A broadband utopia [fast broadband connectivity]

Author

Cherry, Steven

Volume

43

Issue

5

fYear

2006

fDate

5/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

48

Lastpage

54

Abstract

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (Utopia) promises to deliver to each of its 3,000 subscribers high-speed Internet access, telephony and television programming through a fiber-optic cable at data rates that reach 30 megabits per second. Encompassing 14 cities in the northeastern Utah, the optical-fiber broadband network is expected to soon reach speeds of 50 and even 100 Mb/s. Because Utopia sends TV programming as Internet packets, it puts a huge reservoir of bandwidth at the disposal of its providers. In addition to its dedicated bandwidth connections, Utopia relies on the Ethernet standard to carry Internet protocol data packets all the way from the central office to the individual subscriber without changing the format, greatly simplifying the network.

Keywords

Internet telephony; broadband networks; local area networks; optical cables; subscriber loops; television networks; Ethernet standard; Internet protocol data packets; Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency; bandwidth connections; fiber-optic cable; high-speed Internet access; optical-fiber broadband network; telephony programming; television programming; Bandwidth; Broadband communication; Cable TV; Cities and towns; Communication cables; High speed optical techniques; Internet telephony; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber networks; Reservoirs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Spectrum, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9235

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MSPEC.2006.1628824

Filename

1628824