Fiber Optic Internet v/s 5G

There is a new word echoing throughout the telecom market of the States. The word is "Faster" and as we have stepped into the year 2020, it is going to bring new possibilities and the echo is going to get even louder. If you are an internet service provider and can only give customers up to 25 Mbps, then gear up! These speeds will become outdated very soon.

The competition is getting strong day after day with companies developing advanced network technologies to provide blazing fast speeds to satisfy consumers. Within a few years, you will witness both 5G and Fiber Optic to cover more ground in this broadband world. However, the real question is which one of these has more potential to meet our requirements. The only thing we can do for you is to lay out all the major differences between the two and you can decide yourself, which one is the best for you.

Let’s begin:

What is Fiber Internet?

Fiber Internet, as the name suggests, is a cutting-edge technology that uses hi-tech fiber optic cables to deliver ultra-fast internet into your office and home. These fiber cables are quite expensive and costs companies a fortune to lay in the ground.

Moreover, Fiber cables utilize the power of light to transmit data at extraordinary speeds. The reason why this is super-fast, the light travels at supersonic speeds.

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth-generation internet technology that uses small cell antennas placed in various points of cities or towns to get you ultra-fast internet. This is a wireless network and there is no extensive construction cost associated with it. However, the nodes are quite small and you have to install as many as possible to cover only a small region of the city or town.

The 5G network requires all the mobile companies to attach nodes to wired fiber networks and these nodes send out signals to your home routers.

Prices

5G is not purely about the cosmic download speeds but another benefit will be the cost. It will be cheaper. You do not have to get an engineer to connect your house with cables physically. You will not have to wait for those expensive cables to be laid in your neighborhood. It is even estimated that 5G will cost all the operators half the amount of what the fiber internet incurred.

The contract length will be shorter and there will be no promotions for a year or two. You can also check Spectrum internet prices for high-speed internet connectivity until 5G reaches your neighborhood.

How different is their installation processes?

For the installation of fiber internet, you would require an expert technician to install everything for you. However, you will be dealing with a high installation cost. Also, you’ll be needing a modem and Wi-Fi router to deliver these ultra-fast speeds.

For 5G, if you are looking at setting up a connection for home, you will need a router and modem. A technician will come over, observe the surroundings, and make sure that your house has full coverage.

Speeds

5G and true fiber internet will go neck to neck when it comes to download and upload speeds. Both of them can easily surpass the gigabit barrier.

The pressing issue with fiber is that it is often mislabeled and is not 100% fiber. You can sign up for a fiber plan providing 100 Mbps and hope that the speeds will magically increase on your request. However, if the cable that hooks you up with that fiber cannot handle 1 Gigabit barrier then that fiber is of no use to you. The only thing that matters is the cable that gets to your home.

Contrarily, 5G is free from this limitation. Since it’s nature is of wireless broadband, there are other things to worry about. The speed and signal strength will be impacted due to network congestion, environmental and physical hurdles. Although 5G will easily surpass all the speed barriers and the speeds will slow down only if there aren’t enough cell towers in your vicinity.

Final Verdict

Based on everything we have discussed, 5G is better in terms of speed and cost. There will be minimal maintenance costs associated. Let’s see how soon we can get the services.

Business graduate, digital marketer by profession and a writer by passion. Nida shares her expertise and writes for businesses to improve their rankings on Google. Her work has been posted on multiple blogs and e-zines across the web.