What is Fiber?
Fiber-optic communication is a method of transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of light through an optical fiber. The light forms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information.Optical fibre technology has revolutionised the transport of information. An optical fibre is a single strand of glass, thinner than a human hair that can convey signals from a tiny laser at almost unimaginable speeds – up to 1 Terabit per second (one million million binary digits per second).
The backbone of our network consists of many thousands of kilometres of optical fibre cable following railway lines and power lines across South Africa. Eskom and Transtel developed and patented techniques that led to the deployment of the fibre. The fibre is either wrapped around the wires or within the wires of power lines, suspended along the electrical masts of railway lines or directly buried alongside the lines.
Our optical fibre technology also takes advantage of the latest advances in the science of photonics and opto-electronics. On major routes, every optical fibre is lit with a rainbow of coloured lasers (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing or DWDM), each carrying a separate high bandwidth signal at several Gigabits per second (billions of bits per second). Adding the ability to switch these optical signals from one path to another at key nodes around the country (Optical Cross Connects) creates a network resilient to fibre breaks.
National Fibre Network
Energia Fibre products available from 2-25Mbps, 50Mbps and 100Mbps Fibre products options. Fibre backbone of more than 200 000km Fibre in South Africa, giving us with the advantage of having access to 25% more fibre than the single largest ISP in South Africa.
What is microwave?
A microwave link is a communications system that uses a beam of radio waves in the microwave frequency range to transmit information between two fixed locations on the earth.
One of the reasons microwave links are so adaptable is that they are broadband. That means they can move large amounts of information at high speeds. Another important quality of microwave links is that they require no equipment or facilities between the two terminal points, so installing a microwave link is often faster and less costly than a cable connection. Finally, they can be used almost anywhere, as long as the distance to be spanned is within the operating range of the equipment and there is clear path (that is, no solid obstacles) between the locations. Microwaves are also able to penetrate rain, fog, and snow, which means bad weather doesn’t disrupt transmission.
In the event Fibre is not an option Energia offers Microwave services with the same SLA as fibre depending on service taken.