You may be shocked to hear this, but fiber optics have existed since the late 1800s, of course they were nowhere near as sophisticated as their modern form.  It stared with extremely humble roots, being nothing more than bent glass tubes which were used to illuminate difficult to see areas during medical procedures.  However, in 1880 Alexander Graham Bell, perhaps best known as the inventor of the telephone, created something called the Photophone.  This invention allowed for the transfer of sound on a beam of light; although Bell considered this to be his greatest invention, the practical uses weren’t discovered until many decades later, but it did much to spur on others.  One such example was Clarence Hansell and John Baird who in the 1920s showed that a simple image could be transferred through glass tubes over very short distances.  In 1953, their discovery was expounded upon when physicists Harold Hopkins and Narinder Kapany succeeded in transferring an image over 75 centimeters using a bundle of 10,000 glass fibers.

7 years later, in 1960, Narinder Kapany would coin the term “fiber optics” in an Scientific American article that would introduce the concept to the wider world.

Many fiber optic advances were made over the following decades, allowing more data to be transferred over greater distances and at greater speeds, until in 1965 when Manfred Borner created the first fiber optic data transmission system, or fiber optics as we know them today.  Although still very primitive compared to the fiber optic technology of today it allowed for a steady uninterrupted stream of data to pass through it without any sort of data loss or corruption.  This invention was soon commercialized, and in April 1977 Long Beach, California, became the first US city to use fiber optics, using it to send telephone traffic throughout the city.  After this, fiber optics began getting more sophisticated and more uses were found for them, fiber optics were even connecting different countries, as in 1988 when fiber optic cable was used to connect France and Britain to the US.

Of course, in the 1990s and 2000s as the internet exploded in popularity and usage, it became clear the traditional methods of data transfer, copper cables, would not be enough to keep up with the traffic, and so fiber optical technology was looked at and applied to the problem.  As it stands now, all across the country fiber optic infrastructure is being set up across the country, allowing for much faster and reliable internet access, and we at Mainstream Fiber are proud to be a part of these developments!

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What does “fiber optic” mean?

Fiber optic cables are a bundle of thin glass threads, also known as the fibers, which can quickly and easily transport light waves.  Messages and information can be modulated onto these light waves, which allows fiber optic cables the ability to transmit data, this is essentially how fiber optic internet works.

Now, you may be wondering, what advantage does this have over the traditional copper cables found in power lines?  Well, fiber optics have a slew of advantages over these traditional metal lines.

Advantages of fiber optic internet

First and perhaps most noticeably, fiber optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than traditional metal cables.  Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred through something, almost like water through a pipe; more bandwidth means more data can be pushed through.  What this means for you is that if you and all your neighbors are downloading something at once, with more traditional metal cables, you and all your neighbors will experience a noticeable slowdown, because there simply isn’t enough room for all the data to move through the cable, whereas, with fiber optic cable, there won’t be any slowdown in a similar situation.

Secondly, in order for traditional metal cables to transfer computer data, they must break down digital signals, the natural form of computer data, into electrical signals.  As anyone who has played with electricity in school knows, electrical signals are susceptible to interference from other electrical devices, magnetic fields, and even radio signals.  Fiber optic cables on the other hand, use digital signals, which cannot be interfered with as easily.

Third, fiber optic cables are much thinner and lighter than traditional wires, so more fibers can be bundled into a given diameter of cable, allowing even more bandwidth.  Not only that, but fiber optic cables are 4-8 times stronger than traditional copper cables of the same diameter, making them far less likely to be damaged, this means that your service is far more reliable.  Not only are the cables stronger and lighter, but because they carry light and digital signals rather than electrical signals, there’s no electricity passed through them, meaning there’s no fire or electrical hazard associated with them.

If you’re worried about the security of your data through fiber optics, you needn’t worry as much as with traditional metal cables.  Unlike copper wiring, which can be tapped into, it is not possible to tap into fiber optic cables.  Since the cables are made of glass, any attempt at tapping the cable will simply break it.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, fiber is said to be “future proof”.  Although that statement is a bit of an exaggeration, it does have some merit, because with fiber data is transmitted at the speed of light, the rate of connection is only limited by the equipment itself rather than the fiber, which will allow for substantial speed improvements by equipment upgrades long before the fiber itself must be upgraded.

Mainstream Fiber Networks is dedicated to giving you the best internet service around, with great speed, reliable connectivity, and internet solutions that fit your needs, and we are able to do that due to the benefits of fiber optics.

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