Copper wire will continue to be the primary means to connect homes and small businesses to carrier networks. But as customer demands outgrow current technologies, fiber connectivity will offer another option. Most last-mile fiber applications will use passive optical networking (PON) technologies, which share the capacity of a single fiber line among several buildings. In that way, network deployment costs scale down, as do end user fees. In addition, the technology can handle data, voice, and video traffic, making it even more attractive. Still, widespread adoption will be hampered by limited end user interest in broadband connectivity, ongoing financial concerns within the carrier community, and the high cost of deploying fiber to existing buildings. Wireless technologies--primarily 802.11-based--may prove a longer-term consumer option, given their portability and lower deployment costs.