Broadband guide

Fibre optic broadband

Fibre optic broadband is the next generation of broadband - but what exactly is it, how does it work and, more importantly, should you upgrade? Compare packages, prices and speeds before you buy.

Tuesday 17 January, 2012

Fibre optic cables offer faster, more reliable broadband speeds, and as more providers are entering the superfast market, the cost of upgrading to fibre is falling.

Fibre optic broadband packages

What is fibre optic broadband?

Before fibre optic broadband, your only broadband option was an ADSL copper wire line, which works by using telephone lines to deliver information across the internet. ADSL broadband lines - connected via your telephone socket - offer up to 24Mb broadband, but speeds can vary widely depending on your distance from the local exchange, the quality of your line and a number of other factors.

With ADSL connections you will rarely get the download speeds that you see advertised. In fact, in May 2011 speed tests, Ofcom found that the average actual speed received was just 6.8Mb - less than half the average advertised speed of 15Mb.

Fibre optic broadband promises to eliminate many of these problems and offer hassle-free superfast broadband connections.

With fibre optic broadband, light signals are delivered through fibre optic cables, made of glass rather than copper wire. Information travels along these cables almost instantaneously, and there is very little deterioration in your download speed - even over long distances - so the speeds you get will be much closer to the headline speed you signed up for. This means customers can benefit from much faster connections, perfect for downloading music and high definition films, watching internet TV or playing online games.

What makes fibre optic broadband so great?

Information travels much faster over fibre optic cables than it does over the older copper telephone wires that many traditional broadband providers use. This makes fibre broadband not only faster, but also more reliable.

Research by telecoms regulator Ofcom in July 2010 found that Virgin Media's (www.Virginmedia.com) cable network delivered significantly faster download speeds than its copper wire ADSL rivals.

While ADSL providers offering speeds of up to 20Mb or 24Mb broadband only managed to deliver an average top speed of 6.8Mb, Virgin Media’s 20Mb package averaged an impressive 18.7Mb.

Superfast fibre optic broadband

Fibre optic cables also allow for far faster download speeds than ever before. This means that with speeds of up to 40Mb, 50Mb and even 100Mb, you can download music tracks in seconds. TV programmes and movies in minutes or stream high-definition (HD) content using online catch-up services like the BBC iPlayer.

The fast, reliable connections offered by fibre optic broadband are also great news for online gamers who’ll be able to play HD and even 3D games over the internet.

Do you need superfast broadband?

Fibre optic broadband will cost you more than an ADSL connection so it is worth some consideration before you sign a contract.

If you are a casual internet user, who sends the odd email, updates your Facebook status occasionally and watches programmes on iPlayer a couple of times a week, then signing up to a 100Mb connection is like using a Ferrari to drive to the corner shop. Flash, but pretty unnecessary, and you will be paying handsomely for it.

Fibre connections are more suited to multi-user households where lots of people are likely to be online at the same time with high usage levels; movie buffs, regularly streaming high definition films; dedicated gamers; or people working from home using a remote connection to log in.

Fibre optic broadband providers

Virgin Media has an established fibre optic cable network, offering three packages at speeds of up to 10Mb, 30Mb, 50Mb broadband and even 100Mb broadband.

But its network only covers around 51% of UK homes and businesses - so anyone outside of its network must find an alternative.

Incumbent operator BT broadband (www.BT.com) began rolling out its own fibre optic network at the start of 2010. BT Infinity packages are available to around 20% of the UK at present, increasing to 40% of the UK by the end of 2012, and to two-thirds of the population by 2014.

BT's 40Mb connection is delivered using fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology, where fibre optic cables only run as far as the street side telephone cabinet, with copper wire running the rest of the way. The presence of the copper wire section means there will still be some speed degradation, so BT promise a minimum speed of 12Mb. However, BT's 100Mb connection uses fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology which uses fibre cable for the entire distance from exchange to home, eliminating distance related speed decline.

BT has opened up its network to rivals, allowing other providers such as Sky broadband (www.Sky.com), TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) and Zen Internet (www.Zen.co.uk) to offer their own packages.

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