When the civil war-ravaged nation of Syria suffered a countrywide Internet outage last week, Syrian state-run media blamed the problem on fiber optic cables. According to BBC News, state-run media reported that a “fault in optical fiber cables” was to blame for the blackout. This nationwide outage lasted for nearly 20 hours. Continue reading
In the 1990s and early 2000s, local governments and service providers, excited by the promise of fiber optic telecommunications, invested trillions of dollars into building fiber optic loops in their cities and metro areas. Enthusiastic carriers and service providers invested in these new fiber networks, but the predicted demand… Continue reading
Last month, the Provo City Council approved Google’s plans to acquire the city’s existing fiber optic network, iProvo, for only $1 so that Google could bring its 1 Gbps Internet service there. This would allow Google to offer a basic five-megabit connection to all residents for seven years, as well as free gigabit service to 25 public institutions… Continue reading
With rapidly growing communication needs, there is an ever-increasing demand for higher speeds and improved connectivity than what is provided by traditional broadband. The good news is that when connectivity providers compete, the customer always wins. Healthy competition between carriers results in more choices, better service… Continue reading
Barely one week after Google announced its plans to extend its fiber optic network to Austin, Texas, the company also announced its intentions to bring its 1 Gbps Internet service to Provo, Utah. According to the announcement last week, Google Fiber will offer Provo residents and businesses download speeds of up to 1 Gbps for… Continue reading
In 2003, a privately-owned fiber optic network was constructed in Fort Morgan, Colorado to provide Internet service to the city of Fort Morgan, Morgan County, and the Fort Morgan school district. However, over the last few years, several additions and modifications have been made to the fiber network… Continue reading
Two years ago, Google first announced its plans to bring high-speed Internet access to the lucky people of Kansas City. Earlier this month, Google announced the expansion of this service to Austin, Texas, making it the next fiber city. Austin, a mecca for creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit, has earned the reputation for being a good… Continue reading
On March 11, 2011, a major earthquake and tsunami hit Japan. The tsunami disabled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant just 150 miles north of Tokyo. While much of the world was worrying about Fukushima, there was another, less obvious problem under the ocean – the submarine cables lying along the ocean floor… Continue reading
Over the last few weeks, AT&T crews have blocked off Anderson Circle in downtown St. Augustine so that they could stretch a long fiber optic cable under the Matanzas River to Anastasia Island. This fiber optic cable installation project involved drilling under the bottom lands of the Matanzas River to Anastasia Island… Continue reading