If my Verizon Fios internet and tv are fiber optic, then why do the STB and router both need coaxial connections too?
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#ELI5
Fiber only comes TO your house. From the junction box outside the house (or just inside), it is converted from Fiber to a Coaxial signal.
Why?
(1) Most houses have been wired for coax for decades. That is, the wiring is ALREADY THERE. It’s more efficient to just use the wiring that’s already there.
(2) Coax is much cheaper than fiber. Fiber is really a tube of special glass. The optical signal doesn’t go straight through the tube, no, it really BOUNCES off the inside walls of the tube. This means you can’t really bend it too much. All in all, fiber is more expensive to manufacture than coax. So why not run the cheaper kind of thing throughout your house?
(3) All the tools and hardware to split cables, connect cables, extend cables, and repair cables is also much cheaper in coax form.
(4) Because of all this, DEVICES also have no push to convert to fiber. Why make a fiber AND a coax version of your set top box, when all the above reasons for coax exist?
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