I really didn't see this coming. After 40 years of fibre I just thought we should roll this out across the globe as the solution to every home and we had data transmission solved and likely wouldn't need an upgrade until we found something substantially better, maybe quantum entanglement communication. Turns out it was improvable and now the insane amounts of fibre we have already deployed is now obsolete.

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mschild 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

The currently installed fibre cables work just as well as they did a year ago. Calling them obsolete is a bit of stretch.

Besides, I think most homes are not even close to using the full capability of what fibre can offer nor do a lot of people need that extra bit of speed to browse Instagram/Facebook/YouTube/Whatever else.

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PaulKeeble 3 days ago | parent [-]

An old computer and processor work just as well as they did when made but they are still obsolete because something better has been released. This does make all the fibre obsolete, doesn't make it useless but the replacement will reduce latency.

	▲	lazide 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		That’s not how it works. A hammer is not more obsolete for driving a nail because pneumatic nail guns exist. Using just a hammer on a commercial framing job is silly, however, because pneumatic nail guns work better. Everyone still has a hammer ready though, because it is still needed. Using a pneumatic nail gun to hang a picture is silly, because it is so overkill (and expensive) that it actively makes it harder to do the job. This tech doesn’t obsolete existing fiber for last mile because the extra cost associated with producing and splicing it dwarfs any potential gains (which would likely be in the 10’s of ns). If it is proven to work well, this may obsolete existing transoceanic/transcontinental fiber runs, where the latency difference will be noticeable enough the cost is worth it. However, it’s highly unlikely that anyone will actually turn down any of these existing lines. The different is not so much that the old lines are useless. If, eventually, this new fiber is at the same price point and as easy to work with as the current fiber? then the current fiber will be obsolete.

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toast0 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The improvements here are likely irrelevant for last mile. If hollow core fully replaces solid core, last mile deployments would use it, but saving 33% of latency in a fiber that's almost certainly less than 5 ms long isn't cost effective if there is any economic cost. The reduction in loss also doesn't provide a benefit for short runs. If there's an improvement in splicing, that might be useful for last mile, if splicing is harder, then it's less likely to be adopted.

On medium and long distance runs, it will provide a lot of benefits. Reducing latency on a cross country link is palpable; reducing latency on a shorter link like LA to SF is valuable too, because some routes have many of those. Reducing the number of amplifiers needed will be apprechiated by cable operators as well, fewer points of failure, likely a lower power budget, etc.

It may obsolete existing long haul fiber. But installed fiber will still be useful even if there's better fiber that could be installed... And existing fiber will be useful for redundancy and additional capacity even if there's better fiber on the same route.

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lazide 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The fiber ran right now is nowhere near reaching it’s theoretical usage. The issue is now, and always has been, having someone actually run it. That costs money. It’s also a bit more physically vulnerable, and requires some more care to not destroy, which makes the actually running it part a bit more expensive than copper in many circumstances.

This won’t change anything for 99% of new fiber deployments, and practically doesn’t make any difference for existing fiber deployments either. The actual media is still 100x more capable than anyone’s end termination equipment outside of a lab.