Verizon FiOS Syracuse
The Syracuse area of New York is famous for being progressive, and its use of high-speed broadband networks comprised entirely of fiber is nothing short of pioneering. While many people may not think of Syracuse or neighboring Seneca Falls or Rochester as pioneer towns, they are certainly blazing a digital trail worth respecting. The digital trail runs like a flow of water from the Lake Ontario region throughout the rest of the country, forming a digital super-highway, but other ISPs and digital cable providers have already staked their claim using technology almost as old as the Pioneers: metal wiring. FiOS by Verizon is different, because instead of using technology that came into style with the advent of the telegraph, FiOS harnesses the power of light.
Think about it for a second. Electricity is expensive and many of our uses for it are completely antiquated. We have houses wired to use older electrical systems despite the ability to create laptop computers that consume less energy than the average light bulb! We have the technologies to change much of the world, yet we cling to tried and true technologies that are slowly choking the life out of the planet around us. Fiber optics are part of that future, and they consumer only the tiniest sliver of energy to use when compared to an electric wire that would need to be re-energized several times just to carry a signal from Syracuse to Utica or Cortland.
Fiber carries light, and as we all know light travels incredible distances while still being easily measured. The light that comes from the sun so far away that it takes a few moments to reach us is steady proof of this, and it also shows just how impressive that energy truly is. We can send signals further, clearer, and with the capability of containing hundreds or even thousands of times the data as we can with electricity over wires the same diameter as the fiber optic filaments. The secret is that each tiny little filament is its own analog to a wire, but light also comes in so many spectrums that can be separated out that each tiny little filament itself is more useful for data transmission than a much larger diameter metal wire. Despite these advantages, fiber optics cost only a fraction of the cost that electrical wires cost to operate and maintain.
The net result is that the entire area around Syracuse gets blistering fast broadband at prices that rival competitors offering roughly 10 to 20% the speed! Imagine doing everything faster, sharing broadband with less compromise, or opening up entirely new windows of opportunity for things like online backups…the list just goes on and on, but broadband is only the start of what FiOS offers places like Port Washington or Pound Ridge.
That same underlying technology delivers unprecedented HD digital cable with more channels, more simultaneous streams, and a library so massive that you will never run out of content, yet this is just the top of the iceberg. That same technology is linked the digital telephone and digital broadband service to enable your DVR to engage when a phone call interrupts your show, or for you to schedule DVR programming from anywhere in the world. FiOS is just starting to reshape the world, and it is doing it with the power of light.
