Broadband internet connections ensure that there is internet connectivity at all times. However, fibre optic broadband goes a step further. Instead of the usual copper cabling used in traditional broadband, it uses fibre optic cables from the fibre exchange to the customer. This technology offers several benefits to its users. Here are some of these benefits.
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Speed
Fibre optic is several times faster than your fastest traditional broadband connect. A quick look at Plusnet showed speeds of 36Mbps for unlimited fibre and 66 Mbps the fibre extra. SSE has similar speeds. This is several times the average traditional broadband speed of 10mbps. The speed makes fibre optic great for use in smart TVs, streaming high quality videos, telecommuting jobs and general business operations.
Reliability
Fibre optic is superior to copper telephone lines in that it is not affected by foul weather or electrical interference. The only thing that can cause interference is cutting the cable. A reliable internet connection ensures the smooth running of businesses and for use at home whatever the weather conditions present. This prevents disruption of activities at home and downtime at the workplace.
Bandwidth
If you are involved in activities that require high data transmission such as web conferencing, working from the cloud, streaming high quality videos or sharing large files, you are likely to hit the maximum allowed bandwidth. This causes speeds to go down. Despite the fact that fibre optic is not truly unlimited, the bandwidth availability is usually high. Therefore, you can do various high data transmission activities at the same time without experiencing low speeds.
Strength of the Signal
With the use of DSL and Ethernet over copper, the quality of the signal degrades as cables move away from the main switch. This becomes a problem for businesses that occupy a large facility or homes away from the main exchange. Fortunately, fibre optic connection does not degrade as fast over vast distances. Every premise, office or home from a given exchange should enjoy same speeds as everyone else who is near the exchange.
Low Latency
Latency is the delay that occurs when data is being processed over an internet connection. With fibre optic, you do not experience many of the latency issues that traditional broadband users experience, especially when it comes to uploading, downloading or streaming high definition material. If you make a broadband comparison between traditional and fibre optic connections, you will find that fibre optic has better quality of voice over IP, quality video conferencing and streams content without buffering.
Cost and Time Savings
Despite being a little more expensive than the traditional broadband, fibre optic saves you lots of cash, especially where you are using it for production. Unreliable internet connection is one of the major causes of downtime in the business. Workers lose hundreds of work hours cumulatively over a short period. This, in turn, leads to loss of thousands of Pounds each year. In fact, if you look at SSE and Plusnet offers, the cost difference between these two technologies is quite low while the benefits of fibre are outweigh the cost differences. Besides, should the business want to scale their operations to VoIP, cloud applications or SaaS, it does not have to subscribe to new internet services or buy additional internet equipment.
Security
Cable tapping is one of the most common ways that hackers use to gain personal or business information. However, unlike copper cable connections, the only way you can tap into a fibre optic connection is by severing the cable, which effectively curtails the communication. Therefore, fibre optics offer greater security over information theft than broadband connection.
Since fibre optic connections come at various speeds and added offers such as phone connections, it is important that you do a broadband comparison to determine the offer that works best for you.
