General School Me On Fiber Optic Internet

[Judobill]

I’m not what you would call technologically competent. Right now, in our house, we have Dish Network and our ISP is Charter/Spectrum DSL. We are planning on getting rid of Dish and just using the internet for our TV. AT&T is currently in our neighborhood drilling and installing Fiber Optic service. Is that something we are going to want to switch to, or will Charter be fine. Charter is about 60 bucks per month, and I looked up AT&T and their service appears to be around 80 bucks. Is the extra 20 bucks for fiber optics worth it?

 

[SongExotic2]

Internet these days is real fast. Unless you care about downloading movies 5 minutes faster I'd save some cash.

 

[SongExotic2]

@Judobill I think any internet these days is fast enough for anything.

When I stop being a bum and that I'm not getting the pricey one

 

[Lukewarm Carl]

What's your neighborhood situation like? Crowded or more suburban or rural?

Fiber should be more reliable and consistent in regards to speed. If you don't have any issues with your current DSL then I'd suggest calling them when the Fiber is available and see what they'll offer to keep you.

 

[Robbie Hart]

Suburban, but they ran new cables up here as new development.......

 

[IschKabibble]

$80/month for fiber is a great deal. And the difference in speeds compared DSL will be very noticeable.

 

[Leigh]

Damn, internet access is pricey there. I'm also surprised optic fibre isn't already installed everywhere.

So in summary, optic fibre has a vastly larger bandwidth. This means you can have higher frequencies (faster internet speeds) and more of them (more customers on the same line will have less impact). Dunno what it's like where you are but years ago before we had fibre here, my internet connection at home would slow down around 6pm, when people got home from work and started using the web. The line in my street would get a lot of use and the bandwidth would be split between us.

That's not really an issue with fibre.

 

[La Paix]

$80/month for fiber is a great deal.

This is our fibre cost.

That's like $6US.

 

[IschKabibble]

This is our fibre cost.

That's like $6US.

I'm stuck on a copper network. None of the local companies are willing to upgrade their infrastructure.

 

[IschKabibble]

@BirdWatcher, I'm curious why they offer you such slow speeds for a fiber network. Google Fiber is offering 1 Gb/s for $70/month. That's an insane deal compared to any copper service available.

 

[La Paix]

@BirdWatcher, I'm curious why they offer you such slow speeds for a fiber network. Google Fiber is offering 1 Gb/s for $70/month. That's an insane deal compared to any copper service available.

I've never really compared before outside of what's offered to me here. AFAIK I can pick Shaw which just posted or Telus, both offer fibre in certain neighbourhoods and it's pretty good Imo.

What's considered a good value when doing a speed test?

 

[SCADA]

This is our fibre cost.

That's like $6US.

I pay the same $50 for Telus 150...but it's true 150 fiber, not that bullshit Shaw is pushing.

 

[SCADA]

@BirdWatcher, I'm curious why they offer you such slow speeds for a fiber network. Google Fiber is offering 1 Gb/s for $70/month. That's an insane deal compared to any copper service available.

Google fiber is in very limited areas...and not even in Canada yet.

 

[La Paix]

I pay the same $50 for Telus 150...but it's true 150 fiber, not that bullshit Shaw is pushing.

 

[SCADA]

 

[IschKabibble]

What's considered a good value when doing a speed test?

I pay a little over $100/month for 200 down 20 up. Verizon Fios offers 300 down 300 up for about $120/month.

 

[SCADA]

I pay a little over $100/month for 200 down 20 up. Verizon Fios offers 300 down 300 up for about $120/month.

Whoa....$50 for 150 up, 150 down here.

 

[SCADA]

I also switched my network over to a google wifi mesh....it's awesome.

 

[La Paix]

 

[HEATH VON DOOM]

Bunch of cheap ass dorks in this thread

 

[Grateful Dude]

@BirdWatcher, I'm curious why they offer you such slow speeds for a fiber network. Google Fiber is offering 1 Gb/s for $70/month. That's an insane deal compared to any copper service available.

I have google fiber at home and work ($70). It's only $10 more a month than the shitty DSL line we had at home before. Never had a single issue with GF, and we had all kinds of trouble with our DSL. Easily worth the money. When we have family in town we will have a shitload of devices connected (phones, iPads, laptops, Netflix, etc) and GF doesn't flinch.

 

[jason73]

 

[SCADA]

Bunch of cheap ass dorks in this thread

Tell me more...

No wait. Don't.