 | | Cable cost and service life? So if glass fiber makes up 30% of the install cost what will plastic fiber reduce that to? And what is the service life for plastic vs. glass. I would think that if you're hanging the fiber then plastic may be a good alternative but if you have to bury it then lower initial cost may not make up for lower service life of a plastic cable. | |
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| |  Wow!
I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this...
- Tate
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Happiness is an OC-48 in your basement... | |
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 |  wruckman Ruckman.net
join:2007-10-25
Northwood, OH | Re: Wow! Indeed very impressive but still requires a lot of work. Hopefully the equipment will be cheap enough for me to run in my home.
My future dream with this technology:
Have all my equipment in my home network with plastic optical fiber running IPv6 pushing out a blistering 100 Gbps with Giga wireless for non-attached nodes.
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William Ruckman
»ruckman.net
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| | | | Re: Wow! To connect to your 5 Mbps Internet service. | |
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 DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Woa, don't try this at home! Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home!
-Dane | |
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|  Doctor FourMy other vehicle is a TARDISPremium
join:2000-09-05
Dallas, TX | Re: Woa, don't try this at home! said by DaneJasper:Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home! -Dane A sign somewhere on a university lab's laser: Warning! Do
not look into laser with remaining eye.
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"The trouble with computers, of course, is that they are very sophisticated idiots." - Doctor Who (from Robot)
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|  airshark--... ...-- -.. . -. -.... .-.. -.--Premium
join:2003-05-20
Hollister, CA | said by DaneJasper:Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home! -Dane Beat me to it! Funny.... | |
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| | | said by DaneJasper:Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home! -Dane When most people think of safety in fiber optic installations, the first thing that comes to mind is eye damage from laser light in the fiber. They have an image of a laser burning holes in metal or perhaps burning off warts. While these images may be real for their applications, they have little relevance to most types of fiber optic communications. Eye safety is an issue, but usually not from light in the fiber. However, fiber optics installation is not without risks.
Eye Safety
Optical sources used in fiber optics, especially LEDs used in premises networks, are of much lower power levels than used for laser surgery or cutting materials. Even the output of OTDRs, WDM and fiber amplifier systems, which are much higher than LED systems, are still well below that used in laser surgery or machining.
The light that exits an optical fiber is also spreading out in a cone, so the farther away from the end of the fiber your eye is, the lower the amount of power your eye receives. If you are using a microscope, which can efficiently focus all the light into your eye, it should have infrared filters to reduce the danger of invisible infrared light.
The infrared light in fiber optic links is at a wavelength that cannot penetrate your eye easily because it's absorbed by the water in your eyeball. Light in the 1300-1550 nm range is unlikely to damage your retina, but might harm the cornea or lens.
A typical laser pointer, which has a beam that is collimated (not expanding), and is at visible wavelength (650 nm) where the eye is transparent, is probably more danger to the retina than a fiber optic link.
That being said, it's not a good idea to look into a fiber unless you know no source is being transmitted down it. Since the light is infrared, you can't see it, which means you cannot tell if there is light present by looking at it. You should always check the fiber with a power meter before examining it.
The real issue of eye safety is getting fiber scraps into the eye. As part of the termination and splicing process, you will be continually exposed to small scraps of bare fiber, cleaved off the ends of the fibers being terminated or spliced. These scraps are very dangerous. If they get into your eyes, they are very hard to flush out and will probably lead to a trip to the emergency room at the hospital. Whenever you are working with fiber, wear safety glasses!
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In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress. - John Adams | |
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| | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: Woa, don't try this at home! said by winterforge:A typical laser pointer, which has a beam that is collimated (not expanding), and is at visible wavelength (650 nm) where the eye is transparent, is probably more danger to the retina than a fiber optic link. All very good data. In this photo, the light is visible green light, apparently laser - obviously NOT what's used for data communications. I wonder if the model was told the risks? 
-Dane | |
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| | | | | Re: Woa, don't try this at home! lol..it was standard light from a LED, a very bright one, not a laser. | |
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| | | | So, what you're saying is that it's safe for me to scope our OC-192 ring connections while they're still lit, and that I should avoid using protective eyewear at all costs? Cool! 
Seriously though, there's no longer a need to turn down circuits anymore with our the new scope we just got at work. It's this neat little USB unit that hooks right into your laptop, which gives you get a nice full screen (live) view of the fiber. The scope doesn't mind if the fiber is lit or not. It even has this sweet feature where it will analyze any contaminants it sees and then tell you their size and a best guess of what they are. Sure beats having to kill the circuit, use a light meter to confirm the fiber is dark, and then hold a bulky monocular-type scope up to your eye while trying to focus the darn thing!
Ah, technology.
- Tate
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Happiness is an OC-48 in your basement... | |
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| |  swhx7Premium
join:2006-07-23
Elbonia | Thanks for an informative post!
It looks great for home networking, especially if it enables higher speed at low cost. | |
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| | | Maybe she is doing Korean Auto-Lasik. | |
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|  RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY | said by DaneJasper:Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home! -Dane If you read the article, you will find the answer to your gripe. They are not using a laser but (I think) a LED and harmless visible light.
To quote - "In contrast, plastic fibers use harmless green or red light that is easily visible to the eye." | |
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| | DaneJasperSonic.NetPremium,VIP
join:2001-08-20
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:7 | Re: Woa, don't try this at home! said by RARPSL:said by DaneJasper:Regarding the photo - Shining laser in your eye, NOT a good idea. Don't try that at home! -Dane If you read the article, you will find the answer to your gripe. They are not using a laser but (I think) a LED and harmless visible light. To quote - "In contrast, plastic fibers use harmless green or red light that is easily visible to the eye." Doh. You're right.
-Dane | |
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| | | | said by RARPSL:If you read the article, you will find the answer to your gripe. They are not using a laser but (I think) a LED and harmless visible light. To quote - "In contrast, plastic fibers use harmless green or red light that is easily visible to the eye." I'm not sure why they make that distinction. There are red LED's used in short reach multimode fiber installations as well, over glass fiber optics. | |
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| | | Reave her arone! Shes making toys for our kids! | |
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 LaZ3RPremium
join:2003-01-17 | Anyone else feel... Like all we hear is more and more of these stories where killer insane new fiber speeds are being reached, and will be coming in the "next few years?"
Seems like lots of talking but not enough action taking place... North America is still far behind in terms of download/upload speeds 
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Life is a game of blackjack. You keep playing until you bust. | |
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| | | Re: Anyone else feel... The us is doing fine. Canada on the other hand... | |
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| |  pfakBow before me for I am rootPremium
join:2002-12-29
Vancouver, BC
 ·TELUS
 ·Shaw
| Re: Anyone else feel... Canada what?
Most of Canada has a few options available to their house, usually at least 1.5Mbit ADSL and 5Mbit+ Cable.
In any western province (BC, AB, WP) that Shaw services, you can get 25Mbps to your doorstop over DOCSIS. I have 50mbit to my apartment, symmetrical.
Take a look at »/archive some time .. Look how many Canadian ISPs are at the top, and look how few people we have compared to the US. | |
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| | LaZ3RPremium
join:2003-01-17 | said by jessegr:The us is doing fine. Canada on the other hand... What the hell are you talking about ? On average Canada has so many less ISP options available and yet, so much better average download/upload scores against US... 
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Life is a game of blackjack. You keep playing until you bust. | |
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| | hmmm 'The group says they can use green light to transmit 100 megabits a second over a distance of 300 meters. They can use red light to transmit 1Gbps over 30 meters'
Seems kind of worthless as a FiOS tool. 100Mb/s at 1kft is something that can be done by VDSL2. | |
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 bencPremium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL | If It Means I Can Get My Fiber Internet Sooner... ...then I'm all for it. I'd like it since it means I could run the Internet connection independent of the other services.
Although, I'm also biased against running multiple services over the same line, since I think it's less redundant. | |
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Reviews:
·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| loop lengths? I think the big deal is having odd loop lengths... usually fiber optic cables have to be of a certain length to actually work.. usually cutting it with a pair of scissors is a big no-no especially if your over or under the spec for loop lengths.. they measure and deploy cables after they measure the distance it needs to run (and spool up the slack)-- if they can cut and paste anywhere, that would save loads of time, I guess. | |
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| | | Re: loop lengths? said by tmc8080: usually fiber optic cables have to be of a certain length to actually work.. Usually? I would say rarely, if ever with technology from the last 10 years at least. I've never had to use a certain length fiber to have a circuit work. I use 1 meter up to 100 meter lengths between identical transceivers.
And I've never heard anyone say, "That cable needs to be X.X meters long or this circuit isn't going to work."
Now, if you go beyond the length that is necessary for a certain transceiver, then yes, the circuit may not work or have errors. But there is no "certain" length a fiber must be, it is usually, an "up to" length.
And if you have long reach transceivers that would overpower on a short fiber, then you just add attenuators to reduce the light getting through. | |
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| | deja pic That pic has been up here before I think. She better be careful or she may go brind.  | |
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|  La LunaSurvived AshrafulPremium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
kudos:3 | Re: deja pic In contrast, plastic fibres use harmless green or red light... | |
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| | Bring on the fiber I'm game. Give me some fiber. | |
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 MchartFirst There.
join:2004-01-21
Gurnee, IL | Uh.. I'm not quite sure how this is 'news'. I don't really see anything 'new' in this article. We've been using plastic for fiber for quite a long time now; And yes, we allready know its cheaper, and easier to install. It may be 'new' for home use but trust me folks, this stuff has been in use for a good 25+ years. Absolutely nothing new about it.
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"You figured it out. All new CPU's are nothing but overclocked Pentium 1's with a few bells and whistles added, ask any ol timer whose been around." | |
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pb2k
join:2005-05-30
Calgary, AB
kudos:1 | More refinement required This isn't really of much use till they can make a plastic fibre that can do 10km @ 1gbps. | |
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 tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI | Old news This stuff has been around for a while, just not out in mainstream for use. One just has to look at the size of splicing kits to see just how far fiber has come. The old kits use to require a large roll-a-round card and was clumsy. But the newest kit we got is about the size of deskphone and is as simple as 1, 2 3 and your done. Thing with plastic is the chance of getting deformity from the plastic not mixing/drying while it's being formed is greater then glass, therefore, quality control isn't something to ignore. | |
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|  Wills
join:2001-01-03
Port Charlotte, FL | Re: Old news If you can cut this stuff with scissors, I'm betting that those deformities aren't going to hamper it as bad as you think.
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I have a shaved head, a goatee, and tatoos. Don't you realize the rules don't apply to me. | |
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| | Stare into the light Now stare into the green light....that's right...it should become yellow...then red....and then finally to black ^_^ | |
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opios
join:2005-04-19
Ann Arbor, MI | Fiber safety Conventional fiber optics are an eye safety hazard because they use infrared light. Since we can't see infrared light, our bright-light-aversion reflex won't cause us to blink, and you can happily stare at the end of an energizer fiber while the IR slowly cooks a small spot on your retina.
The proposed plastic fibers are only 'safe' because the pain threshold for bright green light is below the permanent damage threshold. You can still hurt yourself, but at least you'll have to try. | |
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