Optical fiber: even if Verizon runs one of these all the way to your house, do NOT eat it!

You've probably seen these kinds of TV ads from cable companies already. Apparently they've been "using fiber optics" for years, and Verizon's sales personnel probably ought to get with it and, uh...eat more roughage...? Huh?

If these cable sales pitches have left you scratching your head over how fiber optics fit into the TV and Internet picture, you're not alone.

The Associated Press ran an elucidating article on this very subject this weekend, "Cable ads attacking Verizon confuse consumers." In it they noted the key difference that's not mentioned in such ads: FiOS runs optical fiber all the way to your door, whereas with cable, "The fiber lines end at neighborhood nodes, where the signal is transferred to a coaxial cable shared among as many as 500 households. The shared nature of the coaxial network and its susceptibility to electrical noise limits its capacity."

Of course, these TV spots do seem to be right about one thing: it probably is a good idea to maintain a diet rich in whole grains...but maybe we should leave that advice up to your health care, rather than Internet, provider.

SEE ALSO:

What Is FiOS and Why Do I Want It?

Posted by Jim 2.0 | tagged: fiber, compare, FiOS