Fiber to the premises meets the growing demand for bandwidth and next-generation services. It's cost-effective to maintain and operate, supports broadband services for medicine, education, home businesses, home automation, video, and gaming. Fiber positions communities for future jobs and economic growth, providing higher upstream bandwidth than most DSL. Homeowners and renters value fiber connectivity, making properties easier to sell and rent.

Bandwidth is the capacity to carry information. The more bandwidth a network has, the more data it can transmit in a given time. With internet traffic doubling every two years, driven by smartphones and streaming video, the demand for bandwidth is skyrocketing. High-definition video, 3D, and 4K formats require significant bandwidth, as do cloud storage, healthcare imaging, and self-driving vehicles. Downloading refers to incoming data, like streaming videos, while uploading is outgoing data, like sending files to the cloud. Fiber optics excel in supporting fast uploads, unlike copper, which loses efficiency over long distances. Typically, a 50Mbps download speed on copper degrades after 1800 feet.

*All modern communications systems are based on fiber optic cable

*Uses hair-thin strands of glass that carry information by using pulses of light usually created by lasers that are turned on and off very quickly

*Lasers can travel long distances approx... 40 miles or more without degrading or need for refreshing

*Fiber is very rugged unlike copper which can corrode and be affected by water. Copper is conductive and can be affected by lightning and fiber is not.

Bandwidth drives innovation, and innovation drives the demand for bandwidth. Devices like smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, video streaming devices, home security systems, thermostats, broadcast alerts, video calls, smartwatches, fitness trackers, music devices, and video/voice conferencing for businesses all contribute to this growing demand.

*A gigabit (1Gbps or 1,000 Mbps) is about 100 times higher than the average downstream internet speed in the U.S. and many times higher than the average upstream

*Gigabit subscribers typically are on the internet an average of 8 hours a day, have multiple network devices connected and have the need for rapid file transfers

*Students need access to media-rich digital learning materials

*Video conference of online high school classes with teachers and courses that are available in other districts

*Video conference of online college classes for people pursuing continuing education

*Security cameras for protection of lives and properties used by both local governments and property owners

*Meters that can read electric and water consumption, Street lights that adapt to movement by pedestrians, cyclists and cars, trash cans that alert sanitation workers when they need to be emptied, and parking lots that tell drivers which spaces are open

*Commute farmer who uses broadband to monitor and prevent theft of livestock and expensive equipment, sensors on grain bins to monitor temperature and humidity, sensors on fuel tanks to also prevent theft.

*FTTH Council Americas found that access to fiber increases a home’s value by up to 3.1 percent

*Studies conclude that lack of broadband access is responsible for at least a quarter and probably half of all rural job loss

*Survey showed that, although residents rank good broadband as the top amenity they desire in a new dwelling, building owners and property managers (who tend to be older) rank it lower.

*Fiber connectivity encourages businesses to stay, helps businesses grow and become more productive, attracts new businesses, particularly in high-tech industries

*It makes a community more attractive – especially for young people – which can stem the population loss that many small communities experience

*FTTH is only one component of an overall economic development strategy, but it’s a vitally important one

*Companies have lessened the cost of a fiber project by preparing and installing ducts whenever past repairs or new services were preformed.

*Usually, FTTH in not more expensive than other technologies.

*Communities without robust broadband pay a price of losing jobs and residents

*Communities use the fiber network for several smart-grid applications including its automated metering infrastructure (AMI) systems which reads electric and water meters and uses the fiber backbone to backhaul information from wireless collectors.

*Fiber builds do require engineering

*All the usual building codes for cabling do apply

*Expect users to desire broadband connections in virtually any room (bedrooms, office-dens, kitchens, and family rooms) and all others

*Currently a few internet connected devices include: telephones, televisions, set-top boxes, thermostats, security sensors, surveillance systems, cell phones, streaming video devices, and more

*As the IoT (Internet of Things) develops, even more appliances will be Internet enabled.