Non-metallic networks

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Whilst I can't agree with the seeming reliance on mobile operators to deliver the up to 2Mbps USO that was in Carter's Report recently, I think I may have finally found a way to explain FiWi to people, which I do believe is the future next gen solution.

It's all about non-metallic networks.

No metal. Dead easy.

The future has to be about a simple, redundant means to connect people that doesn't involve anything to do with copper, aluminium, coax or any other metallic medium.

You build a decent network with FTTH that has no bottlenecks etc and then over the top of it, you put a wireless (mesh) that solves the mobility, smart meter connections, ubiquity and all the rest of it issues.

The more I have thought about this the last few days and weeks, the more it seems to me that once we get rid of the metal, we will be closer to the right solution. "Next generation access or network" is a term which should only be used if it excludes entirely any metallic bits. Not in the CPE etc obviously but in the cable/wires etc which make up the network.

So, next time anyone says next gen to you, query the metallic content of the solution. If there is any, it isn't next generation.