Introduced at the start of this decade, fiber optic cable networkswere going to be constructed worldwide, allowing for a faster and more accessible internet that could compete with current cable and telecommunication providers. Existing cable transferred information via an electrical current through copper wire; fiber optic technology sends pulses of light along optical fibers. With mobile devices fueling the continual increasing demand on the internet for communication and information transfer, new data carrying options are always being tested and implemented.

Further studies in recent years have shown new ways that fiber optic cable can be utilized to transfer more data and faster. Initially signals were sent through glass fiber optic cable as light in straight lines, and in order to increase the amount of signals, the number of colors used was increased. There was a limit to this increase however. Described by www.scitechdaily.com, newer “technology centers on donut-shaped laser light beams calledoptical vortices, in which the light twists like a tornado as it moves along the beam path, rather than in a straight line” as has been used up till now. This new spiral motion serves to increase internet bandwidth dramatically, reducing congestion and offering better streaming. This technology could offer much faster speeds over much longer distances than copper-based technologies. Providers now offered a far stronger internet, however this did require the costly installation of an expansion network of underground fiber optic cable wires. Superior fiber optic broadband networks were being developed all over the world, but the US lagged a little in this introduction. Implementation of this is underway, with networks up and running across a number of large US metropolitan areas. Approximately 25% of the US has fiber optic broadband currently.

Worldwide the debate continues as to whether broadband fiber optic cable is the way to go. Existing copper-based providers are pushing against it. Copper wire capabilities are getting faster and copper wires offer the convenience of already being installed worldwide to support television and telephone networks. As well as being costly, laborious and inconvenient to set up, fiber optics in most places can only be installed as close to the home as pre-existing network equipment nears homes, and must depend on copper cabling to reach directly into the home. It has been debated whether homes actually need internet bandwidths and speeds such that fiber optics can provide. With families watching more and more television and movies, and with round the clock needs such as online gaming, large-scale streaming through multiple screens does now increasingly occur in the average home.

Further innovation into alternatives since then includes investigating the use of fiber optic antennae and other wireless services, which may be implemented broadly with less work and less cost. And the vast majority of new devices are still wireless, and do not depend on the broadband network at all. Technology continues to grow and develop and the resources that we depend on must grow and develop as well, to ensure the strongest, widest, fastest information stream possible.

Sources: http://www.thefoa.org/tech/ref/appln/FTTA.html

Sources: http://www.johnnychenseo.com/houston/

Sources: http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/vortex5c/