Sometime in the not-too-distant future, we can expect most homes to be wired for high-speed Internet connections, phone service and video-on-demand TV programming all on one fiber-optic line.
And Tom Reiman, CEO of The Broadband Group consultancy in Sacramento, is right in the middle of designing projects in which entire communities are connected to fiber-optic cables — bundles of glass strands that can replace coaxial cable and phone lines.

His company just finished contract negotiations representing Brambleton, Va., a newly developed housing community, for the launch of a fiber-to-the-home system by Verizon Communications. The project is a trial run for Verizon, which plans to make a cost assessment of its future-looking service in a year.

Reiman’s company drafted a technology master plan defining the voice, video and data services to be provided to new residents from the day they move in. In addition to providing services such as street maintenance and trash removal, first-phase residents in Brambleton will get phone service, TV programming and high-speed Internet access for their monthly $187.10 homeowner fee. Reiman’s company represents more than 40 communities nationally in several similar initiatives.

WINfirst, a Denver-based company is currently laying in a $500 million fiber-to-the-home system in Sacramento County. Costs are high, however, and initially WINfirst is using a mix of fiber and co-axial cable until it can pull down costs with a critical mass of subscribers. It has begun the service in South Natomas and will offer its services to one neighborhood at a time as it builds out. It is charging $100 a month.

Cost is the major obstacle to fiber in the home. Another is whether consumers will want to sign up for it when they might not need or use all the massive bandwidth provided by fiber. But if costs come down, fiber-to-the-home has big potential to become the home telecom connection of choice, over copper or cable.