Performance drives fiber-optic installationCreated: 5/2/2011 1:56:58 PMTo some experts in the U.S. broadband industry, the federal stimulus packages that are funding many fiber-optic projects in rural parts of the country were wasted in areas that already had access to broadband internet.
However, fiber-optic connections provide such a significant performance boost that the stimulus funding may have been necessary to meet growing bandwidth needs, the Argus Leader reports.
Citing a major project in South Dakota, the report pointed out that many of the key institutions receiving a fiber-optic connection through stimulus programs already had access to broadband.
While this may seem to negate the importance of fiber-optic connectivity, the report said some of the broadband networks were based on a 10-year-old cabling infrastructure, and were not really capable of supporting the performance needs of contemporary internet users.
Jim McGuire, the technology officer for the Vermillion School District, one of the benefactors of the stimulus funding, told the news source the new infrastructure has substantially improved network performance and capacity.
In California, residents of Humboldt County have had access to fiber-optic cabling since 2003. However, their networks have been prone to outages because they only have access to a single line. Recently, a local telecom announced plans to build a redundant line to improve service reliability in the region, the Times-Standard reports.
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