In the 21st century, internet usage has become ubiquitous to everyday life. From streaming movies and playing games to conducting business, you require reliable internet services to successfully navigate your personal and professional life. Early on, your options to access the internet were limited, but now, there are a variety of broadband connections for you to choose from, the latest of which is fiber optic internet.

What You Should Know About Fiber Optic Internet

How Does It Work?

Fiber optic internet is a newer technology that operates by beaming binary transmissions of light through extremely thin fiber optic glass cables. Instead of relying on electricity to transmit data like DSL and cable, fiber optic internet transfers data using modulated light, giving it a much higher bandwidth capacity.

How Fast Is It? 

Fiber optic internet boasts far superior speeds than traditional options. Until now, the most commonly used internet services were DSL and cable. DSL and cable rely on copper wiring to transmit information and connect you to the internet, bringing inherent limitations. Since these wires were initially intended to transmit voice transmissions only, they are not as suited to handle the increased data load the internet demands.

For comparison, the average speed of DSL internet is 1.5 Megabits per second (Mbps), and cable internet comes in at 4 Mbps to 6 Mbps, on average. A fiber optic broadband connection delivers average speeds of 50 to 100 Mbps, far outperforming any of its competitors. NHTC’s fiber optic network is capable of offering speeds up to 1 Gig (Gbps).

Who Benefits from Fiber Optic Internet?

The short answer: everyone. Fiber optic internet is great for residential households that have multiple people who enjoy streaming HD-videos, playing online video games and browsing the internet. Since it has such a fast download speed, your connection should not lag even if multiple household members are simultaneously using the internet. However, keep in mind that as the number of users, devices and HD programming increases, you may need to consider increasing your internet speed.

Businesses also benefit from fiber optic internet services, especially those that use cloud services, upload large files, or utilize video conferencing — services that all require fast speeds. Additionally, since most businesses share their internet services among desktops, laptops, phones, smartphones, and tablets, they need the bandwidth that fiber optic internet offers.