What Are The Benefits of Fiber-Optic Internet?
“Fiber-Optic Internet”…sounds pretty cool, right? Well, that’s because it is! In short, fiber-optic internet is essentially a connection that is carried by a ton of thin, glass fibers (about the same thickness as a strand of hair) inside of a cable. Data (like movies, photos, games, surfing the web, etc) travels through the thin fiber as beams of light (very fast, beams of light!).
Fiber-optic internet offers many great advantages compared to cable internet/DSL, here are a few (of many):
Reliability
Fiber-Optic internet is much more reliable than your standard cable internet in many ways. Imagine this: You’re streaming your favorite show and then all of a sudden, that spinning wheel of doom pops up on your screen. No one likes that. With fiber-optic internet, you’ll be getting faster speeds that can seamlessly stream content without the interruptions that can be caused by cable internet (Unlike fiber-optic internet, cable internet can handle only a certain number of users and usage, thus overloading wires).
Symmetrical Speeds
Fiber-Optic internet allows for the same speed with uploading and downloading! Picture this: You finally download all the photos you took yesterday at your niece’s birthday party in minutes and finished editing them. Now, it’s time to send them all to your sister…..and you find it will take five hours to upload them?! Yikes. This is a prime example of non-symmetrical internet. Symmetrical internet means you have the same upload and download speed, which is exactly what fiber-optic internet delivers, because fiber doesn’t overload the system. It’s a win-win!
No Throttling
Fiber-Optic Internet will not ration your bandwidth due to usage. Here’s an example: Chances are, you’ve heard of or experienced a power outage caused by overload. For example, it’s Christmas time and you’re decorating the house with tons and tons of string lights, every inch of the roof and siding covered. There are also light-up reindeer on the lawn, too. You go to turn them on and then, all power goes out due to overloading the powerline (yes, I am referencing the movie “Christmas Vacation”). Cable internet tries to prevent outages from overloads by throttling, which is essentially when they lower everyone’s internet speed due to usage, in other words, rationing their service. Fiber-optic internet doesn’t do this, because it is less susceptible to overloading. More users and more use doesn’t result in throttling!
Better Gameplay
Fiber-Optic Internet won’t slow your gameplay down, especially when it counts the most. For example: You’ve been streaming on Twitch for three hours now and you are crushing it! Would be a shame if your cable internet connection interfered. Any experienced gamer knows that one blip in their cable internet connection can result in just that, ruined gameplay (especially when you’re crushing it!). Having fiber-fast internet that won’t interrupt your gameplay due to seamless streaming and consistent, constant flow of data is an all-around win (well…that is if you’re good at your game, too!).
Connecting Multiple Devices
Fiber-Optic Internet allows for multiple device usage while still maintaining fiber-fast speeds. Sure, you mainly use your laptop and smartphone, but there are more devices that you may not think of right away. For example, you’re making a recipe you found on your phone’s Pinterest app while playing music on Spotify from your Laptop, you ask your Alexa device how many tablespoons are in a cup while streaming “Doctor Who” on your smart TV in the background. All of those devices are connected to your internet. That’s a lot, and you’re just making dinner! With cable internet, you have limited bandwidth and your internet signal does down, throttling all connected devices for all users. Fiber-optic internet can handle multiple devices easily, and still be lightening fast.
