What is a hybrid fiber coax network? Easily explained

Many cable network operators have a hybrid fiber coax network and also advertise it. But what is behind this term? We will explain it to you.

What is a hybrid fiber coax network?

• The hybrid fiber coax network, in short: HFC network, consists of two components: firstly a fiber optic network and secondly a coaxial cable network.
• In HFC networks, the fiber optic network is the backbone, so to speak, the backbone, while the end consumers are supplied with coaxial cables.
• In practice it works like this: Settlements or residential areas are divided into so-called segments. Coaxial cables are laid in each of these segments, which lead from the individual houses to various network nodes - so-called nodes. Each node is connected to the fiber optic backbone and transfers the data from one network to the other.
• The advantage of HFC networks is that they can transfer large amounts of data at relatively low cost. With this technology, you can benefit from the speed of a fiber optic network, while eliminating higher costs such as laying fiber optic connections to every house.
• Since each segment is connected to the fiber optic backbone via a separate network node, bottlenecks in the HFC network can be easily remedied. These usually only occur within the individual coaxial segments. If the capacity of a segment is no longer sufficient, it can simply be divided into several small parts. Each part then gets its own node and becomes an independent segment. As a result, the individual segments become smaller and fewer households have to share the bandwidth.

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