FTTH Now Cheaper Than Cable Broadband, Too Bad Nobody Can Get It

from the 100Mbps-or-die dept

Fri, Dec 8th 2006 3:32pm — Karl Bode

The latest broadband statistics from Point Topic (via GigaOM) suggest that globally, fiber to the home (FTTH) is not only getting more popular, it's getting less expensive. The data says that FTTH home connections have dropped in price by 12% to $28.10 per month on average. That's below the $29.50 average monthly cost for cable, but above the $25 monthly average for DSL, which is the most popular connection type world wide. The industry expects FTTH hardware prices to drop further as pricey bulk optics are used less in networking gear. Of course this doesn't mean a whole lot for the American broadband market, where Verizon is the only major company offering residential fiber, owning more than 81% of the nation's fairly paltry 446,990 FTTH customers (as of the end of 2005, anyway). The global FTTH price average is probably skewed down by the high volume of absurdly cheap apartment building FTTH lines in Asia, with the cable average skewed up by the high number of high-priced cable broadband lines in the States. Still, there's no doubt that American cable broadband providers will someday have to more seriously compete on price. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts can no longer pretend this is a race between BMW (cable) and Hyundai (DSL), because there's a sexy Aston Martin in his rear view mirror.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

22 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Bumbling old fool, 8 Dec 2006 @ 3:50pm

I can't wait...
Seriously, one day I may stop waiting and go move somewhere with municipal fiber.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bob King Neverland III, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:15pm

Agreed
Yeah I could prolly get if my stupid ex-wife didn't get the house.

Me even thinking about that gets me all fired up again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:17pm

That Bitch!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lucky Bastard, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:23pm

Fiber rocks
I didn't realize how lucky I am to have fiber! I get 15mbps down and 5mpbs up for approx. $50/month! (Advertised as such, a line test with speakeasy confirmed it after installation) It's with Verizon of course and I have never had any problems. Unless you count the day when someone upgraded the firmware on one of the routers upstream and brought down the network, but they got it up within a couple of hours. Not only do I get ethernet, but phone and cable as well!!! (phone included in previously stated price, cable wasn't) Fiber is the future!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:44pm
  
  Re: Fiber rocks
  Holly shit where are you at? I wanna be your neighbor !!!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:33pm

Cost effiency = Verizon being cheap on laying fibe
If Verizon had FiOS out here in Arizona, damned right I would jump to it from cable. It's only because Verizon wants to be "cost efficient" by laying fiber only in places where 10 story apartments line both sides of the street, so they maximize profits by being cheap. If they weren't cheap like this, they'd have MUCH more customers - but on the other hand they would make less money, and being as they are in the business of making money and not the business of having more customers, this won't happen soon...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Solarcanine, 8 Dec 2006 @ 5:27pm
  
  Re: Cost effiency = Verizon being cheap on laying
  If Verizon had FiOS out here in Arizona, damned right I would jump to it from cable. It's only because Verizon wants to be "cost efficient" by laying fiber only in places where 10 story apartments line both sides of the street, so they maximize profits by being cheap. If they weren't cheap like this, they'd have MUCH more customers - but on the other hand they would make less money, and being as they are in the business of making money and not the business of having more customers, this won't happen soon...
  Not exactly true. I have a 30/5 line from Verizon at both my house in Northborough, MA and at my office in Littleton, MA - granted, we're in the suburbs around Boston, but it's a haul into the city - about an hour drive, significantly more during rush hour. And as you can see from the links above, there aren't many 10-story apartment buildings lining the street in either of these
  While waiting for the installers to finish running the lines through town, I talked with many of them, and yes, they're starting in high-density areas, but their phase two plans always include developing the areas in concentric circles around those metro areas.
  
  Don't lose hope - Verizon is betting the farm on this one, and from my standpoint they're making a good go of it.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Duncan Yoyo, 9 Dec 2006 @ 1:57am
  
  Re: Cost effiency = Verizon being cheap on laying
  The FIOS trucks are busy in my town in the DC suburbs. All single family dwellings for blocks around.
  
  Given the number of trucks they have rolling it is a sizable comitment of manpower. I've seen a dozen out on somedays with guys up on several cherry pickers sorting fiber and another team burrying fiber. I'm guessing they will be at it for another few months.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
JediN8, 8 Dec 2006 @ 4:34pm

FTTH
Optical Entertainment Network will be installing FTTH at my house by Summer 2007. They are installing into a new neighborhood just north of me that partnered with them to pre install the fiber structure in the neighboorhood that is neccessary. Northwest Houston area near 249 corridor
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anon, 8 Dec 2006 @ 5:45pm

What is this $29.50 a month for cable internet nonsense? I pay something like $63 a month to Comcast for internet only. Is it just me getting ripped? Sheesh.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 9 Dec 2006 @ 7:23am
  
  Re:
  What is this $29.50 a month for cable internet nonsense? I pay something like $63 a month to Comcast for internet only. Is it just me getting ripped? Sheesh.
  That's about what I pay through Cox also and it just keeps going up. I read an investor's report a couple of years from a cable CEO where he predicted the typical cable internet bill will be over $200 by the end of the decade.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Arochone, 8 Dec 2006 @ 8:01pm

I'd kill for FIOS
Thank god the cable companies are getting some competition. I was on Adelphia for about two years, never had any problems, and they just got bought out by comcast. I've had about 10 outages just today, and it's been like this since Friday. And there's not a damn thing I can do about it, unless I want dial-up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2006 @ 9:32pm
  
  Re: I'd kill for FIOS
  There is, absolutely, something you can do about it. Contact the president of the company every time there is an outage. If he keeps getting calls from customers becuse the repair department is too lazy to get off their arses, he is going to eventually get pissed and do something about it. The other thing you can do is to notify the cable company every time there is an outage and document every call (the agent you get and the time it takes to resolve the issue, as well as any consessions given/offered for the inconvenience. You tke this info and sue them for the collective down time.
  
  I have done both of these and in both situations I was offered a job to correct the companies issues. I have done so on a contract by contract basis, and continue to do so. I am now a internet services consultant and go from cable companies and telcos and help them resolve personnel issues and technical issues resulting from purchasing the cheapest used junk to build a network out of.
  
  I reccommended to Bellsouth years ago to install fiber and use it for cable TV, Internet and Telephony. They have yet to go beyond a test market in Atlanta. I'm glad Verizon listened. But it took Bellsouth launching a test market to make them push forward.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Another Delusional One, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:56am
    
    Re: Re: I'd kill for FIOS
    In response to AC#11:
    
    Yes, that is the way it works alright, just like with government. Contact the President of the country every time there is an outrage. If he keeps getting calls from citizens becuse the departments are too lazy to get off their arses, he is going to eventually get pissed and do something about it. The other thing you can do is to notify the government every time there is an outrage and document every call (the agent you get and the time it takes to resolve the issue, as well as any consessions given/offered for the inconvenience. You take this info and sue them for the collective outrage.
    
    I have done both of these and in both situations I was offered a job to correct the government's issues. I have done so on a contract by contract basis, and continue to do so. I am now a government services consultant and go from government to government and help them resolve personnel issues and operational issues resulting from purchasing the cheapest used politicians to build a government out of.
    
    It really works!!!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stu, 9 Dec 2006 @ 8:22am

Karl said, "American cable broadband providers will someday have to more seriously compete on price."

Oh really?

The existence of a better technology has no affect when geographic monopolies are granted by (even local) governments. That is the situation in the USA.

My apartment/condo development restricts residents to either in-home rabbit ears, dial-up or Comcast. No DSL or satellite dishes allowed.

With monopolies at every level bought and paid for, they cannot be forced to upgrade. They have to want to, for their own reasons.

Most of us aren't even aware that broadband in the USA crawls in comparison with the speeds available in Europe, Korea and Japan. So why haven't our providers been motivated to provide the same to us, Karl?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- cbgaloot, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:36am
  
  Re: Ain't Socialism wonderful?
  Centralised control of everything is what Socialism and Communism is all about.
  
  You are living under centralized control.
  
  If the marketplace ruled as it should, most of us would have 100Meg optical in our house.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
fuzzy, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:25am

I must be one of the lucky few. My city power company is providing our entire city, which is not that big, with fiber internet, TV, and phone.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Rational Thought, 9 Dec 2006 @ 10:57am

Monopolies
The Iron Triangle. That's the name given to the incestuous relationship between Lobbies, Congress, and the Federal oversight boards. Lobbies ply Congress with money and favors to get favorable laws. Members of Congress sit on oversight boards which are supposed to watch the industries. Guess who's interests are going to be looked after? Unless you organize into a large enough lobby, your interests are only incidental and accidental. Cynical? maybe, but I don't hold out much hope of benevolence from anyone devoid of competition.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
otto, 10 Dec 2006 @ 10:34am

Verizon's rollout is spotty, skipping some cities
they are not just hitting high volume residences. just this last week they announced FIOS for much of the Philadelphia suburbs and parts of NJ. they have NOT announced it for the city, and don't seem to have a projected rollout date. if they were looking for the most users per foot of cable, then i would think at least parts of the city is the way to go. with all the office towers, condos, apartments it seems like a lot of potential users.
i can only assume there is some hang up behind the scenes. possibly an issue with what neighborhoods they will roll it out first? obviously the less dense parts of the city that still have cables (phone, cable, power) strung up on poles are not getting FIOS anytime soon. i would think buried utility lines would make rollout plans easier?
then again, politics may come into play. City Council has to fight for their neighborhoods. possibly an issue with Comcast throwing tar in the works? they did *somehow* make a deal to carry Comcast's SportsNet on their FIOS TV, something the dish people have never been able to get. i would assume Verizon had to do something in return?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
some guy, 10 Dec 2006 @ 8:16pm

theres better stuff coming anyways
WiMAX is coming soon anyways, not sure that bandwidth will be 15mbps download, 5mbps upload but it will be faster than DSL and cable. Overhead costs should be cheaper too since wires wont have to be laid to every house to get it. WiMAX is the future; not any wired solution. thats my take at least
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Brad Meikle, 11 Dec 2006 @ 2:44am

Its the monopolies
Ok so in theory, in a free market economy, when there is a need for something companies respond to provide it. This doesnt happen in a monopoly when there is just one company, or often in a duopoly where there are two. Today its a duopoly between the phone and cable company both of whom are doing everything they can to protect their cash flows. This means keeping Capex(capital spending on the networks) down to a minimum. The carriers are very political organizations. The carriers give up all of our phone records to the government, allowing tapping etc. The FCC puts pressure on the phone companies to provide the best possible service to the consumer. The Telecom Act of 1996 drawn up by Reed of the FCC and Seidenberg of Verizon - was a template for competition in theory but really it just set the rules of engagement to ensure that competition would never succeed. Now here we are and Verizon and SBC are even bigger, and there is no competition besides cable. WIMAX is a stretch for the last mile. The only countries where FTTH is real is Korea and Japan and its real because the governments force the carriers to roll it out. Centrally directed capitalism - the US could use more of that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
D, 11 Dec 2006 @ 10:22am

Cable is worse than DSL
> Comcast CEO Brian Roberts can no longer pretend this is a race between BMW (cable) and Hyundai (DSL), because there's a sexy Aston Martin in his rear view mirror.

I've used both cable (Adelphia, now bought out by Comcast) and DSL (Bell South). Both cable and DSL suck, but cable sucks more. You don't get quick speeds with either. You'll really only get less than a third of what they quote their speeds as, and that's on a good day. Online games will still lag horribly on both.

I am definitely not a fan of the telecoms or the cable companies, but I will say this. Cable companies take down their ISP service almost every night. Sure, they may do this at midnight or 2 am local time, but what if you're in the middle of a WOW battle at that time? Worse yet, what if you are running a web server in your home as a side business? You are screwed. It may be 2 am where you are, but it's 10 am where your customers are.

Worse still, the cable companies don't tell you when they are going to bring down the service. They just leave a recording on their voice mail saying, "yeah service is down, don't call us about it." Their hope is that most people won't even notice that they are not getting the service they are paying for.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]