Fiber internet has its pros and cons. For its many advantages over its other internet type competitors, there are a couple glaring issues with fiber that may drive potential customers (and municipalities) away.

Fiber internet pros

Fiber internet consistently advertises the fastest speeds in the internet industry, with the slowest fiber speeds around 300 Mbps and the fastest being a whopping 5,000 Mbps (5 Gbps) in very limited areas. On average, fiber customers can see speeds ranging from 300 - 5000 which is many times faster than Americans’ current average internet speeds. Fiber-optic cables are also incredibly durable as they are made of a glass-and-plastic technology that allows for the transmission of light signals that stores data. This light signal data transfer allows for symmetrical upload and download speeds, meaning fiber customers experience the same download speed, around 500 Mbps, for example, as they do upload speed, about 500 Mbps for this example. Fiber internet is also very similarly priced to other internet types, meaning the only thing really holding a customer back from getting fiber internet is availability.

Fiber internet cons

Availability and installation costs are the two main issues with fiber internet. Fiber-optic cables are not cheap. If no fiber infrastructure is currently available in an area, it costs a community a lot of money for installation. Then, the actual cost to install the fiber connection to your home is also costly. Different types of fiber internet may be available in your community, so before you sign up it may be helpful to ask your service provider what exact type you would be receiving.

If fiber internet is available near you and your household would benefit greatly from a fiber-fast connection, it is definitely the best internet option.

All internet, no matter what kind of technology it is, does essentially the same thing – it sends signals through cables or lines over a long distance. Fiber is just better at doing this than cable, DSL or satellite. It can maintain its strength over long distances (up to 25 miles) compared to copper cables that are limited to only 328 feet or less using electrical signals.

Distance is important when it comes to internet because the farther the signal can reach, the more likely it is your signal will lag (other terms for this include buffer, delay, and more). Since fiber can reach for miles, the reliability of your signal is almost at 100%.

Fiber threads can fit into a single cable which makes the bandwidth wider and network congestion less likely to happen. This is good for (almost literally lightning fast) speed and overall signal.

Cable internet advertises speeds like 1000 Mbps, which is the about the same as 1 Gig, but because fiber handles this speed a lot better, the true speeds you will be getting with cable would be less than fiber even though the advertised speeds are equal.