If you’re interested in high speed business Internet services, you may have noticed the growing availability of “fiber optic” Internet. Fiber optic Internet—also known as just “fiber”—is a new type of Internet technology that operates at far greater speeds than its predecessors. If you’re interested in best-in-class Internet speeds, you’re looking for fiber-optic Internet.
What is Fiber Optic Internet?
Traditionally, Internet is transmitted along either cable lines or telephone lines. Both cable and telephone lines are made with copper wire, run either under the ground or from pole to pole. This technology is very old. Cable and DSL Internet services are being carried over cable and telephone lines that were laid down decades prior.
Rather than using copper wire, fiber technology uses long strands of either plastic or glass, run together as a single insulated cable. There are far more strands being used for data transmission in a single fiber-optic cable than there is in a traditional copper wire cable. This is what makes it possible to transmit more information at once.
The Advantages of Fiber Optic Internet
While a cable Internet service may go up to 100 Mbps in speed, a fiber optic connection can go up to 10 Gig or higher. A fiber connection will be anywhere from 10 times to 100 times faster than a traditional Internet service. Data speeds and data redundancy also make fiber optic connections more reliable. A fiber connection is going to be a newer and more stable connection compared to older cable runs.
As streaming Internet is becoming more popular and file sizes are getting larger, it becomes necessary to increase Internet speeds and bandwidth. There is an upper boundary on how fast cable or DSL Internet will ever be able to be. Fiber-optic technology can support the Internet’s growing demands for speed and reliability. It has been expressly designed to be the future of internet service—a future where video and audio will continue to increase in quality.
As fiber-optic technology is also more durable, it’s also expected to last longer than cable or DSL infrastructure. Cable or DSL service infrastructure will degrade over time, eventually being replaced with advanced, cutting-edge technologies such as fiber-optics. For businesses, fiber optic services provide superior levels of scalability, especially as more businesses start to rely upon cloud-based and web-based services.
Getting Fiber-Optic Internet
The only downside to fiber-optic Internet is that it isn’t available everywhere; it’s still being expanded into many locations, and it’s still rare in rural or remote areas. Many cities are fighting for fiber-optic development in the future.
Not everyone needs the speed that fiber Internet provides. In order to acquire fiber Internet in areas that don’t yet support it, new wire has to be run: this can be costly for the service that has to install the fiber line. Regardless, fiber optic Internet is the way of the future, and it’s likely to replace cable and DSL services within the next decade. Anyone with fiber in their area may want to explore whether it could be a good option for them.
PS LIGHTWAVE is the leading fiber optic service provider in the Greater Houston area, as well as the largest privately owned fiber network in the country. If you’re interested in learning more about the advantages of fiber Internet technology, contact the experts at PS LIGHTWAVE today.
