Your top priority is keeping your family and home protected and safe from harm. Thankfully, today’s technology can help.
Your neighbors at FPUAnet Communications understand your concerns and desire to keep your family safe. We are also a part of our community and are proud to help serve and keep people informed, connected, healthy and secure. That’s why we’ve put together this brief guide to smart home security that anyone connected to our high-speed fiber network can learn from and put to good use.
This concise overview highlights some of the most well-regarded smart home security measures and technology recommended by home safety experts.
Smart Doorbells
Smart doorbells help you see who is at your door before you answer. They also monitor any activity on your doorstep, front porch, driveway and even on the street in some cases. These devices can help prevent deliveries and packages from being stolen and deter suspicious activity at your home.
Smart Security Cameras
A smart security camera setup is a must for those looking for more robust security.
You can install a smart security camera system anywhere in or outside your home, from the driveway to the backyard. Many smart security cameras are designed with motion sensors, so any time a person—or even larger wildlife—is detected, you will know it.
You can also use smart security cameras with motion-sensing outdoor lighting, which will also help deter unwanted visitors. Best of all, smart security cameras connect to your home’s Wi-Fi and all your devices, keeping you notified of activity outside your home.
Smart Lighting and Glass-Break Detectors
Other state-of-the-art smart home tools can further improve safety and security. For example, glass-break detectors can alert you to intruders. Similarly, smart lights detect motion and can send notifications to your phone or tablet, alerting you to be on your guard.
When these devices connect to your home’s fiber network, your family can be notified of a break-in, even if you aren’t home.
Personal Medical Alert and Emergency Devices
Seniors and others with mobility limitations or chronic health problems need quick communication with first responders.
When there’s an acute health emergency or other safety concern, personal medical alert and emergency devices can connect people to first responders at the touch of a button. During an emergency, there’s no need for seniors to locate and use a phone. Modern wearable tech makes it easier than ever to contact emergency services in seconds.
Don’t Forget About Network and Online Security
At FPUAnet Communications, we take the security and stability of our network very seriously. Our engineers and technicians constantly work to keep the network safe from attacks. But there are also some steps you can take to protect your data and online privacy.
Keep your home network safe from hackers and phishing attacks by using strong anti-virus software and apps on all your devices, as well as password managers to safeguard your accounts.
And be sure to use a complex password that is difficult to guess—and not the same as all your other passwords! Ad blockers can also save both aggravation and the unseemly tendency of advertisers to track your online activity.
These are just some innovative devices and services available to put smart home technology to good use for home safety and security. But as always, practice common sense in and around your home and online.
Keep front and back doors locked (and car doors, too). And avoid clicking on suspicious emails or untrustworthy links, so you don’t become a victim of a security breach. A little caution, paired with modern technology, can keep your home, family, and community safe and secure.
Many internet users experience a sluggish connection even with “high-speed internet.” They’ve invested in a good Wi-Fi router, perhaps a range extender, and may have even upgraded to a faster internet plan.
So why do they find themselves frequently frustrated by slowdowns and freeze-ups? What about their devices—or internet plan—causes this underwhelming performance? And what, if anything, can people do to reduce or even eliminate these issues?
The most likely culprits behind poor internet performance are bandwidth hogs—devices and online activities that gobble up too much bandwidth and slow down everyone’s internet access.
The good news is FPUAnet Communications’ advanced fiber network provides exceptionally high download speeds and the much-overlooked bandwidth capacity that only fiber internet can offer. Combined, fiber’s high speeds and excellent bandwidth can end internet sluggishness.
We discuss bandwidth in greater detail below and explain why every internet customer needs to understand it.
Then, we turn to the most common bandwidth hogs in most people’s homes—devices and online activities—and then explain how FPUAnet Communications’ best speed tiers can help resolve any bandwidth issues.
What Is Bandwidth—and Why Is Higher Bandwidth So Important?
Bandwidth can be confusing. Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of information an internet connection can manage per second.
Bandwidth doesn’t measure a particular internet connection's rate (or speed). Instead, it’s about the volume of online data a connection can “carry” and transfer at any given time.
High bandwidth levels let internet users accomplish activities like streaming TV shows, participating in video calls, playing online games, and posting to social media simultaneously without any slowdowns.
More bandwidth is indispensable for keeping an active online household productive—and happy!
What Exactly Is a Bandwidth Hog?
A bandwidth hog is a colloquial term for a device or online activity that eats up more than its fair share of bandwidth. It hogs too much bandwidth and greedily takes it from other devices or activities. Keep in mind that everyday web browsing typically has little impact on overall bandwidth use.
Some devices are famous bandwidth hogs. Just by turning on and connecting to a bandwidth hog, a huge amount of available bandwidth on your internet connection will be used.
And certain activities require excess bandwidth to carry out your needs. When even one (or more) bandwidth hogs are activated, the dreaded slowdowns and freeze-ups can occur, leading to frustration and anger in your home!
High definition, 4K, and 4K Ultra-HD TVs produce stunning imagery and hog lots of bandwidth in the process. Using your smart TV can devour an enormous slice of your home internet’s bandwidth. If you have limited bandwidth capacity, your smart TV could impact other devices and online activities or even slow down a show you want to watch.
By far the activity with the most excessive use of bandwidth is streaming video.
Netflix tends to be the top offender, in part due to its popularity and vast library of content. Many people stream shows and movies on other devices like their tablets rather than just their smart TVs. And if you have more than one person in your household—and multiple tablets and phones in use—your bandwidth can easily be hogged just by streaming shows and movies.
And Netflix isn’t the only problem. Streaming services like TikTok and YouTube also use lots of bandwidth. Posting videos also hogs the bandwidth dedicated to uploads, which can be limited unless you’re on a fiber plan with symmetrical speeds.
Video Calling
During the COVID-19 pandemic, video conference calling became a daily part of life for many people. Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and other services allowed people to stay connected face-to-face, even across long distances. But video calls are notorious bandwidth hogs.
Voice, text, and video all combine to devour bandwidth—and that’s why you’ve experienced those ridiculous freeze-frame faces during the call!
And remember, with video calling, you are not just receiving data—you are also continuously sending it back to the server (uploading). That accounts for video calling’s massive appetite for bandwidth and why so many video calls end up frustrating people… unless you have fiber internet’s fast uploads!
Online Gaming
Another big-time bandwidth hog is online gaming.
Online gaming is incredibly problematic from a bandwidth perspective because, like video calling, information is shared—from the player back to the server and the server back to the player. It often jams the internet connection for gamers and others in the house.
Higher bandwidth allows this excessive volume of data to transfer with far less latency or other delays. So gamers experiencing lag or freezes will benefit from internet plans and tiers that provide more bandwidth.
What’s the Best Way to Get More Bandwidth?
Well, apart from eliminating bandwidth hogs—the devices and activities you already have and love—your best solution is to upgrade to fiber internet.
DSL, cable, and satellite internet don’t have fiber’s high speeds or bandwidth capacity because fiber’s innovative design and cutting-edge materials allow for data to transfer faster and in much higher volumes.
If you already have fiber internet and would like to improve your internet service, you should increase your plan’s maximum speeds. With our fastest plans, offering speeds up to 1 Gbps, not even these typical “hogs” will be able to gobble up all your bandwidth!
Our top tier package provides plenty of bandwidth to allow a steady flow of online activity like streaming TV and movies, video calling, online gaming, and social media posting. Just by using fiber internet and upgrading your internet speed, you should easily get all the bandwidth your household needs.
To sum it all up, the more bandwidth an internet connection has, the more information it can send out and get back at any particular moment.
And with fiber’s advanced technology and higher speeds, you’ll have additional bandwidth to disburse throughout your home and among your devices. With fiber’s higher bandwidth capacity, your household can avoid the freeze-ups and slowdowns that still plague so many internet users today.
If you have more questions about how fiber internet and its maximum speeds and higher bandwidth can make a difference in your internet connection, feel free to reach out to us.
Fort Pierce, FL – FPUAnet Communications, has announced a partnership with Blueline Telecom, one of the fastest growing Voice & Data service providers in the nation.
The partnership will enable FPUAnet Communications to offer Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions to its business customers, leveraging Blueline Telecom's state-of-the-art cloud platform and network. UCaaS is a cloud-based service that integrates voice, video, messaging, collaboration, and mobility features into a single solution.
“We are excited to partner with Blueline Telecom and bring their innovative UCaaS solutions to our business customers,” said Jason Mittler, FPUAnet Manager. “This partnership will enhance our product portfolio and provide our customers with more options to communicate effectively and efficiently.”
“Blueline Telecom is proud to work with FPUAnet Communications and support their mission to provide high-speed fiber internet and smart city services to Fort Pierce,” said Scott Williams, President of Blueline Telecom. “We share their passion for customer care and look forward to delivering reliable, scalable, and cost-effective voice solutions to their market.”
The partnership will also benefit both companies by expanding their reach and customer base in Florida. FPUAnet Communications currently serves over 1,000 parcels in Fort Pierce with fiber internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps. Blueline Telecom serves over 10,000 customers nationwide with voice and data services.
About FPUAnet Communications
FPUAnet Communications is a division of Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA), a municipal utility that provides electric, water, wastewater treatment services as well as natural gas distribution services. FPUAnet Communications was established in 2008 to provide broadband communication services to the community. FPUAnet Communications offers fiber internet access delivered via fiber optic cable with symmetrical up and download speeds starting at 100 Mbps. For more information about FPUAnet Communications visit https://fpuanet.com/ or call (772) 468-1696.
About Blueline Telecom
Blueline Telecom is a leader in Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 2011 by telecommunications industry veterans, Blueline Telecom offers voice and data services delivered via its geographically diverse and redundant network. Blueline Telecom's software is a comprehensive cloud platform that integrates voice, video, messaging, collaboration, and mobility features into a single solution. For more information about Blueline Telecom visit https://www.bluelinetelecom.com/ or call (888) 551-0811.
FPUAnet Communications, a leading local provider of high-speed internet services, has announced the launch of a new fiber zone that promises to bring lightning-fast internet speeds to residents and businesses in the area.
The new fiber area, which covers several streets within the city, is part of FPUAnet's ongoing efforts to expand its network and provide reliable and affordable internet services to its customers.
Fiber optic technology is widely recognized as the gold standard for internet connectivity, offering faster speeds, greater bandwidth, and more reliable connections than traditional copper cable or DSL lines. With fiber, data is transmitted via pulses of light that travel through thin strands of glass or plastic, making it faster and more reliable than traditional copper cable or DSL lines.
FPUAnet's new fiber area is set to revolutionize the way residents and businesses in the region access the internet. With speeds of up to 1 Gbps, customers can enjoy lightning-fast downloads and uploads, seamless video streaming, and lag-free online gaming.
FPUAnet's new fiber area is a game-changer for the region's economy as well. With faster internet speeds, businesses can take advantage of cloud computing, remote working, and other digital tools to boost productivity and efficiency. And with more reliable internet connections, businesses can avoid costly downtime and lost revenue.
The launch of the new fiber area is just the latest step in FPUAnet's commitment to delivering high-quality internet services to its customers. As a leading local provider of internet services, FPUAnet has a proven track record of innovation and excellence, with a network that spans the region and provides reliable and affordable internet access to thousands of customers.
In conclusion, FPUAnet Communications‘ new fiber area is a significant development for the region's internet infrastructure. With faster speeds, greater reliability, and increased security, fiber optic technology is set to revolutionize the way residents and businesses access the internet. And with FPUAnet's commitment to innovation and excellence, customers can expect to enjoy high-quality internet services for years to come.
To learn more about our fiber internet for your business, contact us at (772) 468-1697 or sales@fpuanet.com. We’re proud to keep Fort Pierce’s homes and businesses connected!
FPUAnet Communications is now offering business-level fiber optic cable service, part of a nationwide rollout that’s bringing the fastest internet service with the broadest bandwidth ever before widely available.
But just what is fiber optic cable, and how is it made? And what makes it so much better than copper cable?
Also commonly called fiber cable, fiber optic cable is a cable line filled with very thin filaments made from silica glass or plastic. The data is then transmitted using light pulses rather than the electrical signals used to move information on copper lines.
Fiber cable moves data much faster than copper lines—easily 20 times faster or more—and can accommodate far more data at once, which means more devices can use bandwidth-hogging applications at once without throttling, buffering, or other slowdowns that could occur during high-traffic times, like your business hours.
A quick history of fiber optic telecommunications Alexander Graham Bell gets the credit for being one of the earliest experimenters with fiber optic technology, something he explored as he created the telephone in the 1880s. But it was almost a century later before commercial production began.
Credit for the big breakthrough goes to Corning engineers who found a way to make strands of glass that could move data contained within pulses of light that computers could then convert to usable forms for the human beings at each end. And critically, it could do all that without the light pulses leaking from the cable.
That was in the 1970s, at the dawn of the computer age. In fact, fiber optics grew up along with computers and the internet as telecommunications technology advanced at the revolutionary pace that we’re still seeing today.
The 3 Cs of fiber cable
Fiber optic cable is manufactured with three major components. From the inside out, that’s the core, the cladding, and the coating.
The core is the key to fiber optic’s ability to transmit data at very high speeds and very long distances without the loss of signal strength that can plague copper wire. It’s the center of the cable that contains the super-clear glass or plastic fiber comprising strands roughly the thickness of a human hair.
Then there’s the cladding. That’s another layer of glass that functions as a reflector to keep the light pulses inside the core as they hurtle to their destination at a pace that can approach the speed of light.
Finally, there’s the coating, a thin rubber layer that shields the fiber from scratches and other damage. (One thing the shield doesn’t have to do is contain electromagnetic signals. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) can be a major problem with copper cable, a problem that doesn’t exist when simply moving light.)
Creating the fiber itself
Optic fiber glass strands are created in a highly controlled environment and a multistep process that begins with a ceramic rod that attracts the silicon dioxide that then forms into a thick cylinder. Any moisture is removed in a high-temperature furnace and the resulting blanks are then placed vertically in an even hotter furnace for the process called the draw.
The draw is when the melting glass forms into strands used for both the core and cladding. After they cool, the strands are wrapped on spools and then later unspooled—either on-site or in a specialized finishing facility elsewhere—for the application of the rubber coating. They later can be joined together into multiple-strand cabling that can then be run through metal or rubber conduits and, when needed, separated back into individual strands at their final destination.
By building our network with this top-of-the-line tech, we can provide high-speed, high-capacity telecommunications that can easily handle your most demanding applications, including multiple VoIP phone lines, teleconferencing, large video uploads and downloads, and cloud-based, business-critical software—with speed, capacity, reliability, and security that copper lines simply can’t match.
To learn more about our fiber internet for your business, contact us at (772) 468-1697 or sales@fpuanet.com. We’re proud to keep Fort Pierce’s homes and businesses connected!
