Can you imagine living in a house without a normal electrical installation? A house that only had one electrical outlet at the entrance and everything was plugged in from there: all the lights, the refrigerator, the television…etc. It would be absurd, wouldn't it?
Nowadays, we cannot conceive of a house without an electrical installation in each room, with its sockets and switches integrated into the walls, and looking to the future, we must understand internet access in the same way.
New construction homes have been installing ethernet type cables, i.e., copper cable. But could plastic optical fiber cable be installed? Is it an advantage when we already have specific corrugated tubes for telecommunications?
In the past, we have explained the benefits of having a wired backbone network and how we can set up a telecommunications network using existing electrical networks with Plastic Optical Fiber. Today we want to talk to you about installations in new-build houses and apartments.
POF installation in new construction: Backbone Network and Passive Network (PON)
The installation of plastic optical fiber in new construction consists of preparing an entire house with Plastic Optical Fiber cabling through the corrugated telecommunications tubes in each room. In houses where backbone networks are installed, this is now done in a similar way with ethernet cables. The Plastic Fiber installation would be a more reliable, faster, and more modern version to carry out.
The advantages of installing POF in a new home:
- Speed and ease of installation: much faster to install than Cat 5 or Cat 6 cables and much faster to achieve than with traditional fiber.
- We will not be adding more "copper" to the walls.
- We will have an entire home equipped with plastic fiber in all rooms and without the need to use fusion splicers, since connections are made with simple cutter cuts.
- Possibility of leaving embedded converters installed or simply running the cable so that it can be used as a passive network.
What is a Plastic Fiber Passive Optical Network?
A passive network or PON (Passive Optical Network) basically allows us to enjoy a backbone network in several rooms but with maximum cost efficiency. This efficiency is achieved using converters like the Act1001 that can be used as mobile or portable devices, so that the user can move the small converter to each room to work or be entertained. The only thing the user needs to do is carry the converter wherever they need it at any given moment.
In this way, the cost of the converters, which is the most expensive part of the fiber optic network, can be greatly reduced, and, as far as possible or desired, the number of converters can also be expanded to cover all rooms.
Passive installation opens the door to having an entire house wired with fiber and using it in the most cost-efficient way possible.
Components and devices of a passive Plastic Optical Fiber network
To carry out a passive Plastic Optical Fiber installation, we will need the so-called passive components consisting of:
- Plastic Optical Fiber Converters (at least 2)
- Plastic optical fiber switch (currently ACT 4001)
- Converter power supplies
- Plastic Fiber Cable
Advantages of a passive Plastic Optical Fiber network
The main advantage is cost efficiency, but in addition, this is complemented by the usual advantages of plastic optical fiber:
- Maximum speed of 1Gbps between all rooms without interference. No signal degradation or lower speeds due to deficient or complex installation, interference, etc.
- Maximum security as it transmits light and cannot be "tapped" like copper ethernet. If the wiring is interrupted, communication is cut off.
- No emissions. As light is the medium of transmission and not electricity over copper, there is no type of emission or radiation, however small.
- No fire risks. As light is the medium of transmission and not electricity over copper, there is no fire risk.
- Ease of fiber installation: more flexible, ductile than ethernet cable.
- No need for crimping tool and possible connection problems caused by poor crimping of cables.
- No generation of electromagnetic interference.
- Elimination of copper in installations. Operators are eliminating the wired copper network and replacing it with fiber. Alignment with this policy.
