Fiber-to-the-Home cable on its way

Local residents will soon be surfing the net with the best of them as the result of a project undertaken by the Wilkes Telephone & Electric Company (WT&E) to install Fiberto the-Home (FTTH) cable in Lincoln County.

WT&E decided to offer this progressive technology to Lincoln County residents first, due to the high

demand for high-speed Internet access in some of the more rural areas of the county.

The project will be completed in phases. The first phase, which includes homes and business along the Thomson Highway, should get underway this week.

FTTH utilizes the same type of cable that traditionally served complete neighborhoods or towns and extends it directly to each home. The fiber cable eliminates the band-width limitations found in traditional copper and coaxial cables because it is 1,000 times faster than current DSL and cable modems.

With FTTH, WT&E will be able to provide super-fast Internet access and exceptional landline telephone service to county residents. The company will also offer sophisticated cable television service, with hundreds of channels and features such as video-on-demand, digital video recording (DVR), and high-definition television (HDTV).

FTTH's superior digital technology permits all of these highly developed services to be delivered via a single fiber connection.

"We are very excited to bring this new technology to Lincoln County," stated George Dyson, president of WT&E. "In fact, Wilkes will be one of the first independent telephone companies in Georgia to build a complete FTTH system to service its customers."

Moreover, new applications for FTTH are emerging daily. These include shared Internet access, streaming audio and video within the home, home security monitoring, distance learning, telecommuting, and home automation. With this service, the consumer may monitor his home via the Web and even control the thermostat while away, among other things.

For more information about the FTTH project, contact WT&E at 706-359-3111 or 706-678-5005 or email the company at washga@nuz. net.