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Everyone wants a high-speed internet connection these days to make the most out of their routine tasks. The internet pushes boundaries, boosts potential, and provides just the right tools to inform you, entertain you, connect you and elevate your lifestyle. Fortunately, the telecom market in the US is brimming with internet providers, ranging from industry giants like Time Warner Cable to local carriers. You can easily find ISPs offering top-of-the-line services in your area. To make the best choice, it is wise to learn about the ins and outs of internet connections in general. In this article, we will explore the network technologies of fiber optic and Wi-Fi, and see if their link can improve the internet signals in your home or not. Stay tuned.
What is Optical Fiber?
Optical fiber is a wire, made up of transparent glass or flexible plastic, which is slightly thicker than human hair. If such an optical fiber is utilized to deliver internet service to homes, then, it becomes fiber optic internet. Fiber optic internet is the fastest and the most sophisticated wired connection type in the market. Thousands of optical fiber cables bundle together and form an ISP’s backbone. This backbone carries data signals in the form of light pulses at 70% the speed of light, which beats DSL, cable, and satellite mechanisms.
With a fiber-optic connection, you can experience blazing-fast download speeds and symmetrical upload speeds up to 1 Gbps or 1,000 Mbps. This tier can support more than ten connected devices at a time. Another amazing feature of fiber optic internet is that it experiences minimal data loss and internet latency, which makes it a reliable connection type. In other words, you won’t have to worry about the distance of your house from the ISP’s station, the peak traffic hour, and the bad weather outside while surfing, streaming, gaming, videoconferencing, working, or taking classes on your fiber-optic network.
Speaking of fiber-optic networks, you can set them up in your home by first, subscribing to a fiber-optic provider. Then, have a technician install an optical fiber line in your home. You can opt for a pure Fiber-To-The-Home internet (which has a fiber-based last-mile connection) or Fiber-To-The-Curb (which has a copper leg). Keep in mind that FTTH may give you pure-fiber speeds but at a costlier price tag, while FTTC will lower the price tag but the copper addition may also tamper with the optical fiber’s potential. The “last mile” line will lead to an Optical Network Terminal inside or outside your house to which you can attach a network box and a device through Ethernet to experience fiber-fast speeds in your home.
What is Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi is a catchy name for a wireless networking technology known as IEEE 802.11. Usually, it is enabled by a router, connected to an internet modem via an Ethernet cable. Mobile hotspots may also issue Wi-Fi for surrounding devices, but let’s stick to the router-created network here for the sake of brevity. How does Wi-Fi work? This technology transmits internet signals over the air to data-hungry devices in the vicinity. The signals travel through specified channels on the radiofrequency spectrum and make internet connectivity possible in the WLAN.
The speed of a Wi-Fi network depends on the standard it follows. A wireless communication standard is a protocol, which comes, built into a router, and defines its performance. Most of the routers these days are marked with Wi-Fi 5. Wi-Fi 5 or 802.11ac has a data transfer rate of up to 1,000 Mbps in theory, while, in practice, you may only get up to 600 Mbps downtime. On the other hand, the latest wireless standard is Wi-Fi 6, which is still in the process of being rolled out, and promises a groundbreaking speed throughput of up to 10 Gbps along with minimal latency and maximum device support. The upcoming Wi-Fi 6 is the fastest and the most scalable wireless connection type.
Will My Wi-Fi Connection Improve If I Get Optic Fiber?
Think of fiber optic internet as input and Wi-Fi as an output. Fiber optic internet is wired, while Wi-Fi is wireless. This connection taps into the fiber optic backbone, outside the premises, which is set up by an ISP for broadband dispensation, whereas Wi-Fi relies on network hardware, such as a modem/router, mostly inside the home, to distribute signals wirelessly.
Can your Wi-Fi connection improve if you get fiber optic internet?
Yes and no.
A network box, i.e. a modem/router gateway, which is powered by a fiber broadband connection from the backend, may be able to receive internet speeds up to 1 Gig from its fiber jack, and then beam them over the air as super-fast Wi-Fi to devices demanding internet connectivity. The Wi-Fi signals from a fiber-backed internet connection are relatively faster and more wholesome than Wi-Fi signals from a copper or satellite-backed internet connection because there is more bandwidth to throw around and the signals are already accelerated by fiber broadband before they reach your modem/router gateway.
However, once the signals convert into radio waves, your Wi-Fi speeds may automatically slow down on account of being subjected to several conditions, such as distance from the router, or the number of devices requesting web access at the same time, or RF interference from other wireless gadgets in the area.
Moreover, the strength and speed of your Wi-Fi may also depend on the quality of the last-mile connection. A pure fiber-optic last mile will give you symmetrical downloads and uploads up to 1,000 Mbps, thanks to the principle of total internet reflection, which will reach your network box with a surefire consistency and empower your network box accordingly. However, if you have FTTC or a copper-based last mile, then the signals may deteriorate below the pure fiber-optic standard even before they reach your network box, and so the Wi-Fi speeds you receive will be diluted and punctuated by lags.
The Final Word
So, to improve your Wi-Fi connection, you should remove obstacles, position the router centrally, and upgrade your network box once every three years to take advantage of the latest wireless standard. As far as the fiber optic is concerned, then, rest assured, a fiber optic input does speed up your average Wi-Fi, but even that slows down once the signals become airborne, as is the nature of wireless connectivity.
Therefore, getting a fiber broadband connection solely to speed up Wi-Fi performance may not be the right call. Rather, invest in wired connectivity to experience internet speeds up to 1 Gig. For that, make Ethernet your friend.
