Technology blogger Ike Elliott has a terrific series underway over at his blog this week looking at the differences between cable and telco-fiber infrastructures. He is “looking at why cable companies are kicking the tires on fiber-based passive optical networks, even though they have a heavy investment in hybrid fiber coax (HFC) networks.” The series is a good primer on these issues. Here are the entries in his series so far:
* “Internet Capacity Demands Increasing”
* “Does Cable Need Fiber to the Home?”
* “How Far Does Cable Fiber Go?”
* “Fiber vs. Coax”
* “DOCSIS 3.0 Upstream Still Skinny”
* “When Will Cable Bite The Bullet and Upgrade to Fiber?”
And here’s a handy table that Ike put together comparing the capabilities of fiber vs. coax:
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