What Is Fiber-Optic Internet?
How much time do you spend on the internet a day?
If you’re anything like the average American, you’re probably spending at least 6 hours online every day. Whether it’s from your smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, smart TV, gaming consoles, or even the Amazon Alexa in your home, the internet plays a significant role in your daily life.
If you’re reliant on the internet for your career or schoolwork, or if your household has multiple devices online at once, you’d probably benefit by switching to fiber optic internet.
What is fiber optic internet? Keep reading our page to learn about fiber internet and how it compares to the other types of technology.
What Is Fiber Optic Internet?
Fiber optic internet is the newest type of internet technology that works by sending data through fiber optic cables. These cables work much faster and are stronger than traditional copper wires, which are responsible for DSL and cable internet.
So why do fiber optic cables work better than copper ones? The fiber optic material is capable of carrying the light signals for longer distances without any distortions. Copper wires don’t have the same capabilities and often end up with a weaker signal and voltage distortions.
Benefits of Fiber Internet
Fiber internet has become popular due to its unmatched speed, range, and durability when compared to other types of internet.
In the US, the average download speed on the internet is about 12 to 25 megabits per second. By using Century Link fiber internet, your download speed could reach up to 940 megabits per second!
You can learn more about Century Link’s fiber optic internet services by clicking here, Connectnw.net/centurylink.
Fiber internet is more resistant to harsh weather conditions that would normally knock out your internet. It’s also more effective at resisting electrical interferences that could be coming from other devices or even your neighbor’s WiFi.
Differences Between Other Types of Internet Technology
If you’ve already got decent internet, why should you make the switch? We’ve listed the other types of internet technology below so you can compare their speeds and features to those of fiber optic internet.
Dial-Up
Chances are, you don’t have dial-up anymore, but you probably remember it. Dial-up used the telephone lines that connected your landline, so you couldn’t use the phone and internet at the same time. Dial-up download speeds were about 0.05Mbps.
DSL
DSL, or digital subscriber line, also uses the same telephone lines as Dial-up, but it uses inaudible frequencies. This makes it possible for users to use the phone and internet at the same time. DSL has download speeds ranging from 1 to 100 Mbps.
Cable
Cable is the most popular type of internet access, because it’s more reliable than Dial-up and DSL, and it’s the most accessible right now. Cable uses the same line as your cable TV, and has a wide range of performance speeds, reaching up to 940Mbps.
While that speed is the same as fiber internet, it isn’t as reliable. When cable internet is accessed by multiple devices, the speed tends to drop and things begin to get patchy.
Staying Connected
Fiber optic internet is changing the way that we go online, and it’s easy to see why. Hopefully, our page taught you what is fiber optic internet, and why it’s the most reliable option compared to other internet access options.
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out some of our other great technology content so you can stay connected and informed!