Why Fiber Internet Is the Best

Fiber-optic connections are the fastest and most reliable way we have to connect to the internet. That’s why the biggest and most important parts of internet infrastructure are all built using fiber. While there are a lot of complicated high-tech engineering topics like multiplexing that require a lot of technical knowledge to understand, the basics are pretty straightforward and can be helpful for getting the most out of your home internet connection.

How fiber-optic internet works

Fiber is already an essential part of everyone’s internet experience, as the backbone of the internet is built from huge fiber-optic cables. Fiber-optic cables are made from thin fibers of glass or plastic that transmit information as pulses of light across long distances. Compared to metal wires, they can carry much more data, are much less prone to data loss, and are completely immune to electromagnetic interference (as you might get from solar storms). Fiber-optic cables cross continents and oceans—whether they’re at the bottom of the sea or just beneath your feet, they can be counted on to do their job reliably.

Tubes full of light

In fiber-optics, information is transmitted as pulses of light. The inside of a fiber-optic tube acts like a mirror, bouncing the light off the inside walls and down the tube, toward its destination. Since information is moving at the speed of light (through glass, not a vacuum), you can move a lot of data really fast. There are lots of different types of fiber-optic cables—some are more durable, some travel longer distances—but all of them transfer data quickly and reliably.

All internet traffic will travel over fiber-optics at some point, but ideally, you’d want fiber to reach all the way to your home. Fiber to the home (FTTH) not only gives you the fastest, most reliable connection currently possible but also saves internet service providers (ISPs) money in the long run with much less maintenance and fewer customer complaints. As such, fiber internet plans are often the same price or cheaper than other types of connections in the same area. It’s a win-win!

The last mile

Unfortunately, most fiber networks don’t reach all the way to the home. This distance between the core fiber lines of the internet and internet users’ homes is often referred to as the “last mile” (even though the actual distance will vary). The last mile of connection is usually filled by coaxial cables, phone lines, or wireless transmissions. This is the difference between fiber internet and other types of internet. Fiber customers have fiber all the way from their home to the rest of the internet infrastructure. Cable or DSL customers will have fiber most of the way between their house and the rest of the network, but the last mile to their home will be made over coaxial cables or copper phone lines.

These older technologies become the bottleneck, making your speeds lower, your latency higher, and your connection much less reliable. That’s why even though everyone’s data travels over mostly the same fiber-optic cables, some people end up with a much better overall experience.

Why fiber is so great

So, why should you care about fiber? Besides being the cool, cutting-edge technology for accessing the internet, there are a lot of very tangible benefits that fiber offers that other internet technologies can’t match. The main advantages of fiber are its high download speeds, symmetrical upload speeds, reliability, and scalability.

High download speeds

Since fiber is the fastest communication technology we have and is used to connect entire continents with billions of internet users, it should come as no surprise that fiber is also one of the fastest choices for connecting your home and all your devices. Most fiber plans nowadays offer 1Gbps (1,000Mbps) speeds, which is more than most people can use—even if they invite all their friends over to use their Wi-Fi.

Many cable internet plans can also reach 1Gbps, but the two technologies are by no means equals. Cable speeds will probably continue to increase as we push the technology to its physical limits. Meanwhile, fiber isn’t even breaking a sweat yet. Google Fiber is testing out 20Gbps residential internet plans, which is way more speed than most households can use. As home internet speeds increase, the gap between cable and fiber is only going to get wider.

Symmetrical upload speeds

Cable download speeds are roughly on par with fiber, but uploading on a cable connection reaches only a fraction of those speeds. Fiber, on the other hand, has symmetrical upload and download speeds. This means that if you can download at 1Gbps, you can upload at 1Gbps as well.

Most internet activities, like watching video, reading the news, or just web surfing, require very little upload speed, so download speed is the important factor. However, as more people start using the internet for video conferencing and livestreaming, upload speed becomes more important. Nothing comes close to fiber in terms of upload speed.

Reliability

Fiber connections don’t just have the highest advertised speeds; they also maintain those speeds more reliably than other connections. Most types of internet are vulnerable to certain types of interference. Here are some examples:

• Cable internet is slower when there’s more internet traffic in your neighborhood.
• DSL internet slows down the farther you get from the provider’s central office.
• Fixed wireless signals require a direct line of sight to the transmitter, since trees and other obstructions can block them.
• Satellite internet can be disrupted by the weather.

Fiber doesn’t suffer from any of these problems. It also doesn’t require as much maintenance as other types of internet. This means that you don’t have to deal with outages from old cables being replaced nearly as often as you would with cable or DSL.

Scalability

Fiber is certainly the best internet you can get right now, but it’s also the best option when looking to the future. Since fiber uses light instead of electricity to transmit its data, it uses much higher frequencies and loses less energy over long distances. This means that fiber can carry more information much farther than is physically possible across metal cables.

Fiber-optic cables are also sometimes installed with what is known as “dark fiber.” Dark fiber is extra fibers in the cable that aren’t initially used. As the amount of internet traffic in an area increases, dark fibers can simply be turned on to provide additional capacity, rather than having to dig up the cables and lay bigger ones.

Downsides of fiber

The only real downside to fiber internet is its limited availability. Fiber to the home isn’t nearly as widespread as telephone or cable networks, so there are lots of areas without fiber coverage where those technologies are already available. While many DSL providers have seen the writing on the wall and started replacing their aging copper networks with fiber, we still have a long way to go before fiber infrastructure catches up with these older systems.

Rural areas generally have the least access to fiber. Even if fiber providers want to expand into these areas, they can’t afford to if there are not enough potential customers to offset the costs of building out their infrastructure. As such, providers usually target densely populated areas first, and sparsely populated areas get left behind.

How to get fiber to your house

If you want a fiber connection but no providers offer them in your area, there are a few ways you can try to get the ball rolling. You can contact fiber providers that serve other parts of your city and ask when or if they’ll be expanding into your neighborhood. You can also attend town and community meetings and ask local government officials about fiber internet (ISPs sometimes send employees to these sorts of meetings too).

If there are no fiber providers in your city, you can also try to persuade your local government to look into building municipal broadband. Municipal broadband is managed by the city, much like water, electricity, and other utilities. This often results in incredibly fast and affordable internet connections.

There are, of course, plenty of obstacles along this path as well. The telecom industry has lobbied hard against municipal broadband over the years, and many states have laws preventing cities from building their own broadband networks. Fortunately, not even legal hurdles are insurmountable, as Colorado residents demonstrated in 2023 after they finally repealed the state law that undermined cities’ ability to build their own broadband infrastructure. With enough public support, states like New York have even set up programs to help fund municipal broadband projects.

Although progress is often slower than we would like, the entire industry has been slowly shifting toward fiber for years, and it seems that in the future, fiber will only get faster. So if you like to plan for the long haul, fiber is a pretty safe bet.

Popular fiber internet providers

Although fiber networks still lack the footprint of older internet technologies, many different nationwide providers offer fiber in some of their coverage areas. Chances are that if you live in an urban area, you probably have access to at least one fiber provider.

Bottom line: Fiber is awesome

Fiber internet really is an amazing technology, which is why we almost always recommend it over other types of connections if it’s available in your area. While blindingly fast multi-gigabit plans can get pretty expensive, many fiber plans can actually be a cheaper option than slower connection types, so it’s worth considering even if you’re looking for an internet plan on a budget.

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