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It uses fibre-optic technology to reach the fastest speeds available today, as fast as 1000 Mbps (1Gpbs). Broadband is essential to the modern world we live in. Powered by fibre optic technology, fibre Internet is blowing its competitors out of the water. We will cover everything you need to know about fibre Internet, including how it works and the challenges associated with it.

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When we refer to “fibre” here we are talking about fibre-optic Internet, which is a form of fibre-optic communications. By sending a beam of light through fibre optic glass cables, we are able to transfer information through what is a truly fascinating process.

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Fibre cables are made up of many smaller optical fibres. These fibres are extremely thin, to be specific they are less than a tenth as thick as human hair. Though they are thin, they have a lot going on. Each optical fibre has two parts:

• The Core: Usually made of glass, the core is the innermost part of the fibre, where the light passes through.
• The Cladding: Usually made of a thicker layer of plastic or glass, the cladding is wrapped around the core.

These two parts work together to create a phenomenon called total internal reflection. Total internal reflection is how light is able to move down the fibres, without escaping. It is when the light hits the glass at an extremely shallow angle, less than 42 degrees, and reflects back again as if reflecting against a mirror. The cladding keeps the light in the core because the glass/plastic it is made of has a different optical density or lower refractive index. Both these terms refer to how the glass bends (refraction) and therefore slows down the light.

Light is transmitted down the fibre in LED or Laser pulses that travel extremely fast. These pulses carry binary data, which is a coding system that makes up everything we see on the Internet, even the words you are reading right now. Binary code is made up of bits, which are just ones and zeroes. These bits send messages in organized eight-part patterns, called bytes. It is easy to translate the bits of binary into light pulses. One pulse means one and no pulse means zero. These pulses can travel sixty miles before they experience any degradation. To transport data across thousands of miles these pulses go through optical amplifiers that boost their signal so that no data is lost.

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Once the pulses reach their destination, an optical network terminal (ONT) converts the light pulses into electrical Ethernet. This is how light becomes something you can use to actually connect your devices to the Internet. This conversion happens at the end of the Last Mile, which isn’t actually a mile at all, but a term for the last stretch of fibre that connects the consumer to the backbone of the Internet. The backbone of the Internet is what makes it possible for people across the globe to connect via the web, and most of it is made of fibre optic cables. Fibre-optic Internet may seem like brand new technology, but it has actually been around since the early days of the Internet. In 1988 fibre optic cables were laid under the ocean to connect the U.S. and Europe. They were the first submarine lines to be laid, and today they have expanded to crisscross the entirety of the ocean floor. The backbone is the core of the Internet. The instant you connect to a website, no matter the device or the destination, multiple steps are being taken to bring you there, and every one of them is connected by the backbone.

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There are several types of last-mile fibre connections an Internet service provider (ISP) can install, each one varying in how pure your fibre optic Internet connection actually is. Each one is referred to as Fiber to the X or “FTTX”, with x representing where the optical fibre connection actually ends.

• FTTH/FTTB: Fibre to the home or business is the most direct fibre line. With them, you are getting pure fibre straight to your residence, with no copper cables involved. These are also the most expensive fibre connections for the ISPs.
• FTTB: With fibre to the building, the fibre line is distributed throughout the building by copper lines. This is a popular choice for apartment buildings, hotels, schools or buildings that provide Internet to several different businesses.