Consumer Reports: FiOS, U-Verse Best Triple Play > What's fiber exactly?

What's fiber exactly?

At least we know the reality though huh?

reply to fifty nine
"Greenfield" U-Verse builds are FTTH but yeah, calling the vast majority of the deployment fiber is pretty dumb. As dumb as cable companies trying to pass off coax as fiber.
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Toolmaster of La Grange.

reply to fifty nine
It's all a hybrid service so long as you have coax jumpers in your home as well.

If it were truly 100% fiber, you'd use optical or HDMI direct to the TV.. not all people are doing that and there is no fiber link from an ONT to the box that I'm aware of either.

It's all in how you want to view it.

Coax in the home isn't even an issue yet when the copper last mile is at it's limits. I think most incumbents run fiber to the node at least these days. So i don't see why uverse is so special besides the tv option.
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You can't make all the people happy all of the time. But it should be common sense to shoot for the majority.

The difference is that it is all IP based.
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Toolmaster of La Grange.

reply to rawgerz
To be honest, I don't really care. Actually, I've got a long standing argument against what I just stated actually. There was a HUGE uproar on this very site in a threat that counted well over 200 messages several months back regarding Comcast and how CDV wasn't truly digital since it had to convert to a twisted pair at the eMTA.

My long argument was that if it terminated on the customer premise as "x" service, then it's what ever it is.

**If the service drop to the home is fiber, then it's fiber. **
Cable stating they have a fiber network is dishonest except to the point that they really should call it a hybrid fiber network, which is what it is.. driven by fiber though.

ATT u-verse, to me, is nothing more than cable that uses twisted pair... IP based or not.

**If the service drop to the home provides all digital to the termination block, then it's still digital.**

Therefore, Comcast CDV is a "digital service" where Qwest calling their phone service "digital" when it still travels as analog over a few miles of twisted pair in the hood is NOT "digital" simply becuase their back hail and CO's are.

So with all that said, yes, I do actually stand behind FiOS as a fiber service. I do stand behind comcast as a digital service over a Hybrid Fiber system.. I do not stand behind Qwest calling the phone service "digital" since the drop and feed system is still largely analog and affected by interference and there is no termination point at the home converting digital to analog in the drop system.

The funny thing, however, is that if I made my post the opposite than I did, I'd have been bashed by SOMEONE for taking the other side as I have in the past.

Just goes to show that some people here, can be real a*ses have have something to prove, even with those that actually know what they're talking about AND put their hands on the technology, unlike themselves.

Anyway.. back to BBR.

fios uses Ethernet or coax in homes. So it's not even pure fiber under your guideline.

Even if I could get fios, I wouldn't praise it beyond the better uploads. One of their greatest incentives to do it is there are no laws saying they must allow ILECs use their fiber drops. And the way I see it is if they are allowed to get taxpayer dollars to fund building their network (philly), they should be forced to allow ILECs to compete on the infrastructure the taxes paid for.
It's already expensive on the lowest plan as it is. Not for the speed, but for the lowest tier possible.
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You can't make all the people happy all of the time. But it should be common sense to shoot for the majority.

Firewire isn't fibre optic cable?

No.. it's not fiber optic... its metal.