• Home

• Preface

• Alexander Graham Bell

• Telecommunications history

• How the telephone works

• Phone FUN facts

• Why the Phone Works When the Lights GO OUT

• FTTP (Fiber to the Prem)

• Future of Telecommunications

• Crossword Puzzle

• Word Search

• Glossary

• Credits

• Speech by Thomas Watson

Fiber to the Premise (Home) ... FTTP... cont

The fiber in that system consisted of a glass core of about three or four microns in diameter, clad with a coaxial layer of more glass. The total fiber diameter was between 300 and 400 microns and was barely flexible enough to allow it to be bent without significantly affecting the signal on it. However, it became a major technological goal to manufacture a fiber that performed hundreds of times better with much less signal loss.

Corning Glass Works, by September 1970, had developed glass fibers with the desired low signal loss. But, these fibers were still fragile and would have suffered substantial damage during installation on the telephone poles and in the telephone equipment buildings. Corning’s breakthrough, however, was among the most dramatic developments that opened the door to fiber-optic communications becoming a reality. With time they also achieved the tolerances needed to allow light to efficiently get into the tiny fiber cores.

As the ability to get more light into the fiber improved with very little signal loss, it became possible to run high quality, durable, fiber optic cables to everyone’s home.