Monday, 27 October 2008

Multimedia Technology - Fiber Optics


Multimedia Technology

“There are 2 types main types of Broadband in the UK, one use copper wire, one use strands of glass” quote Samuel L Jackson. Fiber optics is the future of broadband in the UK and probably the world. Fiber optic lines are strands of optically pure glass as thin as a human hair that carry digital information over long distances.

Fiber optics are revolutionising the way we send and receive informations in business and in our everyday lives, however main homes in the UK may still be using conventional copper wires. Homes using fiber optics have plenty of advantages over conventional copper wires. Some of the main advantages of using fiber optics are fiber optics higher carrying capacity, because optical fibers are thinner than copper wires, more fibers can be bundled a cable more than copper wires. This allows more phone lines to go over the same cable or more channels to come through the cable into your cable TV box. Another advantage is the way the data is transmitted though light signals rather than electrical signals this is a big advantage because it uses far less power than a electrical signal in a copper wire saving money at the same time with the use of less power to transmit the data. Optical fiber also has less signal degradation so there is no need for signal repeaters, unlike copper wires. Those are just some of the advantages.

The Impact on society say if everyone had access to fiber optics cables would be great no longer waiting for downloads, instant streaming off websites, no lag on games and that's just things I can think of for broadband. Fiber optics has more uses than just broadband though data storage, telecommunications, networking and Broadcast/CATV. With a good network of fiber optics everyone will be able to access information from around the world, kind of like we have now but faster and using light instead of electrical signals.

“BT has unveiled plans for a £1.5 billion fibre roll out across Britain. The company claims that as many as 10 million homes will have access to the fibre network by 2012.” quote http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/212199/bt-announces-fibre-rollout.html

My view on this as the biggest telecommunications company in the UK its a start but still leaves 5/6th of the UK population on copper wires with an up to 8mb high speed. It's a start but 20 years from now I hope we'll all be on fiber optics and enjoying the advantages of the paragraph above this one.

Samuel L Jackson believes in fiber optics and so do I.



Links

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic4.htm

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/212199/bt-announces-fibre-rollout.html


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