Glowing Fibrous Tentacles Have Invaded My Village!
And one of those tentacles just reached into my house! 
Oh wait. Sorry if I caused any alarm. It’s just a fiber optic cable for my internet connection. 
When I first came to China in 2006, I got this odd wave of “goodbye” emails from friends. They were all convinced that China didn’t even have internet. It was a little hard to convince them that the job applications I submitted were all done by email.
The funny thing was that my internet in China has always been faster than what I could get in the US. My house in Florida could only get broadband by satellite. 
My first apartment and my house here both had DSL.
So, here I am in a Chinese village and my China Telecom DSL (I need my internet, so I’ve got a second DSL line with another company 
) just got upgraded to a fiber optic cable today.
Installation was a little different. For the DSL line, instead of using a typical phone NID, they twisted the wires together and shoved it into a plastic water bottle 
before running the line from the back of the house, over the roof, and finally down to a hole into the 3rd floor.
High Tech Fiber Optic Cable and Bamboo Ladder
The new line took the same path across the rooftop as the old DSL line, but plugs into something far more professional looking than a water bottle.
Fiber Optic Cable Connection Box
Light Up My Internet 🙂
Inside, the installation technician had to put a new end on the cable. The last time I saw a fiber optic cable (a long time ago in a server room far far away), it was a lot thicker. When the end of this one was stripped, the fiber optic strand was about as fine as a hair.
My Very Own Fiber Optic Cable
I’m still running at my old DSL speed. The technician assured me that ludicrous speed capabilities will be enabled from the central office later this week.
At last, surfing at the speed of light. 
Fall 2018 update: Competition is a wonderful thing. The second DSL line got replaced by a fiber optic cable from another company. Then it went back to being a faster DSL line (with an extensive TV and movie package). Recently, the original fiber optic cable was replaced by a new one from a different company – and came with a free TV package. Some of the companies offer even better deals on 4-year packages, but since the speed keeps increasing (currently supposed to be 100 MBs on both) and the cost keeps dropping, I’m avoiding any long-term contracts for internet service.
