Fiber To The Room (FTTR) - Invisible Fiber Installation
The broadband revolution has now made its way up to the door of millions of homes in India. Once fiber makes its way into the building, however, is a topic the industry is just starting to discuss — and it’s a key one for every ISP, builder, and subscriber in the country.
The solution is Fiber to the Room (FTTR) and at the core of every deployment of FTTR is an incredible innovation: invisible fiber.
What Is Fiber to the Room (FTTR)?
In traditional FTTH (Fiber to the Home) deployments the fiber reaches an Optical Network Terminal (ONT) at the home’s entry point. From this location, the internal network is usually extended using wi-fi routers, amplifiers and powerline extenders throughout the rest of the site.
Every subscriber is familiar with the outcome – dead or weak signals in bedrooms, skipping speeds in kitchens, and disjointed speeds that are nothing like the plan you’ve signed up for.
At the infrastructure level, Fiber to the Room (FTTR) addresses this issue. Instead of stopping at the entry point, FTTR takes the fiber connection right into each room (literally a fiber backbone in place of a WiFi backbone) allowing gigabit-class connectivity at each endpoint without loss of signal, interference or bandwidth degradation.
The Challenge: Running Fiber Inside a Home
The idea of having the fiber in each room is very interesting. Historically, the challenge has been installation and putting it to use.
Traditional fiber cables use conduit, trunking or buried cables (which are all a disruption and require drilling holes in walls, plastering and painting the wall). This is not an acceptable type of intrusive installation in existing homes, apartments and commercial buildings.
This is where the invisible fiber optic cable makes all the difference.
What Is Invisible Fiber?
An ultra-thin, invisible optical fiber cable of 0.9mm outer diameter, which is virtually invisible when placed on the surface of the wall.
Unlike conventional fiber cables, invisible fiber is intended to be mounted on a wall, door frame, baseboard or edge of a ceiling and is installed with a special hot-melt adhesive installation gun, requiring no drilling, and no laying of any conduit.
The cable itself is made from G.657B3 bend insensitive fiber which is designed specifically for use in the tight corners and routing problems of indoor environments. Invisible fiber bends without losing signal strength, whether around door frames, along skirting boards or walking from room to room.
Invisible fibre cables are usually used to blanket an entire room or floor from a central distribution point and are available in standard lengths of 20m, 30m and 40m.
How Invisible Fiber Installation Works
One of the most important benefits for ISPs, system integrators and property developers is the simplicity of the installation process for the invisible fiber. Watch the full installation video here.
Step 1 — Plan the Route
Installer traces the fiber path from the central ONT or fiber distribution point to each room endpoint, around the edges of the walls, door frames, or baseboards to ensure the fiber is completely concealed.
Step 2 — Load the Installation Gun
A dedicated fiber installation glue gun is used to load the invisible fiber spool and to dispense a basic bead of hot-melt adhesive along the path of the cables, at precisely the right placement.
Step 3 — Apply and Route
The gun operator walks along the route of installation and the adhesive fuses the fibre to the wall surface as it goes, maintaining a flat, clean and secure placement of the cable. A 360° rotunda nozzle is capable of turning corners, angles and tight bends without any problem.
Step 4 — Terminate and Connect
After being routed the fiber is terminated to an SC/APC or SC/UPC connector at each room endpoint, to connect to a full gigabit ONT (Wi-Fi 6/6E access point) in each room to provide full gigabit performance to all devices within that room.
The whole project for a regular 2BHK apartment would take 2 to 3 hours, no damage to walls, no plastering and no resident disturbance.
Why FTTR With Invisible Fiber Is the Future of In-Building Connectivity
Invisible fiber FTTR can offer significant advantages over conventional in-building Wi-Fi distribution:
Zero Dead Zones– No shared wireless signal to suffer from distance and interference; each room has its own fiber endpoint that offers consistent gigabit performance.
No Signal Interference– Fiber is not radio frequency. Fiber is unaffected by concrete walls, metal structures, adjacent networks and microwave ovens.
Future-Proof Infrastructure– A fiber backbone today will be able to support Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 and all future wireless generations — without having to change the cabling infrastructure.
Non-Invasive Installation– Non Invasive Installation. When installed in a home with furnishings and occupants, invisible fiber can be installed without disrupting the residents.
Aesthetically Superior– The 0.9mm cable (transparent) is actually invisible in normal use, melting into walls as it runs along edges and frames…
FTTR and the Indian Market Opportunity
FTTH’s subscriber base in India is rapidly expanding — and with the inroads of fiber, the focus naturally has shifted to in-home experience. ISPs, MDU (multi-dwelling unit) developers and smart home integrators are more and more searching for a solution that meets the promise of gigabit connectivity – not simply from the ONT, but at each screen, each device, and each room.
FTTR using invisible fiber is that solution.
For ISPs, it is a high-end service tier that pays high ARPUs and provides them with much less churn. To developers, it’s an infrastructure that’s ready for the future, and provides real value to every unit. To end subscribers, it’s just the best broadband they’ve ever had.
How CWIPL Supports FTTR Deployments Across India
At CWIPL | Byteworx, we provide the full invisible fiber FTTR solution with a 0.9mm G.657B3 set of invisible fiber optic cables in 20m, 30m and 40m packages, and the unique fiber installation glue designed for clean, precise, and quick installation of fiber in buildings.
Designed for complete passive fiber network deployment, our FTTR products include backbone joint closures, splitters, last-mile pigtails, patch cords, connectors and adaptors that are sourced, validated and supplied to the highest international performance standards.
Our technical team is on hand to assist the ISP, system integrator and property developer in selecting, specifying and planning for deployment of FTTR to scale in India.