/ˌɛf.tiː.tiːˈsiː/
noun — "fiber close enough to make copper feel fast again."
FTTC, short for Fiber to the Cabinet, is a broadband access architecture where optical fiber runs from the service provider’s core network to a street-side cabinet, with existing copper lines completing the final connection to homes or businesses. It is a widely used compromise between full fiber deployment and legacy copper networks.
Technically, FTTC places fiber termination equipment in a roadside cabinet that feeds a DSLAM or DPU. From there, high-speed DSL technologies such as VDSL2 or G.fast deliver data over short copper loops to customer premises equipment (CPE). Keeping the copper run short significantly improves bandwidth and signal quality compared to long-distance DSL.
Key characteristics of FTTC include:
- Hybrid architecture: combines fiber backhaul with copper last-mile access.
- Cost efficiency: avoids full fiber installation to every building.
- Improved speeds: much faster than traditional ADSL deployments.
- Short copper loops: reduces attenuation and interference.
- Scalable design: can evolve toward deeper fiber or FTTH.
In real-world deployments, FTTC is commonly used in suburban and urban areas where fiber rollout to each home is expensive or disruptive. Operators upgrade cabinets with fiber and modern DSL equipment, delivering high-speed broadband quickly using existing infrastructure.
Conceptually, FTTC is like running a high-speed rail line to the edge of a neighborhood, then using local roads for the final stretch.
Intuition anchor: FTTC brings fiber close enough that copper stops being the bottleneck.