ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Selection?

First off, I have no idea why anyone would want to install fiber optic cable unless they have a specific, existing application they're going to use it for. (And I have no idea what that existing application might be...) If there ever is a widely-used home application for a fiber optic network, it will almost certainly require different cabling and terminations than what you can buy today.

Also, I don't see fiber-in-the-home becoming useful any time soon, if ever. We currently have gigabit links over twisted-pair, with 10 gigabit Ethernet over twisted-pair due out sometime this year; the number of home applications that might conceivable need more bandwidth than what these copper links give you is pretty much non-existent.

Also, regarding 10gb Ethernet: I will require an eight-pair, enhanced Cat-6 or Cat-7 cable. I don't believe that either of those can be purchased yet. (As of the last time I checked, which was about three months ago.) So, in principle, Cat-5e will soon be obsolete. Unless you subscribe to the notion that a gigabit is way more than plenty for home use, which isn't an unreasonable position from my point of view.

I concur with the plan of just running smurf tube or PVC, and pulling what you need later, if you ever need it. You can't plan for the future 50 years down the road; heck, you can't even plan for the future one year down the road, because we already know what you're going to need next year, and you can't even buy it yet.



[This message has been edited by SolarPowered (edited 01-03-2006).]

Based upon what I have seen develop in my lifetime, from very small vacuum tubes to integrated circuits smaller than a postage stamp that can control the guidance of a missile, electronics is evolving on virtually a daily basis. I still recall when transistors were announced. There are a couple still in my junk parts bin. Looking at one now they are absolutely primitive. I used them to build power supplies, radios, timers, listening devices. I still have a timer that I constructed in about 1965? It has 11 transistors, among other things, and operates on a 6V lantern battery and measures 8”x8”x12”. I have a commercial unit that performs the same functions and is about .25”x1”x.5” and uses a hearing aid battery. I will never be as short-sighted as the founder of Digital Equipment Co. who said something like “I can see no reason anyone would need a computer in their home” or the chairman of IBM “There may be a demand for 5 computers worldwide”. My first cell phone, 1992, was a monster with a shoulder strap. Look back 20 years and extrapolate into the future. Thus far, every system except power distribution can be economically provided by RF transmission and power is the next great breakthrough, although a few years in the future. I believe that hard wiring of many systems will go the way of the dinosaur as people, especially the younger generation who have evolved with innovation, become entrepreneurs and homeowners.

Sam