FTTH
Latest
Smithville to bring FTTH to 29,000 Indiana customers
For an estimated 29,000 Smithville customers in 17 counties in the central, south central and southern part of Indiana, they could soon find themselves smack dab in the middle of a fiber heartland. The aforesaid telco is investing some $90 million to build a fiber-to-the-home network over the next 48 months in order to give rurally located individuals and businesses access to ultra-quick data, voice and video services. The upgrade is so extensive, in fact, that none of Smithville's customers will be relying on copper or hybrid (copper, fiber or coaxial) systems once the build-out is complete. Who needs FiOS TV / U-verse anyway, right Hoosiers?[Via DSLReports]
FTTH network coming to Norway
Barely a month after Viasat Broadcasting launched a few new HD offerings in Norway (among other places), along comes word that ECI Telecom and Fibra Networks are teaming up to construct a gigabit passive optical network (GPON) in the country. By utilizing ECI's Hi-FOCuS MultiService Access Node (MSAN) platform in a GPON OLT (optical line terminator) configuration, the GPON endeavor will reportedly "deliver fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) with cost-effective broadband and video capabilities for Norwegian residents." As expected, the network will enable IPTV, HDTV and "multicast distribution of television, as well as internet access and IP-based telephony." Unfortunately, there's no word on when this project will reach completion, but the sooner the better, we say.
AT&T brings U-verse to even more Kansas City, Missouri residents
Not even a year has passed since AT&T's own fiber-based television service wheeled into Kansas City, Missouri, but now it's delivering the U-verse goods to even more residents in the area. By expanding the service out to a new chunk of consumers, some 130,000 living units are now blanketed. As expected, users in the area can also look forward to the firm's U-bar, YellowPages.com TV and Yahoo! Games features. Ready to jump ship on your current provider? Phone up AT&T and see if your abode is covered this go 'round.
48000 more Portland-area homes getting FiOS services
Right before our very eyes, Portland, Oregon is quickly becoming a mecca of all things HD (not really, but you get the idea). Not even a full month after we learned that FiOS TV was coming to the area and its local NBC affiliate started newscasting in high-def, Verizon has now announced that some 48,000 more homes in the Portland Metro area will soon have access to FiOS. You heard right -- hordes of domiciles in the communities of Beaverton, Sunnyside / Damascus, McMinnville, Forest Grove, Gresham, Tigard, Tualatin and Camas / Washougal can look forward to receiving access to FiOS TV and high-speed internet. No word on a launch date for any of the aforementioned locales, but hold tight, VZW is blazing a path to those areas as we speak.
HD DVRs now available for iProvo customers
Mstar and Nuvont subscribers on the iProvo network can now look forward to recording their favorite programs for later viewing in high-definition after dealing with SD DVRs up until now. In case you weren't aware, iProvo is a municipally-owned FTTH service serving the residents of Provo, Utah, and it relies on the two aforementioned service providers to dish out content to customers. Previously, users were able to watch shows in HD but only record in SD, and while specifics weren't doled out, we do know the new set-top-boxes will support HDMI. If this tidbit has your name written all over it, be sure and hit the read link for the appropriate contact number to inquire about pricing and availability.Update: Tsuami alerts us that Mstar has yet to make these available -- hopefully that'll change soon enough.
Will HDTV elevate the standard for PC content?
Getting video feeds over the 'net is hardly a problem these days, but fetching honest-to-goodness HD footage is far less common. Granted, we've seen HD IPTV options crop up here and there, but finding new, unique HD programming streams online is more the exception than the rule. Still, the continual growth of HDTV over cable, fiber and satellite makes us wonder if PC content won't be forced to measure up or get disregarded. Of course, there's always the issue of bandwidth to deal with, but considering just how many individuals are now looking to the internet for at least some of their television needs, it just seems like a matter of time before we'll be watching more than previously aired online versions of our favorite nighttime dramas in high-definition. Or, at least we hope.[Image courtesy of ABC]
SureWest to offer 38 HDTV channels this year
SureWest Communications HDTV service is out of beta and adding even more content, with at least 38 channels expected by the end of the year. Currently numbering 26, SureWest most recently added A&E, Fox Business Channel and the History Channel to its HD Life package, with other like TBS, USA Network and CNN coming soon. With "virtually unlimited" capacity on their FTTH network, the company claims it can keep adding channels in MPEG-2 without sacrificing picture quality. We're sure the Sacramento-area residents with access appreciate the effort.
Verizon begins rollout of FiOS Interactive Media Guide
Remember that Interactive Media Guide that Verizon was promising other markets this summer? Even if not, FiOS subscribers located in Indiana, Rhode Island, parts of New Jersey and beyond will soon get acquainted with Verizon's new method of searching for and finding content. Right on schedule, the firm is rolling out the guide to an undisclosed amount of its FiOS markets, and hopes to "erase the lines between TV, internet, and personal media." Best of all, users won't even have to lift a finger in order to experience the upgrade, and it's slated to be delivered via a network download at no additional cost. So, for those fortunate enough to be included in the first wave of updates, give us some impressions, will ya?
Verizon FIOS plans to add HD VOD
Fiber to the premises (FTTP), has the potential to deliver the most advanced HD services today, and although it isn't available in most of the country, Verizon (and others) are bleeding money digging up neighborhoods all over the US to install the magical stuff. Just because you have fiber to your home doesn't mean life is perfect though, there are still plenty of things that can get in the way of your viewing pleasure -- like franchise agreements. Verizon recently announced that they were testing HD VOD in their labs and have an internal time line for launching the service -- that they aren't ready to share. But with their competition already offering this service in some areas they can't wait forever.
Verizon launching FiOS Interactive Media Guide
Verizon may be upping the prices for DVR usage, but now we get the chance to see what that extra fee buys you. According to Dave Zatz, Verizon is launching FiOS Interactive Media Guide -- also known as FiOS 2 -- in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with rollouts occurring nationwide via software upgrades this summer. There are plenty of features to bullet-point, including an all-new 32-bit interface with 8-bit transparency, tabbed interfaces with a better central focus, global content searches (that also include local Media Manager content like photos and music), trailers and poster art for On Demand content, and traffic and weather widgets. See our gallery below for more screencaps from the FiOS presentation.[Via Zatz Not Funny] Gallery: Verizon launches FiOS Interactive Media Guide
Verizon rolling out G-PON technology to boost FiOS speeds
In Verizon's never-ending quest to continue bumping the bandwidth to the four or five lucky customers that actually have access to its FTTH network, the firm is planning to implement a new technology which will hopefully increase the speed of FiOS fiber-to-the-premises links "by four to eight times." Of course we jest about the amount of you oh-so-fortunate ones that can actually get ahold of such speedy luxuries, but Verizon is looking to Alcatel-Lucent to help with the forthcoming gigabit passive optical network (G-PON), which is slated to "increase the aggregate broadband speeds on Verizon's FTTP systems by four times downstream to the customer, and by eight times upstream back to the Internet." The outfit also stated that it would "continue deploying the broadband passive optical network (B-PON)" that it has been using since 2004, and took a moment to boast about "how simple" upgrading FiOS actually was. Still, the vast majority of you won't even be in the general vicinity necessary to acquire the newfangled G-PON niceties, but the soon-to-be-celebrating town of Lewisville, Texas can keep an eye on Q2 of this year, while folks in Kirklyn, Pennsylvania should have it sometime "over the summer."[Thanks, Jim V.]
AT&T shrugs off FTTH, says it's satisfied with copper
If you think AT&T is troubled by Verizon's direct FTTH route while the company sticks with copper, you'd apparently be mistaken. The firm's CFO, Richard Lindner, recently shrugged off concerns that AT&T would need to get on the ball with regard to implementing their own fiber optic infrastructure. While select customers are already receiving U-Verse content, it appears that the majority of AT&T's future will rely on tried and true copper wiring, at least for the time being. Lindner stated that he was "pleased with the bandwidth that they're seeing over copper," and felt that there wasn't any urgent need to "get fiber to the home." He also boasted that the company's current pipes were "producing about 25Mbps," noting that "some locations" were receiving "substantially more than that," but curiously omitted the locales receiving substantially less. As expected, industry analysts have mixed views on the outfit's hand-to-the-face approach to fiber, with many suggesting that "it would need to upgrade its network again" when more consumers start to demand even more HD channels / movies. Nevertheless, AT&T seems to be holding its own at this point, but we're not so certain the old coax can do the same for very much longer.[Via eHomeUpgrade]
AT&T defends HDTV via FTTN networks
AT&T is finally ready to add HD to its much-delayed Project Lightspeed (U-verse) but the project is still dogged by questions and controversy. Unlike Verizon's FiOS service which runs fiber directly to the house, AT&T is using old-school VDSL for the last mile to most of its customers' homes, and claim it will have the bandwidth to deliver high speed internet and up to two streams of HDTV. Unfortunately, some analysts disagree, seeing either a change in plans switching to Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), or following DirecTV's lead and offering some sort of HDLite reduced-quality high definition. So far, AT&T is writing this off as just speculation, saying its current plan makes sense, and it is already testing HD to some customers in Houston. There's already some benefit over cable co's, with features like quad-tuner SD PVRs, but we're hoping that if things get tight they don't choose the cheap route and squeeze the HD figuring no one will notice.Read - AT&T and the Infamous Second HD StreamRead - AT&T: We're Sticking With FTTN
DSM to kick copper speeds up to 100 Mbps
While everyone's getting all excited by that FiOS, fiber-to-the-home, fiber-in-the-home or even Google's alleged DWDM -- there's another futuristic bandwidth project currently afoot, the Dynamic Spectrum Management. The advantage of DSM -- which aims to replace DSL if its creators have their way -- is to use current copper wiring to create 100Mbps service in the home by futzing with the way that signals and packets are processed and transferred. Naturally, if DSM turns out to work, it would likely be a much cheaper alternative to digging trenches for fiber in the ground. In any case, this requires a fair amount of cooperation between those telecom firms who control the pipes, and so today, a group of tech and telecom companies (including the Israeli firm ECI Telecom and the Spanish giant Telefonica), have joined forces to try to work out all of DSM's kinks. The consortium announced that it will receive €8 million ($10 million) in grant money over the next three years from the Chief Scientist Office of Israel. [Via Reuters]
Craving HD IPTV? It could be closer than you think
The Telecommunications Industry Association and the Fiber to the Home Council have released the results of a study proclaiming that over a million customers now have fiber service, and can get HDTV over those links. The industry also passes over six million homes and businesses, which means that those potential customers could hook up if they wanted. The interesting part is that this is a 50 percent increase since only March when the fiber lines only passed four million, so they've been doing some serious digging to lay all that fiber (or at least from the street to the homes, the main trunks may have already been laid long before then)Nevertheless, all this rides on your local provider actually laying those lines and offering the service, here in the Fort Worth, Texas area I have SBC AT&T and they offer nothing but plain old medium-speed ADSL. Yet I have coworkers who live in areas serviced by Verizon and get speeds on their FIOS that make me want to cry (and move!) So, hopefully you're in a location where your local provider has laid down the lines and is just saving up the thousand bucks to offer you fiber, and not like me, stuck in an area where your provider apparently doesn't care about signing up new business.
Fiber in the home thanks to Tennessee's Tenvera
Tennessee isn't exactly known for being the most wired place in the world, but an 18-month startup from Franklin, Tennessee -- a small wealthy town 20 miles south of Nashville (between Memphis and Knoxville) -- may soon change that. This fall, Tenvera will release its fiber in the home (FITH) product, called "System 5" (compare that to Category 5), which will be shown off at the CEDIA conference in Denver in a few weeks. This new technology blows current copper wiring out of the water and according to the company's COO, Tim Akers, will provide "virtually unlimited bandwidth" within new homes. FITH takes over where fiber to the home stops, and brings immense speed to your home's data infrastructure. System 5 is currently being installed in a housing development in a neighboring town, and promises to replace data and phone lines with FITH lines. Akers also told The Tennessean that a FITH outlet can be changed to accomodate phone or data via the quick swap of an outlet card, well after the home has been built. Tenvera is currently pricing its product at two to three percent of the total building cost of a home, or about $12,000 for a $400,000 home. Now how do we get this in the rest of the country?[Via Talkabout:CEDIA]
Can cable keep up without big infrastructure expenditures?
The unsettling tension between cable, satellite, and now FTTH providers is growing ever tighter, and the delivery of HD channels, on-demand content, and internet services through aging coax pipelines is leaving little room for expansion. While some analysts are suggesting that cable companies should be prepared to spend big bucks in order to maintain their current service levels -- especially considering the seemingly imminent additions of HD content and higher-high-speed internet services -- they may not have to bust out that checkbook so soon. It's no secret that Verizon alone has spent $20 billion in fiber optic deployment in order to get FiOS services to various parts of the country, and cable providers can't exactly afford to sit around and get leapfrogged. Reportedly among the various suggestions (that don't involve just throwing down for a larger infrastructure) is one that focuses on changing the way channels are delivered entirely, requiring no expansion whatsoever. The (relatively) antiquated analog stations aren't doing cable companies any favors, and as they begin to (presumably) phase out in favor of the leaner, meaner digital flavor, the lines can start to breathe a bit easier. But probably more important than the switch to digital is, well, switched digital -- in a switched system, only the channel that's currently being viewed is sent out (much like current IPTV installments), thus freeing up loads of bandwidth. Apparently this efficient design allows for "hundreds of stations" to be available at any given time, while giving providers one less reason to crack open the piggy bank for fear of clogged pipes. It's fairly obvious that cable companies still have a firm, albeit loosening, grip on the television market, and until this newfangled FTTH thing can reach a few more folks (or Google breaks out a dark-fiber solution of its own), it's cable or bust for most of us.[Via Ars Technica]
AT&T's U-verse going HD October 25?
AT&T's fiber-based television service certainly has enough channels to launch HDTV, it seems that the concern right now is do they have the bandwidth? According to U-verse customers, they are being told to expect a new Motorola VIP 1216 HD set-top box on that date that will allow, at least to start, one h.264-encoded HD stream to the home. That means one high definition channel at a time for your house, no dual-tuners, or even dual-TVs, yet. We're sure that even one high-def channel is better than the currently zero available, but the possibility of family-wrecking battles over the remote is high: proceed with caution.[Via Broadband Reports]
AT&T's U-verse adds Showtime HD, The Movie Channel HD
AT&T's U-verse continues building steam towards its HD launch by adding the Showtime family of channels to the service. This includes both Showtime HD and The Movie Channel HD. Of course, HD over Project Lightspeed has been coming soon for quite a while now, but hopefully we are only a few months away. They've recently signed up channels like Starz HDTV, Wealth TV, Discovery HD, MTV Networks' MHD and others. That could be a very compelling package...whenever it's actually available.
AT&T's U-verse TV signs up Starz HDTV
AT&T's U-verse FTTN & FTTP service may not actually offer high definition yet, that hasn't stopped them from adding additional programming for HDTV owners. The Starz package, including Starz HDTV and video-on-demand is the latest station to sign up with the service, which we expect will roll out HD in September or so.
