PorchLight's Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) & Fiber-To-The-Premise (FTTP)

Imagine a world where millions of lightning fast internet connections connect a global community instantly no matter where you are. Imagine instantly watching, listening, feeling, connecting to anywhere, anyone, at anytime.  This is the world of fiber optics and PorchLight brings you the next step closer to the future of communications with  Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH).

Making a commitment to fiber optic technology insures the network we build today will continue to provide everything you need for years to come.  How advanced is fiber?  It's difficult to summarize, but it's pretty magical stuff.  The hair-thin strands of glass are so pure, you could see a candle burning through it 7 miles away.  Using small lasers to send pulses of light over these stands of glass replaces the old method of using copper wires (say goodbye to interference and static).  Corporations, governments, and the military have been using fiber optics for nearly 50 years, it's only recently that such a reliable and expandable technology has been made affordable for home application.  Despite it's maturity scientists still have no idea where the limits of fiber will be, if we can ever find them.  Using today's technology, two fiber strands, no bigger than human hairs, can carry over 500 Million phone calls at one time...and we haven't even scratched the surface.

Exactly where technology is headed is anyone's guess.  With the lightning fast pace of new products, technologies, fads and other trends, the only thing that's certain is everything will be different in just a few years.  Fiber optics provide a stable and reliable foundation that will surely accommodate everything our world has to offer no matter how fast it changes.  It gets better.  PorchLight customers not only enjoy a future of promise that fiber optics provide, they also enjoy the comfort that a locally owned company can provide with superior customer service and a personal value on each and every customer.

FTTH and Internet Access

Speed is the first word in fiber based internet access.  Today's technology is already faster than what cable and DSL hope to promise in the next few years.  The other big advantage is symmetrical bandwidth.  No longer hindered by slow upload speeds, FTTH provides the ideal medium for Streaming Video, Photo and File Sharing Applications, Multiple Computer home networks, On-line and Multi-player gaming**.  Finally you can enjoy technology that performs as well as it's advertised or as well as you've dreamed!

Just as all technology gets cheaper, faster, and smaller; internet speeds will have to grow quickly over the next few years to keep up with all the great advances in our on-line world.  The idea of Gigabit internet access (1000 Megabits, almost 600 times faster than most DSL) sounds a little ridiculous today. There's just no way any single home could utilize that much speed; other systems on the internet just aren't fast enough.  Today it takes thousands of users to consume 1 Gigabit of internet access, however that won't be the case for long.  Cable TV keeps clamoring about trying to get 100 Megabits to the home some time in the future; PorchLight can deliver a Gigabit TODAY!***

FTTH and Television

It's actually pretty simple math. Traditional cable TV networks have limited bandwidth and expansion capacity so they're removing channels and "grooming" lineups to make rooms for a limited capacity of HD content, there simply isn't enough room to carry all the channels that the HDTV starved public demands. Satellite TV has been adding more satellites to make room for an impressive amount of HD content, however with Satellite TV, you lose some of the substantial benefits of a terrestrial connection; namely converged services (TV with phone and internet, etc.) and Video On Demand (VOD).  With the 2009 FCC mandated conversion to all digital television content and major networks like HBO moving to HD only, the demands placed on traditional cable TV systems will be substantial. 

With FTTH, PorchLight has chosen to use a new technology to deliver television content, IPTV, or Internet Protocol Television.  Rather than constantly broadcasting channels to all homes, IPTV transmits television content to your home only when you're watching or recording it.  This keeps our network super efficient and allows us to look at television as a function of bandwidth rather than an available frequency range.  This creates a "best of both worlds" scenario that provides the advantages of both cable TV and satellite TV without any of the limitations.  As a result, IPTV allows an unlimited number of television channels and programming.  Of course there are only so many channels available, but it's how we're able to offer a most competitive lineup to our customers that's arranged logically and won't be subject to frequent changes.****

Another substantial benefit of IPTV is the potential for integration and unlimited possibilities for new features and functionality. Imagine a world where your television program is seamlessly integrated into your set top box and you can follow links to vote for your favorite singer with a few buttons on your remote. The flexibility of IPTV will allow PorchLight to develop and deliver the latest in entertainment as it comes out, without the expensive network upgrades that delay such services on traditional cable TV networks. One promising technology is the convergence of web based video services on your TV screen. TV has changed immensely since it was invented; it's about to change more in the next 5 years than it has over the past 50 years.  IPTV is ready for any change today. 

Click here to read the white paper "HFC vs. FTTH:  Two Technologies Face Off">>

How FTTH Works

Don't fret!  Even though it's the most advanced network media, fiber optics will connect with your home and all of the devices you own today.  You won't need to buy a new TV or computer to enjoy a fiber connected home, but once you've experienced all fiber has to offer, don't be surprised if you feel compelled to go shopping.

From the PorchLight central office, optical network equipment converts voice, data, and video into pulses of light.  Light pulses are transmitted via fiber optic cable to your neighborhood.  At the home, the optical signal is converted back into an electrical signal using an Optical Network Terminal (ONT).  Your existing coax or telephone lines distribute the signals within the home - delivering high quality digital television, telephone, internet, and monitored security.  A battery backup connected to the ONT insures telephone access for emergency services such as 911 even in the event of a power outage.

Click here for an informative video about FTTH>>

Smart Homes and Green Living

FTTH provides home owners with a network powerful enough to finally deliver on the promise of Smart Home technologies.  Home integrated appliances, environmental controls, lighting, and security integrate with a fiber network seamlessly, providing real time access to all parts of your home no matter where you may be.  Future applications such as telemedicine and distance learning are also ideally suited to a fiber connected home.

Going green?  Then fiber is for you.  Smart Home technology allows you to precisely control the power consumption of your devices and reduce your carbon footprint.  Also, since fiber is glass, it's the most environmentally friendly land based communications media that doesn't tax any natural resources.  Furthermore, because light travels so fast and so far, energy demands of PorchLight's network are much lower than traditional networks.  Quite simply, PorchLight doesn't have to give power to anything buried in the ground. 

Learn more about green networks>>

**Subject to applicable acceptable use policy and terms of use.
***The capacity of PorchLight's network allows for the delivery of over 1 Gigabit of total bandwidth to each home.  PorchLight does not currently provide this level of bandwidth as a product to any residential customer.  Please refer to our current residential services page for the latest available products and prices.
****Please refer to the IPTV section of the PorchLight residential services page for the current channel lineup and available programming.  HDTV and Video On Demand are not yet available but are coming soon.

Additional Resources

PorchLight Communications is a member of the Fiber-To-The-Home Council and a participates in the Corning Connected Community program.

PorchLight has chosen to work with Calix and Wave 7 Optics FTTH equipment.

Corning Cable Systems, a leader in fiber optic technologies has produced a very informative video presentation illustrating the advantages of Fiber-To-The-Home.  Click here for video>>

For a more in depth look into the technologies used by PorchLight and how they fare against traditional cable TV technologies, visit our white paper "HFC vs. FTTH:  Two Technologies Face Off".