Optical fiber traffic slowdown?
I am doing a research project on Google Fiber, and I was wondering if a pure optical network would have the slow down from high internet traffic that traditional coaxial networks do. If it would slow down due to high traffic how many people or devices would have to be accessing the network in order to slow it down?
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Yes a "slow down" could occur. The reason they are using fiber isn't just for speed, but also range and reliability. Traditional ISP networks can't get the speed up (as far as I know, I'm more of a LAN guy), so they need a different technology. Ethernet is has been expanding outside of the LAN for years now, and allows for higher speed than DOCSIS or DSL (both of which have limited range). You can get 1 Gbps on copper connections (or even 10Gbps) but it is limited to 100m (300 ft) before the signal begins to degrade. FIber increases the range (upto 10k on standard single mode) and isn't effected by EMI.
Congestion is caused by usage, not medium the data sent across. I'm not sure what fiber they are putting in, but if its 9 micron single mode, then it can actually support 10Gbps or higher. Instead, you should focus on the network equipment they are putting in and the topology. If the total bandwidth the devices on the link can support is 1 Gbps, then that is what it can support.