speeds will slow down for all users. This means that if you share a service with 20 other users and all are accessing web based data at the same time then the speed achieved may only be 1/20 of that which would be possible for a user when nobody else is using the service at the same time.
Contention is expected to become much more of an issue as patterns of broadband use change. As speeds increase, however, downloads are faster and so contention can be more easily tolerated. For example a broadband speed of 100 Mb/s shared amongst 10 (or possibly even 15 or 20) users is likely to provide significantly better performance most of the time to a non-contended system at 10 Mb/s.
Symmetric or Asymmetric?
Asymmetric broadband was developed because people generally downloaded information from the internet and seldom uploaded significant levels of data, but this is changing. New services, such as video telephony or video conferencing can require roughly equal, and high, levels of data communication in both directions, download and upload.
Will Next Generation Broadband be symmetrical? Some will answer 'yes' to this question whilst others will sitll be comfortabl;e with an asymmetric system until they see evidence of sufficient services requiring high data speeds in each direction. The optimum solution is likely to depend on what proportion of applications require similar speeds in both directions and what proportion are mostly download or mostly upload.
With optical fibre it is relatively easy to have a fully symmetrical system, but when the service depends on significant lengths of copper telephone wires, compromises must be made on which frequencies are reserved for upload and which for download.
Services driving demand for High Speed, Next Generation Broadband
The demand for high speed broadband is driven by current and future services that can be offered over the internet. Some of these services have the capability to save significant amounts of money for organisations and to deliver real enhancements to people's lives, and this is why some people are saying that the broadband digital pipe is as much a necessity for an increasing number of people as any other utility. Current and future services include:
- World-Wide Web access for information download
- TV and streaming video download (i.e. BBC i-player)
- HD quality video download
- video telephony (e.g. skype)
- video conferencing
- e-health & e-medicine
- intelligent home services
- on-line gaming
- virtual reality entertainment
This is only a short snapshot and many other services are expected to be developed or invented. Most will be self-explanatory to the reader, but e-helath and e-medicine are worthy of some further explanation.
e-health & e-medicine (tele-health)
These are the terms used to describe the monitoring of patients, vulnerable or at-risk people via new electronic means in their homes. The capabilities are to monitor heart rate, blood pressure and breathing in people's homes with data downloaded to a hospital or medical centre so that help or advice can be sent as appropriate and when needed.
For many people this can allow them to stay in their own homes instead of being admitted to hospital, with the advantage of more familiar and comfortable environment for the patient without the issues of trying to rest in a ward with sound levels determined by others and risks of other infections.
When it can be better for the patient and much cheaper for the health service, the arguments for this type of technology are compelling.
Formerly e-health was known as tele-health, but since this suggests to many people just an ordinary telephone helpline, and does not convey the full scope of analysis and treatment options, the term e-health is being increasingly adopted as a better generic descriptor of these remote health services.
DIY or JFDI fibre optic cable installation for community FTTH schemes
In some parts of the UK, notably rural areas although also some odd built-up places too, high speed broadband is not available and is noy likely to be made available by any of the major telcos in the near future. The problem is that the telephone cables to those areas are not capable of supporting high speed broadband, or in many cases even 'standard' broadband, because of the poor quality of the cable or the distances involved.
The regions affected are unlikely to have their telecommunications cabling replaced as the cost to do this is high with only a relatively small number of homes, dwellings and work-places that could provide the revenue to justify this investment.
Ultimately this 'hard-nosed' accounting approach by the major telcos could well prove to be shortsighted. They are looking for a pay-back after just a few years, whereas the pay-back over a longer period is potentially huge and they seem to be missing the impact of their approach on public relations and good-will.
The choice for the small communities that are the current broadband 'not-spots' or the near-future high-speed broadband not-spots, is to either be left behind or to take their broadband future into their own hands. Up to a third of the UK is affected in this way, and hence this is becoming known as the 'final third problem'.
So how can a small community do what a major telco is unable or unwilling to do? Well quite simply if a major telco wanted to instal fibre to the home (FTTH) and fibre to the premises (FTTP) for all of their customers in an area, they would have to devote a significant resource to explaining what they are doing, and why, and negotiating way-leaves with all of the land-owners involved. With paid staff this can be time-consuming and expensive to a telco, but can be achieved by individuals within a local community at negligible expense.
When designing the cabling for a community, a telco planner would normally need to survey the land in order to identify any areas of special engineering difficulty, but with local people with local knowledge this is seldom a major problem.
Installing cables can be very expensive as it normally means digging and reinstatement, with rules to be obeyed and land-owners to be kept happy. Before the digging starts this can be a lot of paperwork and some legal expenses, but small communities can often agree things for themselves and arrange for any legal paperwork that may be required at a reduced rate by local solicitors who may themselves benefit through the service.
The digging itself can be achieved through a mixture of teams of volunteers working on a voluntary basis, house-holders digging accross their own gardens, and some contractors being paid for more troublesome or major areas. The result is a network which may not be installed to standard telco specifications, but is well understood by the local community and is an asset owned by the local community or a community interest company (CIC) that runs the network on behalf of the community.
This is a DIY network installation that reflects the mood promoted by Lindsey Annison in her plea that we should JFDI - Just F***ing Do It!
The Digital Village Pump (DVP) Concept
The concept of a Digital Village Pump (DVP) is analogous to the original village water pumps where a local phillanthropist supplied a source of clean drinking water to the heart of a community in order to prevent the depravation and disease that blighted these communities at times.
With the digital village pump however, the concept is that communities are provided with a central source of very high-speed bandwidth - a high capacity information superhighway, and if they can cable back to this digital pump then they can access a share and next generation high speed broadband.
The concept has found favour in UK government as an example of a 'Big Society' project. A way that a community can pull together and do something for themselves, with government support only where absolutely required. In this case it is expected that the government will look to fund the cabling to the digital village pump, if the community proves it can do the rest.
The advantage of this business model is that telecommunications companies know that the 'last mile' of the network is the most costly for them with the longest time to achieve any pay-back. For broadband users this telecoms 'last mile' is the 'first mile' of their broadband connection and if it serves them and their neighbours, then they can see the merit in building it.
Legacy
The legacy of a community coming together to build the local access network, can be that the community can own and run the network with the advantages being:
- high-speed internet - perhaps better even than in many towns
- network is upgraded as required
- revenue stream for future upgrades & local projects
- community spirit & involvement
Where a high-speed broadband network is not available in a rural area the threat is:
- less industry & fewer jobs
- people forced out of communities by lack of broadband
- community is disadvantaged
- property prices drop
It is also likely that the lack of broadband will be a disincentive for visiting an area as people start to rely on broadband more for both work and entertainment services.
Building your own FTTH local access network
If you are in a community that wants to build its own broadband access network to ensure you are not left behind with next generation broadband, then there are technical issues you should be aware of. We plan to add more information on our website when time allows, but in the meantime please feel free to contact us for further information.
