 and the consumer or business infrastructure, such as the home or office where the service is consumed. Often the last mile is a greater challenge outside of major metropolitan areas. It is not feasible or cost effective to lay fiber to every home or office where the service is required. Figure 15.7 illustrates the last-mile problem, including the Optical Network Termination (ONT). The backbone of the internet is often a fiber network. Internet Backbone / Fiber Steel Cabinet ONT: Optical Network Termination Figure 15.7 - The last-mile problem Often, it is not cost effective to lay fiber to every building and replace the older copper or similar cables. A Fixed-Wireless Access Gateway (FWAG) often becomes an alternative in such cases. Today, telecommunications providers want to offer their subscribers services that can leverage both the fixed network, whether it is DSL or cable internet, and mobile or cellular networks. Today, an average US household uses more than 10x the amount of data over their fixed network than over their mobile network. The consumption of broadband data has increased during the COVID pandemic, due to the work from home phenomenon. Conservative estimates describe a 30% increase in broadband use per average US household over the pandemic (https://www.consumeraffairs.com/ news/americans-increased-broadband-use-by-30-percent-during-the- pandemic - 040821 html). The use of web conferencing services such as Zoom and associated data increased 300% in some cases. We envision that 5G Core will become integral to the convergence of fixed network and cellular services over time (https /techblog. comsoc.org/2021/12/04/mobile-experts-on he-state-of-fixed-mobile-convergence-in-the-u-s-telecommunications market/) In the US market, the three major mobile wireless providers are Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, each with an estimate of over 100 million subscribers. The top fixed broadband providers are 5G Fixed Mobile Convergence Comcast and Charter Communications (which includes Spectrum Cable). However, AT&T, Veriz