What is Fiber Optic Cable?

The “fiber” part of fiber optics refers to tiny strains of glass fibers that are bundled together in cables. These fibers are made out of carefully spun glass tubes that are used to transmit light pulses. At one end of the cable, a small electrical transmitter creates a flash of light. This light travels through the glass threads and emerges on the other side, where a receiver reads the signals to form data. The core of glass thread can come in two different versions: Single mode and multi-mode. Single mode cables use only one fiber per cable, while multi-mode cables use a tight weave of many fibers at once. Rock Island/OPALCO are deploying a single mode fiber network.

Why are Fiber Optics a Better, Faster Technology?

The light that fiber optics uses is superior in nearly every way to the electric signals that copper wires use. As we all know the speed of light is extremely fast, and it does not suffer from the resistance issues that electricity literally runs into as it passes through copper wires. The result is greater speed over longer distances with greater capacity. The quality of the signal also receives a major boost. Fiber optic signals stay strong and clear of distortion as they pass through their glass threads (although sharp bends in the cable can cause problems), resulting in much greater fidelity than traditional wires. In the end, data transfers through fiber optics can reach incredible speeds, with recent tests achieving terabits and patabits per second speeds.

What device is placed on my home?

We will install a small fiber junction box on your home to deliver your service. It is very similar to your current telephone junction box. We run a fiber patch cable into your home and connect it to the fiber modem we supply for your use. Unlike many other fiber providers, we run your fibe connection all the way to your modem.

Rock Island Fiber

What is Rock Island’s Fiber offering?

Rock Island Fiber is offering an Internet connection speed 100+ times faster than the basic DSL avaliable in the county today. Service levels are (speeds up & down) 30Mbps, 75Mbps, 500 Mbps and 1 Gigabit (1,000 Mbps).

Rock Island is currently deploying is a Gigabit or 1,000 Mbps fiber network to the home and business.

Kbps, Mbps & Gbps?

Real simple, bits is speed or transfer rate of data, while bytes is volume of data moved within a second time period.

Data capped plans, like Satellite and some cell phone providers for example, track bytes per second during a pay period and charge you if you go over a certain level. Plans sold based upon bits per second (like Rock Islands) sell monthly plans based on the speed we deliver of your data regardless of how much you use. However, if you want to move a lot of data it is best done with a faster connection.

The difference between 1,000Kbps(Kilo) is = to 1Mbps(Mega). 1000Mbps is = to 1Gbps(Giga) and so on to Terabits (Tbps) and Petabits (Pbps), etc.

Are there data caps in my service?

No. Rock Island wants you to enjoy your broadband connection and not worry about how much you use. There are no data caps or limits to the amount of data you can send or receive.

Service Requirement

Is there a committed term for service?

There is no commitment for fiber service.