Question: I was recently contacted that fiber internet service will soon be available in my area. The company representative said it depends on the price I pay. What are the pros and cons of switching to fiber? Would it be better to wait for this company for a while? Thank you.
– PHShalimar, Florida
Answer: From where this Geek sits, it’s just a matter of technological progress. The question you asked was probably asked when everyone was dialing in, and broadband service began to operate as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable. At the time, both of these technologies existed and were stable, but they were not well known to the average user, so many questions were raised about them. Today, they are considered a solid, tried and true method of connecting to the Internet, but it depends more on the quality of the service provider than the underlying technology.
For those who don’t know, “fiber” in this sense refers to fiber optic cables. This technology completely resists metal conductors and instead relies on pulses of light traveling through fiber optic cables. There was a time when no other technology could match fiber in terms of the speed it would deliver to your home router. Today, it’s a race between cable and fiber. Cable seems to be around 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps), and the fiber packages I’ve seen offer competitive speeds and can grow.
Fiber optic cables are more reliable than copper or aluminum cables. Traditional cables use electricity to send their data signals, making them vulnerable to weather events such as storms, extreme cold, and electromagnetic interference (EMI). Fiber optic cables do not suffer from any of these problems.
I’m not so sure the sales rep told you the price “about what you’re paying now”. First, the word “about” leaves a lot of wiggle room, and second, fiber is always more expensive than cable. If that changes, we’ll all benefit because competition should drive prices down as different companies try to win people’s business. The price is fixed for a while, but then goes up, and you’re warned to read the fine print to make sure you’re not signing an introductory agreement that locks you in.
Unless it’s a new company in our area, I don’t see anything but waiting for them in our area for a while. Trust me when I say that I understand the desire not to live in a technologically advanced market, but I think these principles apply more to new software releases and new types of hardware. In this case, fiber is a solid technology that has been used for many years. The concern (and rightly so) is this company’s ability to deliver and loyalty to its customers. As mentioned above, unless the company is brand new, you should Google it and see how it has performed in other markets.
One thing I’ll mention that you didn’t ask about, because it’s the “stuffy” thing that a lot of people don’t think about, is the networking equipment that makes up your home LAN. You can bring the fastest and most incredible speeds to your doorstep, but if you’re chained to broken old hardware that can be used to connect devices on the side of the firewall, you’re severely limiting your options. . This, of course, is true regardless of what technology your chosen ISP uses to deliver your Internet connection. So, make sure you have a router or switch with gigabit speeds, and remember that Wi-Fi works at a fraction of those speeds.
Personally, I’m happy to be able to upgrade to fiber. If nothing else, it gives me options so I’m not stuck with one provider. When you only have one choice of company to go to, they are not motivated to go the extra mile for their customers.
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