So what’s so great about fiber?
Fiber is the Superior Internet Technology
Why? Lets examine the alternatives:
- DSL comes through the phone lines, and generally comes from the big telecomm companies, you know, the ones with 6.7 million customers (well, the small big telecomm companies)….? DSL also boasts speeds of about 0.128 Mb/s all the way up to 3.0 Mb/s
- Cable (which comes from the giant cable companies) supports (in theory) speeds up to 30 Mb/s…but in reality… typical download speeds are between 1.0 Mb/s and 6.0 Mb/s. Upload speeds are usually under 1Mb/s and may go as low as 0.128 Mb/s.
- Microwave providers are expensive and will put a dish on your roof….guess what happens to your internet during a heavy rain, a big snowstorm, a hard windstorm….? (Fortunately, extreme weather is exceedingly rare in Chicago…..)
- Bundled T1 lines tend to provide solutions of 6 to 20 Mb/s…this can be a problem in a building with more than 20 units….it can turn into a true nightmare in a building with more than 100 units — you do the math.
How is Fiber Better?
- Supports speeds up to 100 Mb/s. Is easily expandable up to speeds of 1000 Mb/s and beyond. It’s certainly the best deal in terms of Mb/s per $.
- Is largely dependent upon buried cable: this makes severe weather very unlikely to cause trouble.
- Users laser light to transmit signals, very little dependence on stray electromagnetic radiation which can impact microwave providers.
- Fiber has a certain cachet (largely because of the above facts) and will assuredly increase condo unit resale value and rental unit appeal.