Fiber to the Home (FTTH) vs Other Types of Fiber Networks (FTTx)

The different between fiber to the home,FTTH and other types of fiber networks are summaries below:

Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

• A fiber-optic communications path that extends from the operator's switching equipment to at least the boundary of the home living space or business office space.
• The definition excludes those architectures where the optical fiber terminates before reaching either the home living space or business office space and where the access path continues over a physical medium other than optical fiber.

Fiber-to-the-Node or Fiber-to-the-Neighborhood (FTTN)

• FTTN is refers to a system where fiber is extended to a point - typically a street-side or onpole cabinet - to within 1,000 to 5,000 feet of the average user.
  
• From there, copper or wireless serves the user. Typically, the service is through a variant of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).
  
• FTTN should not be confused with Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC), used mainly by cable companies to implement DOCSIS, the standard that allows data to be transmitted over cable TV systems. Each DOCSIS node, typically served by fiber, with coax extending to users, passes 100 to 500 homes.

Fiber-to-the-Curb (FTTC)

• Like FTTN, except that the fiber is brought much closer to a user premises - typically closer than 1,000 feet and often closer than 300 feet.
  
• In addition to DSL, FTTC installations may use Ethernet (over copper cable or wireless) to bring the signal from the fiber termination point to the user.
  
• Point-to-point wireless is sometimes used in rural areas simply to bring a signal from the roadway to a home that could be a mile or more away.

Fiber-to-the-Building (FTTB)

• A fiber-optic communications path that extends from the operator's switching equipment to at least the boundary of the private property enclosing the home(s) or business(es).
  
• In this architecture, the optical fiber will terminate before reaching the home living space or business office space.
  
• The access path will then continue over another access medium - such as copper or wireless - to the subscriber.