13/12/2024
4 advantages of fiber optic internet speed
1.Speed
Fiber optic internet speed is 1 Gbps. Thatâs 10 to 20 times speedier than the 50 to 100 Mbps cable most of us know now. For a concrete fiber optic vs cable internet speed comparison, see the list below. It shows how long it takes to download a 2-hour movie on fiber optic vs cable internet.
Time to download a 2-hour HD movie:
Fiber optic internet speed 1 Gbps: 40 seconds
Cable internet speed 100 Mbps: 7 minutes
DSL speed 25 Mbps: 30 minutes [3]
4G LTE speed 35 Mbps: 25 minutes
5G internet speed 10 Gbps: 4 seconds [4]
2. Reliability
Weâve all had it happen. Youâre watching The Incredibles with the kids and suddenly Bob Parrâs face gets blocky. He freezes in mid air. Is it a diabolical freeze ray? No, itâs your slow cable internet connection. Your 4-year-old says, âDaddy, why did it stop?â
The truth is that your cable connection should be fast enough to stream video without interruption, but peak traffic overloads the wires. Thatâs where fiber optic internet vs cable speed differences get obvious. Fiber optics can handle more users and more data at consistently higher speeds.
Another bonus? Fiber optic cable internet doesnât need energized lines, so itâs not as prone to outages as cable internet. As long as the fiber optic cable stays intact, it can keep delivering your bits and bytes even when the lights are out [5].
3. No throttling
Have you ever noticed the power goes out just when you need it most? On a hot summer Sunday for instance, when you really, really want your air conditioner to work? Thatâs because those hot days overload our powerlines. Everyone is maxing out their A/C at the same time.
The same thing happens with our cable internet systems. Internet providers use âthrottlingâ to prevent those outages. At peak times, your ISP may lower your cable speed from 100 Mbps to 20 or lower to ration their service. Fiber optic internet speed doesnât throttle because itâs less susceptible to overload.
4. Same speed for download and upload
âI downloaded this movie in 3 minutes but it took 3 hours to upload.â If youâve ever said that, youâre not alone. Cable internet has different speeds for download and upload, and upload speeds are a lot slower. Thatâs based on how people use the internet. Most of us do a lot more downloading than uploading, so internet providers give most of their bandwidth to downloads.
With fiber optic internet speed, that slow upload time goes out the window. Because thereâs no worry of overloading the system, fiber optic internet providers can give equal shrift to uploads and downloads alike. That makes it easier to share files and work from home with fiber optic cable internet service.