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- Fiber
is now gaining acceptance in the final frontier of telephone networks,
the "last mile," the connection to the home. Many homes are still connected
with aging, low performance copper telephone wire that cannot
support connection speeds for broadband access.
 The costs of
maintaining these old copper cable plants is also extremely high and
increasing.
Phone companies, cities, utilities and commercial service providers are now realizing the best choice for upgrading the
subscriber connection is fiber to the premises or home (FTTP, FTTH, or
FTTx). The possibility of delivering new services (the triple-play of
phone, Internet and video) and low priced components for with new network
architectures make FTTx financially attractive for the first time. Companies are
committing billions of dollars to plans for connecting millions of
homes and offices with fiber.
CATV companies are considering fiber to replace coax, since the cost is
reasonalble and performance unlimited. Municipalities or private
individuals are looking at installing their own FTTx systems when phone
or CATV companies won't do it soon enough. Housing developers are
learning about FTTx because their customers are demanding the highest
bandwidth broadband connections.
All these plans depend on finding or training adquate numbers of
technicians. The FOA, working with operating companies, municipalities,
installers and our approved schools has developed requirements for FTTx
training and certification, with the goal of providing enough qualified
FTTx installation technicians to make these plans possible.
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- FOA Certified
FTTx Technician certification programs are now being
introduced in many FOA-approved schools. Students seeking
certification must
complete the FOA CFOT or CFospT program first to obtain their first
level certification, then attend a
short course on FTTx that will prepare them for the CFxT exam. Those
interested in learning about FTTx but are not seeking certification
will find the courses good information on the current technology.
- Technical Information on FTTX From The FOA Online Reference Guide:
- FTTH
- FTTH Architectures
- FTTH PON Protocols
Testing FTTH Networks - FTTx Online
Tutorial
- Here's links for more information on
FTTx
- Training & Certification
- FOA Certification
Overview
FOA FTTx Certification Requirements
FOA-Approved
Training Programs
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- Building
Homes For Broadband
- What
do homebuilders need to know to build homes that take full advantage of
FTTx? FOA presentation to the SoCal Building Industry Association
conference. (Online PPT)
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