The internet has completely revolutionized our lives over the past two decades. These days, there is hardly any daily activity that does not involve going online. Internet technology has also advanced tremendously. From the early days of slow dial-up internet, we have now moved on to high-speed cable and fiber-optic. Fiber-optic has now become widespread among home and commercial internet users.
Fiber-optic cables use light signals to transmit data, while traditional coaxial copper cables use electrical signals. Fiber internet services often tend to provide higher speeds than advertised even during peak hours. Fiber-optic certainly has a lot of benefits over regular cable internet. Let’s see how they compare to each other.
Faster Upload/Download Speed
Fiber internet is significantly faster than traditional cable internet. With Windstream, you can enjoy download and upload speeds of up to 1 Gbps. An important thing you need to know is that a 10-second download on a fiber-optic cable may take over 20 minutes on a regular copper coaxial cable.
Higher Bandwidth
The bandwidth capacity of fiber-optic cables is higher than all other telecom cables. When telecom infrastructure was initially being set up, it was based on copper cables. Copper has a limited data transmission capacity. However, this was alright for what they were designed to do, transmit only voice calls.
Older copper cables were only good enough to support data speeds of 1.5 Mbps. Since there was low bandwidth demand, this worked well at the time. Because of how electrical signaling works, copper cables can only be used over limited distances. A single stretch of copper coaxial cable is effective only for distances shorter than 15,000 feet. This is why businesses using Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services are increasingly moving towards fiber internet.
Fiber Works Better Even Over Long Distances
The quality of electrical signals deteriorates the longer the length of the cable. A single stretch of copper cable can’t be used over great distances. This is not such a big issue in big towns and cities. They have the infrastructure to support multiple stretches of cable. However, this will pose problems when providing service to remote underdeveloped areas.
With fiber-optic, data transmission becomes possible even over longer distances. In remote areas, cellphone towers are often provided connectivity through fiber-optic cables. Some high-end fiber cables can transmit data over a distance of 25 miles. Although this may be a surplus to requirements for most businesses, they will still feel comfortable knowing they can get uninterrupted good quality internet services.
Fiber Offers Better Security
These days, more of our data is present online than at any other time in history. Cyber-security concerns are growing with each passing year. Fiber-optic cables can address some of these concerns.
Electronic signals are far easier to intercept than light signals. Data that is transmitted through copper cables can be easily intercepted by installing taps on those cables. Rival intelligence agencies routinely tap transatlantic communications cables to spy on each other’s activities.
Data security gets severely compromised when using copper internet cables. Using fiber-optic internet like that offered by Windstream Communications will help keep your online data safe and secure. If a fiber cable gets tapped, it will emit light from the portion where it has been intercepted. This means whenever this happens, it can be easily identified and measures can be taken to fix the cable.
Summing Up
Fiber-optic is a far superior technology to copper coaxial cables. Fiber provides better speed, security, reliability, and durability. Fiber is also better suited to provide internet connectivity to remote areas. Fixed-line internet is going to be dominated by fiber-optic cables in the foreseeable future.
