Flexible Optic Fiber Promises Cheaper Last Mile

bn0p writes "Ars Technica has an article on a Korean company that has developed a low-cost, flexible, plastic optical fiber that could bring cheaper 2.5 Gbps connections to homes and apartments. While not as fast as glass fiber, it is significantly faster than copper. In related news, Corning recently announced a flexible glass fiber that can be bent repeatedly without losing signal strength. The Corning fiber incorporates nanostructures in the cladding of the fiber that act as 'light guardrails' to keep the light in the fiber. The glass fiber could be as much as four times faster than plastic fiber. Neither fiber is available commercially yet, but both should help with the last mile problem when they are deployed."

Last mile = Apartment Buildings

[imstanny]

Flexible fiber optics would do wonders for apartment buildings and its residents. With cable going digital in 2009, this would be very important. BTW - check out the back of your plates - it may be made by Corning as well (mine is).

Re:Actually,

[hjf]

CAT6a and CAT7 can work up to 10G, provided you use appropriate connectors such as Siemon's TERA, which can also be used for carrying telephone and CATV over the same wire. If you need the full 10G, you use 4 pairs. If you don't need 10G, you can use less pairs and the rest for other things (i.e: your PVR could use CATV, POTS, and still have 5Gbps for data). I know, I know, when 10G is commonplace, maybe we won't have CATV and POTS anyway.

Fiber faster than copper? Ummm....no

[cafucu]

While not as fast as glass fiber, it is significantly faster than copper.

Not quite, since speed =/= bandwidth. Fiber can provide more bandwidth than copper because lasers can light fiber up and turn it off quickly without a problem, whereas electrical charges on a conductor tend to hang around for a bit. But the actual delay from source to destination is faster on copper. Again, speed =/= bandwidth.

Wrong summary

[ihavnoid]

The research group is mentioned to be in "Korea Institute of Science and Technology", which is better known as KIST here in Korea, isn't a company. It is a government research agency.

Peopel always missunderstand quantum...

[BlueParrot]

Using quantum interactions to transmit information also requires you to transmit a signal the old fashion way. This is essentially what prevents you from exceeding the speed of light. You would also need a way to distribute the entangled particles ( each pair can be used only once ). The advantage of quantum entanglement is completely down to its ability to transfer quantum states ( no set of classical information can completely describe a quantum mechanical system ) and it's security against eavesdropping and brute force attacks

Now, contrary to popular belief a man in the middle attack is still possible. That you are exchanging pairs of entangled particles rather than exchanging large integers doesn't matter. You still have to be careful about who you accept keys ( or particles ) from.

Re:Better idea

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Fiber propogates much longer distances and easier. Your 10/100 ethernet is only up to (IIRC) 100 meters. The same goes to gigabit, but that's even touchier.