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Cable vs fibre: what’s the difference?

Our Broadband Expert says...

Everywhere you look providers are touting superfast broadband these days, and it’s easy to get confused by the various choices on offer. But what exactly does it all mean, and how can you put aside the advertising spiel to work out what kind of speeds you’ll actually get from one of these next generation packages? We explore the options of fibre optic and cable broadband…

Fibre optic broadband

If you're looking at a broadband deal advertising speeds of up to 40Mb, 50Mb or even 100Mb, then it’s almost certainly a fibre optic broadband package.

Because fibre can carry more data at faster speeds than a traditional broadband connection, providers that use these advanced networks can offer superfast packages.

The two main fibre optic broadband providers in the UK are Virgin Media (www.Virginmedia.com) and BT broadband (www.BT.com).

Suppliers like TalkTalk broadband (www.Talktalk.co.uk) and Plusnet broadband (www.Plus.net) also offer speeds of up to 40Mb broadband, by using the new BT network.

However, the vast majority of fibre optic broadband connections use a technology known as fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) that runs the faster cables only as far as the green streetside telephone cabinet on your road.

The wires that run from there to your home - known as the “last mile” - make a real difference to the speeds you actually receive. The longer the “last mile”, for example, the poorer the connection may be.

Cable connections and the last mile

In a FTTC connection, this so-called “last mile” is made up of either copper telephone lines - as used by BT - or something known as “coaxial cable”, which is used by Virgin Media.

Copper telephone wires still lose broadband speed over distances, so if you're connected to the BT Infinity network, the distance between your street cabinet and your home will affect your broadband speed.

Coaxial cables don’t have the same problem however, so if you're a Virgin Media cable customer you won’t experience any additional speed loss over the last mile.

What speed will I get?

A number of different things affect your broadband speed, but it is the distance from the exchange that is the main problem for most customers on a standard copper wire connection.

BT says that while its customers receive average speeds of around 30Mb, they should get a minimum of 12Mb - accounting for some loss over the last mile.

This was confirmed by research from telecoms regulator Ofcom when it tested actual broadband speeds in November and December last year.

It found that BT’s fibre network was delivering an average of 78% of its advertised speed - compared to just 45% for consumers connected to old-style broadband services.

And Virgin Media’s cable service delivered even more. Its customers enjoyed 90-96% of their advertised download speeds - even on the slowest and cheapest 10Mb package, said Ofcom.

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