Fiber to the Home: Home Broadband Ushers in a Major Speed Upgrade

First Batch of Nearly 1,000 Households in Shijiazhuang

Gain Access to 16M Fiber Optic Broadband

These days, Ms. Wang from Qiaodong District is surfing the internet, downloading movies, and having a great time at home. With the first batch of nearly 1,000 China Unicom broadband user households across five districts in Shijiazhuang being among the first to start using high-speed fiber optic internet at the end of May, these users have already experienced the smooth and fast broadband surfing brought by fiber to the home.

A reporter learned from Shijiazhuang China Unicom that the maximum bandwidth currently available to households with fiber to the home in Shijiazhuang is 16M. What kind of changes will life undergo with a leap from 512K, 1M, 2M, 4M, and 8M all the way up to 16M?

During an on-site experience at Ms. Wang's home, the reporter found that downloading a blockbuster movie over a 16M fiber connection takes only five to six minutes, with download speeds eight times faster than the 2M bandwidth currently used by most households. Buffering for on-demand video streaming and latency for online gaming are virtually non-existent, and watching movies online is as smooth as playing a DVD on a disc player.

"If 2M ADSL broadband is compared to a two-lane road, then 16M fiber broadband is a 16-lane highway, which is equivalent to a driver moving from a rural dirt road onto a national expressway," said an industry insider. Previously, the theoretical maximum speed of ADSL technology used for internet access was 8M, but from the user's actual experience, the speed reaching the desktop was often only 100 to 200K.

Currently, the fastest large internet cafes in Shijiazhuang have internet speeds ranging from 16M to 20M. As fiber to the home gradually covers all household broadband users in Shijiazhuang, more citizens will be able to truly experience fast internet access with 16M reaching the desktop right in their own homes.

Outlook

Fiber to the Home Has Become an Irresistible Trend

An industry insider told the reporter that although an optical fiber is as thin as a human hair, it can transmit the same amount of information as a copper cable as thick as a dining table. "Fiber to the home" means that a single fiber optic line enters the household, replacing traditional telephone lines and network cables to provide household users with voice and more internet services.

"By replacing all existing copper cables with optical fiber, each household can now achieve a maximum bandwidth of 16M, enabling applications such as IPTV, online video, video telephony, image communication, and home surveillance management." The reporter learned that broadband renovation for new residential buildings and old communities in urban areas will achieve fiber-to-the-home installation for every user. This avoids the situation where fiber is first installed to the community and then wired from the community to each household, which can lead to network congestion and slower speeds during peak internet usage hours.

Fiber to Be Connected to the Vast Majority of Households by the End of Next Year

The reporter learned from Shijiazhuang China Unicom that the first phase of the "fiber to the home" project is currently underway, focusing on the simultaneous renovation of new urban communities and old communities. Since the end of March this year, the first phase of the fiber-to-the-home project has been promoted in parts of Xinhua District, Qiaodong District, Qiaoxi District, and Yuhua District. According to the work plan, the second phase of the project will promote fiber to the home in the municipal government area of Changan District, the areas around Guang'an Street, the areas around Tiyu Street and Jianshe North Street, as well as parts of the development zone.

A relevant person introduced that according to the plan, China Unicom will complete the renovation of all existing AD networks in the Shijiazhuang urban area to fiber to the home within the next two years. Fiber to the home has not forgotten broadband users in towns and villages either. By the end of 2012, 8M fiber will cover more than 75% of rural China Unicom broadband users; county towns and cities will achieve 100% coverage of 16M fiber to the home.

Challenges

Community Entry Fees

Become a "Stumbling Block" to Progress

Entering the era of 16M broadband, many people look forward to enjoying faster speeds at no additional cost and experiencing the rapid benefits of "fiber to the home" at a lower cost.

However, the promotion of fiber to the home and urban optical networks has not been smooth sailing. Like other cities across the country, the construction of urban fiber to the home in Shijiazhuang has encountered varying degrees of non-cooperation from some communities and households, with property management obstructing progress by demanding "entry fees" or "space occupancy fees," or directly hindering operators' fiber network renovations, resulting in difficulties in achieving fiber to the home and advancing construction.

In response, industry insiders call on the general public to support the construction of fiber to the home and to participate in the project, thereby enhancing the overall level of informatization in Shijiazhuang through this renovation initiative. Some also suggest that Shijiazhuang could introduce standards for communication supporting facilities in new residential communities to promote fiber access in new developments and address the potential issues facing fiber to the home.