It’s been a while since fibre optics was introduced in the commercial sector and it was quite revolutionary. But it was quite an expensive affair and the benefits were reaped by the industries and the big IT companies who could afford the services. The biggest advantage of fibre optics was that it was faster and more reliable than the cable broadband which was the popular option.
As technology got better, so did the fibre and many companies researched and came up with more affordable versions of fibre optic cables which made them all the more accessible to the medium players too who benefitted greatly from the consistent high speed it offered. Still the story remained with the commercial sector only using fibre optics.
The Fiber revolution for residential users
Recently, a couple ofstartups like Bigpipe NZ have come up with fibre optics enabled broadband for the residential users. Their out-of-the-box idea to serve the residential sector which was till recently left out from the competition among the Internet Service Providers clicked instantly and they became an instant hit among the residential users.
They had an array of value added services to provide the much waiting residential sector internet users such as lower rates, faster connection and a much reliable connection as compared to their conventional cable broadband which delighted the home internet users.
One of the main reasons for this huge success is that the home internet users have become manifold in numbers in the recent decade. With e-commerce and smart devices getting very popular among the residential users who spend most of their time inside the home, a faster and reliable internet connection was the need of the hour which was fulfilled by introducing fibre optics cable for the home users.
Various surveys conducted among the Internet users of New Zealand and Australia has revealed that around 80% of the Internet users were home-based. They were using the Internet for online shopping, watching movies, playing games, social media networking and the like.
Smartphones and multimedia are key drivers
All these involved a huge volume of data by way of multi-media files being uploaded, downloaded or streamed via the Internet connection. A faster connection meant downloads and uploads got done faster for the busy homemakers.
A consistent connection meant they could stream online movies and the youngsters could enjoy uninterrupted high-definition games for a longer time. Theses options along with the lower rates made fibre optics a more desirable option for the residential users.
In addition to all these facilities, they could now get rid of the unnecessary landline phone connection which they were required to subscribe in order to get the broadband connection. Moreover, with better streaming of media, may users could even forego the cable connection which they rarely used.
Most of the Internet users are working and they rarely get time to watch television at home. But they have to subscribe to most of the channels for a month at least to indulge in some entertainment for a few hours in a week! This was a complete waste of money and with fibre optics subscription, they could use the same cable to watch television online and pay only for what they use! Landlines have almost become obsolete in most of the regions. Unless you have someone very old or young at home who cannot use a mobile phone, no one keeps a landline.
However, many are forced to subscribe to one and pay a monthly rental whether they use it or not. With giver optics, the landline was not required as the cable was not dependent on the landline cable. In fact, the users could still utilise a land phone once in a while without subscribing to it. The landline calls would be routed as Internet calls and the subscribers need to pay only for what they use. And all these come at a rate more or less same as a conventional cable broadband connection.
In spite of all these advantages, the residential users don’t have to spend anything on installing or migrating to fibre optics. The ISP will have to install the wire till the outer junction box of the house and they could connect this cable to the existing internet cable inside the house!
That means no additional work to be done at home to subscribe to fibre optics unless you have no internet cables at all. Even in that case, it is the service provider’s job to provide you free installation so that you can use their services without any hindrances.
To sum it up, by migrating to fibre optics both the residential users as well as the ISP gains advantages from the technology. The ISP is able to provide better services for the same price and the user is happy to get more value for the money he pays fora subscription. Many ISPs are migrating to fibre optics now because of its increased popularity among the subscribers. It has indeed revolutionised the way residential users can take advantage of the Internet of Things.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
