Thinking about switching to fiber internet provider? That would be an excellent choice! Fiber internet is widely viewed as a far superior option to other types of internet service due to its fast speeds, increased bandwidth and excellent reliability. With fiber internet, consumers can find internet speeds up to 1 Gbps in urban and some suburban areas. Luckily it has become more available as internet providers slowly expand their fiber services and are less expensive than service used to be too.
If you’ve been researching internet providers available in your area for a while, you may think you know everything there is to know about fiber internet. But did you know that not all fiber internet is installed the same way? There are three types of fiber internet you can get and unfortunately not all of them are delivered to your home equally. Here we’ll go into the three types of internet and what that can mean for your internet connection.
Fiber To The Home (FTTH)
FTTH or fiber to the home is the best choice of a fiber internet connection. With FTTH your fiber optic lines go from your provider to straight into your home. This matters because no matter how far you live from your FTTH internet provider, your internet won’t slow down due to distance like cable and DSL internet does. Internet providers that deliver fiber to the home internet are MetroNet, Verizon FiOS, CenturyLink, Windstream Kinetic, Frontier Communications and other internet providers.
Fiber To The Curb (FTTC)
FTTC or fiber to the curb is still a good choice but not the best possible option. With FTTC your fiber optic lines go from your provider to the nearest box or utility pole to your home. Then from there FTTC internet service providers use coaxial cables to the inside of your house. For most people, they won’t notice slower internet speeds than a true 100% fiber to the home internet connection because of the very short distance the coaxial needs to go. Some internet providers that deliver fiber to the curb internet are AT&T Fiber, Cincinnati Bell and other internet providers.
Fiber To The Neighborhood (FTTN)
FTTN or fiber to the neighborhood is a good choice for internet over cable, DSL or satellite internet choices. With FTTN your fiber optic lines go from your provider to a node in your neighborhood. Every customer served by that single node must live within a one mile radius of the node. That’s why the distance is often referred to as the “last mile” because it can be DSL or cable depending on the internet provider. With this type of fiber internet, you shouldn’t experience slower internet speeds. However if your family happens to be one of the unlucky few that live on the opposite side of the neighborhood, your internet connection could be noticeably slower than the neighbors with a shorter distance to the node. Some internet providers that deliver fiber to the neighborhood internet are Google Fiber, Allo Communications and other internet providers.
