Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / New
Stats: 3,143,179 members, 7,780,249 topics. Date: Thursday, 28 March 2024 at 11:18 AM

Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? - Computers - Nairaland

Nairaland Forum / Science/Technology / Computers / Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? (15378 Views)

The Best Internet Solution Now In Nigeria (fiber-optics Over Satelite) / Best (vsat) Internet Service Provider In Nigeria / VSAT in Nigeria (2) (3) (4)

(1) (2) (Reply) (Go Down)

Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 6:34am On Jul 26, 2005
Thank God finally Nigeria has fiber optics connectivity on her shore. But I want some people that maybe want to jump for fiber access to proceed with caution. There are many issues that you may need to put into consideration before taking the plunge.

The major and only advantage that fiber optic access have over VSAT is in the issue of latency. Latency arises in VSAT network as a result of the following: signals from satellites in orbit reach VSAT antennas after traveling 23,000 miles this causes some delay in getting a signal to a from a satellite in orbit, other causes are delays at routers and other connectivity devices on your way to a particular resource(s) on the Internet.

Except for the delay from the satellite in orbit there is little or no other delay that fiber access does not have to go through also.

If a VSAT network is well designed from the ground up, people using the a VSAT to browse the internet will notice little or no delay since the delay we are talking about here is in microseconds(ms). But if you have a badly designed network you get problem. In order to augment for this delay, VSAT service providers has been using features like TCP acceleration and caching techniques to boost web page delivery.

If you have a VSAT and fiber network that has very badly configured routers there’s bound to be a great problem.  A flapping or congested route will increase your ping time no matter your access connection type. So you have to put this things into consideration too.

Fiber optics cables are also prone to damage, and fixing them cost millions of dollars and it also takes a lot of time. Consider the recent outage in Pakistan: they had to reroute their connection to the outside world through VSAT.

Another major thing is the hefty price for bandwidth.  My brother, it's no child's play, and there is no way the price will ever come down.  Do some research on how much it cost the consortium to build the fiber network and how much it's costing them to maintain the network annually.

VSAT on the other hand is maturing and most of the operators have recoup their investments and they have large and growing subscribers which means bandwidth price will soon be tumbling down, unlike the SAT-3.

Send in your comments and lets rub heads together on this.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by lordimpaq(m): 9:41am On Jul 26, 2005
but the issue of breaking up the ground and laying fiber cables from one place to the other is a big problem for the environment and environs alike...

besides pple want easy solutions despite the need for speed... most pple would prefer vsat...cos of its ease of installation..

if so...then why do companies not use fiber optic cable for their backbones...they would rather use VSAT access as their WAN backbone rather than the use of fiber optics...and again no company would be so dumb to have their routers configured badly bearing in mind the use of queues and access lists to optimize bandwidth and link speed.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by kazey(m): 9:46am On Jul 26, 2005
Just as you stated, the primary reason for the wide acceptance of fiber-optic cable over geostationary satellites is the immunity of the fiber-optic cable to electromagnetic interference.

An additional factor was the elimination of one-half second or longer delays associated with the use of geostationary satellites caused by the 50,000 plus miles the signal had to travel during transmission.

Today, most geostationary satellites are used for television and data transmissions that are insensitive to transmission delays especially in developed countries. The issue on the pricing, where did you get your information? Just curious? Developing countries such as some asian countries have the cheapest broadband connection and their main backbone is fiber optics. As an example, Over here is malaysia for a 1MB/512KB Download/Upload cost only approx 3200 Naira, for unlimited usage monthly.

Now the question is for such a high Upload/Download rate can you get that at home with a VSAT technolgy?

Now there are a lot of applications such as VOIP and even Teleconferencing, that does not accomodate any delays in transmission for a smooth transmission. And therefore using VSAT, just does not come into place. Well as a friend of mine has said before. You would tell how a country is developed by the speed of the internet connections at peoples homes in that country.

You see one thing you must understand is, with a high demand, of such service, that is everybody having it at home at a cheaper price, the price would drastically drop, because maintanance cost is low, and thus more backup lines would be layed. And that is in the sense of Fiber Optics. I think, it would be more better, if you do some research in that relation.

We need to move on. And yes Nigerias should go ahead and subscribe for Fiber Optics connection, I want to cut my bills in Calling Nigeria.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 10:40am On Jul 26, 2005
@Kazey, Nigeria need to move on, but the problem is that what is obtainable in Asia is no available here. Am sure most of the town and cities overthere are well laid out with proper town & regional plans. But here people build houses any how, also most residential houses in Asia a apartment building, so when a telco setup a distribution point to an apartment, they are able to reach as many subscribers as possible. Even in the USA Fibre optics penetration is not as much as what you have in Asia, this is due to the same reason of residential plans, since most people live in detached houses and not apartments.

When we talk about number of willing users too, how many people do you think can afford a PC not to talk about paying a montly fee for internet access in their homes. For any operator to think about running cables about, they must be sure about the potentials of having a huge customer base. If they have small subscribers the price will just be way to high in order to make up for the small number.

I own an Internet cafe here in Nigeria, and i know how much i pay monthly on bandwidth just for a VSAT link, i have also done my research on the fibre option too and the plan can't just pan out right now. The best option for a country like Nigeria is wireless connectivity, we all know how NITEL and NEPA installations are constantly been vandalised, when people get to know about how expensive fibre optics cables are, i won't be surprised to be seen roads been dug up overnight.

The only viale option right now is WIMAX, that's a better and more promising tech than fibre for Nigeria right now. Business is all about reality, what is working for others overthere may not work here. I will be a fool to go and invest in fibre connectivity right now.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by kazey(m): 10:48am On Jul 26, 2005
In terms of the plans, not really. Over here in Malaysia, it is a mixture, Even i think there are more duplex, terrace, and bungalows than condominiums or even apartment, just that the houses locations are well planned. You don't find industries etc near residential areas.

But as u said , WIMAX, that would really be some leap frogging. I do agree with you in terms of the current plans in terms of residential locations etc.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by okoegwale: 11:15am On Jul 26, 2005
its clear that fibre optics delievery modes might be a factor in its availability but its advantages out weights any negativity anyone can put forward.Broadband's non availability is actually not making certain sectors grow in nigeria despite the fact that we have what it takes to excel in such areas as call centre outsourcing and many others high tech areas bringing in billions of dollars for economies like india,Philippines,south africa and new entrant Ghana.Vsat versus Broadband should not be an issue at all.We need to look beyond that and look at opportunities that exist in this technologies.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 11:41am On Jul 26, 2005
we have what it takes to excel in such areas as call centre outsourcing and many others high tech areas

@okoegwale, am never against the deployment of fibre optics in Nigeria, i know some solutions like VOIP, VPN, IPTV etc can't be deployed over VSAT right now. What am saying in essence is that can the money to be expended on deploying fibre optic infrastructure is it justifiable with the ROI.

It's deployment is based on telcos, like in any other businesses they have to do their home work very well before proceeding, caution is the watchword here.

In the are of outsourcing how viable is the market nowadays, i hope you know the wrangling that's going on on it in the US congress, the general populate too are not happy with the ways foreigners are taking over their jobs. And when you put the Nigerian factor in the mix, which company will like to outsource their support department to a Nigerian company.

If you are an investor in this field you will know all am talking about.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by timba(m): 7:56pm On Jul 27, 2005
Permit me guys. Usually I just skim replies so if I say something that has already been said, please just take it in good faith.

I would first like to state that there are many more advantages of using fibre over VSAT apart from the issue of latency. Fibre is capable of handling much more bandwidth than the capacity of VSAT. Some may argue that but I can assure you that when you get to the gigabit range, it doesn't make sense to use VSATs.

Secondly, the original poster said something about losing connectivity when the cable breaks at one point. Now you need to understand that proper fibre deployment is done in a ring configuration. If one part of the cable breaks, data is carried along the other path. To explain this, imagine a ring, torus or circle whichever is more convenient for you to picture. Now you can always find the shortest distance between two points on the ring and the best configuration would carry data using the shortest path. If that 'shortest path' gets broken or severed, the 'longest path' would now be used to carry the data. If you get this picture, you would understand the redundancy that has been built-in to most fibre optic installations to handle breaks along the cable.

Another major thing is the hefty price for bandwidth.  My brother, it's no child's play, and there is no way the price will ever come down.

Dude, I don't believe you're saying this about fibre! The price you are paying for VSAT today is not the same that used to be paid one year ago. Fibre is definitely cheaper than VSAT! It is more economical to distribute bandwidth over fibre than over VSAT. The fibre cable is much more capable of handling larger amounts of data and it doesn't require placing satellites in orbit or large VSAT antennas.

And for your information about fibre, I don't think you've done your research very well because if you have, you would understand the reason for fibre access being expensive is because of the monopoly NITEL had over it and much of the hoarding has been done away with and it's easier to gain access to SAT-3 bandwidth than it was last month.

The days of VSAT are numbered and we need to start looking at fibre, ADSL and (as you mentioned) WiMAX as ways to obtain and utilize bandwidth.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 8:05pm On Jul 27, 2005
Timba, what am really talking about is the issue of getting fibre to various homes in Nigeria. I hope you know what has been happening to NITEL infrastructure (vandalised cables and bad cable layout) if you now put fibre in the mix i wonder what will be happening to your connection on a daily basis.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Bibi(m): 1:51pm On Jul 28, 2005
Thanks techies. I cant understand a word of your analysis. Anyway, all I want is a fast internet speed access. The big problem is that what works in Oyinbo country with a few tweaks will take a lot of newspaper analysis and countless engineeriung to make it work (a little bit - not ongoing) in Nigeria.......The GSM palaver in Nigeria is a sorry case, when infact they have all deployed 2.5G infrastucture, their quality of service is poorer than a 1G (if there is anything like that), while I do not see a significant improvement vs Nitel offering. Looks like a case of if you cant lead the show, joing in......
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Hunter(m): 8:04am On Jul 29, 2005
I don't think kazey meant that fibre should go straight to the home, in fact this is really an impossible goal for nigeria because of the lack of planning (and being honest there are far more important things to be spending money on) but what I think he is meaning is using it for backbone and then last mile technologies like ADSL, wimax etc which are dependent on fibre links.

Look at Australia, a country of vast space and it is completly fibred (the smallest town I know about that has an ADSL enabled exchange is 100 people) as far as I know technologies like VSAT are in very small deployment, all made possible by planning!

Another possibility is deployment of 3G for broadband, which sites could be protected against vandalism
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 8:09am On Jul 29, 2005
but what I think he is meaning is using it for backbone and then last mile technologies like ADSL, wimax etc which are dependent on fibre links.

that's the only thing i support, fibre to homes is not just possible here.

Anyway does anyone know how much WIMAX equpment cost now, i need to know more about the pricing.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Hunter(m): 2:09pm On Jul 29, 2005
wimax hasn't been launched even in the states so you could be waiting a while, best bet is to check with some of the launch customers like intel. Companies like ericsson that build DSLAMS might be going into the wireless platform so that may be worth checking out.

1 Like

Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by timba(m): 4:40pm On Jul 30, 2005
Yup that's right and as a matter of fact, many WiMAX equipment are still undergoing compliance and interoperability tests so it might be a while before we start seeing any appreciable deployment of WiMAX infrastructure.

ADSL is something we should really take serious because it uses already existent copper cables used for regular telephony. I'm sure quite a number of IT companies would be looking this way as well. As regards fibre (I still keep coming here abi), it would be a very cost effective solution for large corporations so watch out for it too.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Hunter(m): 12:42am On Jul 31, 2005
ADSL would be a pointless technology in nigeria, it requires stable telephone lines, which aren't too common.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 1:25am On Jul 31, 2005
I support nothing but wireless links to the homes in Nigeria. Cables are messy, and NITEL made them worse.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by timba(m): 12:45pm On Aug 03, 2005
FYI, a number of ISPs in Nigeria (Lagos in particular) are already offering DSL services so the fact that stable telephone lines are not common does not mean that they are non-existent and cannot be used when they are available. So it would be better to have ADSL when it's possible and available than wireless. The logical reason for this preference is that wireless has it's own problems. Now I would not consider security as that has really been improved upon (since WEP) but there's the possibility of a congestion. Even though the Internet bandwidth may be enough, the radio bandwidth is limited (thank God for standards) and so you would now be requiring more access points for additional subscribers. IMHO, this is an expensive approach!

I don't intend to start a flame war but to seek to FIRST understand and then be understood.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Seun(m): 8:30pm On Aug 05, 2005
Thanks, Tim, for your contribution!
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Tobi(m): 3:18pm On Aug 30, 2005
MTN deployed over 3,500km lenght of SDH microwave backbone  with all the relevant redundant rings but it was discovered that the weather causes serious down time especially during  serious rainstorms. Now MTN has awarded a contract to Huawei to convert the backbone to fibre, so in the next couple of years, MTN will lauch a fibre backbone. Glo is even a step ahead of MTN, glo has laid about 1,000km of fibre across the country and Alcatel and Siemen are optimistic that about 3,000km of fibre would have been laid by the end of 2005 for glo. Vmobile is seriously trying to wake up to this new new iniative.  NITEL had laid some before things went sour.

Ques: Why are these GSM companies dumping  microwave for fibre?
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by tomcat: 6:33pm On Sep 12, 2005
hm..haven't checked the forum..for a few time...but it seems to me...that it might be a confusion between fiber optics....

fiber optics should be compared over VSAT only if it is used as back end....

for example....is the connectivity with the outside world...to put it simple...

now...even if they have laid lots of kms of fiber optics in Nigeria....and the back end is still satelite...then the latecy is still near enough the same...

if the back end..is fiber optic though...like SAT3...then either wi-fi or fiber optic between the hub and the resident...is far quicker than any VSAT...
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 6:38pm On Sep 12, 2005
@Tomcat, God bless you for that.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by geneglobal: 5:41pm On Oct 30, 2005
Interesting,i was just wondering recently if an hybrid approach was the best solution for delivering high speed internet access to homes within a clustered setting i.e deploying vsat for connectivity and fibre optic backbone within the clustered setting for bandwith transmission and finally adsl access to homes within the clustered setting via copper wires.
Does any one know how this can be achieved.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by tomcat: 6:05pm On Oct 31, 2005
Personally I think that in whatever stage of the process you introduce VSAT...it's high latecy is inherent to the process....

Sat3 is the way to go...but it hasn't been exploited fully yet.... rolleyes
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by joftech(m): 1:00pm On Nov 07, 2005
Does anyone know how much it will cost per month/year to get 64kbps on Sat-3.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by tomcat: 10:59pm On Nov 08, 2005
i do not think SAT-3 is yet available to individuals....

don't quote me on that...but I think that for a business to get access on sat-3 is around $2000 a month + $9000 for the equipment.ouch... undecided

Glo was supposed to have signed a deal with Alcatel to construct their own fiber optic cable, linking Lagos directly to London, but that is cancelled...the quicker private companies...will construct more fiber optics undersea cables...the cheaper proper internet connection will become...
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Obinski: 4:11pm On Nov 18, 2005
Well thanks guys for an interesting thread. I am in Lagos and currently i enjoy the use of Netcom Africa's, MyNetcom which is Wireless Broadband all over Lagos. Quite fast, reliable and truly mobile. I believe they are using UMTS-TDD which is 3G CDMa. hope am correct, just reading it off a brochure.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by dragontide: 9:58am On Apr 07, 2006
hello ,
firstly i will like to congratulate Nigeria for having beatiful minds who contribute on issues like this. presently i use accelon via a VSAT antenna in my office but we still can not underestimate the power and bandwidth fiber could go. a last mile delievery of fiber could be as wonderful as you can ever imagine. with your fiber you could send multiple connections via a single cable. imagine havin your HDTV, telephone, internet, internet radio and other services all on one connection.
at the same time we could not rule out the cost of laying fiber cables around but thank God for companies like 21st century and VGC coms for what they are doing with last mile delievery.
which ever way, we still have a long way to goabout using metropolitan fiber around us.
thank you.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by badboy56: 2:03am On Apr 10, 2006
I'm working in Lagos and I'm so glad that were i live has fibre optical cable so I could connect to the internet at a slow speed, 128kbs but it's always on. What the companies needs to do is start offering there services at a cheaper price. The internet provider i'm with gets their bandwidth from the UK (Investigations on the net) and I'm sure their getting it a lot cheaper.

The Problem in Nigeria is how much money I can make rather than how many users could I have connected. The UK was the same but they saw the light and that is why the UK is one of the leaders in Internet.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by nightrider: 4:45pm On Apr 25, 2006
whats the true benefit to the end user of fibre optic cables. what does it translate to me a phone user in Nigeria?
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by nairamann(m): 12:49pm On Apr 24, 2007
Deploying fiber optic or VSAT, look at it from these perspectives;
1. speed
2. cost
3. Demand
4. accessibility
In Nigeria what could be guiding factors that warrants save deployment of any of the
above?
I Pick on item 4. our structures--access of ways are poorly planned hence usage at
various home of fiber-optic may impose a major constraint. On the other hand corporate offices
whose access way may not constitute a problem may deploy fiber-optic in view of the fact that factors
such as electromagnetic interference, speed serve as boosters to data, VOIP, VIDEO transmission.
Please note redundancy is not at all a factor here. In a geostationary satellite there are over 26000
redundancies ----just to make ref. to one of the earlier discussants.
Shall come back later to continue.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Seun(m): 1:06pm On Apr 24, 2007
I think we're talking about fiber optics as a means of connecting ISPs to the rest of the world, so the issue of accessibility is unimportant. If fiber cables exist to link Nigeria and the UK with millisecond latency, they should be used.
Re: Fiber Optics or VSAT, which way to go? by Charlesck: 10:21am On Dec 18, 2009
There is really no much argument about VSAT and Fiber optics. i believe fiber is the way of the future. With more transatlantic fiber cables being run, i.e Glo1 i think the market for VSAT is gradually being eroded. For backbone connectivity, Fiber is unarguably the way forward because of its bandwidth capacity, low latency and low price. The big question is what about last mile connectivity? The cost of bringing fiber into your home is too high for home users to even think of. I live in Abuja where everything must be conduit, you cannot fly an cables. it would cost you an excess of N10million to get fiber to any where 3KM outside the city. DSL and ADSL are not feasible either because of the close to non existence of telephone lines. i should think that the way forward is a Wimax last mile over a fibre backbone. Companies like IPNX. DOPC and a host of other providers now have internet over Wimax. We need to see more fiber cables running from Nigeria to Europe just like Glo1 and SAT3 the more cables we have, the more competition and this will lead to a nose diving of price of broadband internet in Nigeria. If the price is low enough like what you have in Asian countries like Malaysia, We will begin to see more homes with broadband internet.

(1) (2) (Reply)

Must See:how To Get A Macbook Pro For Free (100% Genuine) / Does Scanning Of Pictures Requires Ink? / Help On How To Install Pes 2015.

(Go Up)

Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health
religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket

Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 72
Disclaimer: Every Nairaland member is solely responsible for anything that he/she posts or uploads on Nairaland.