Your office has decided to invest in a fiber-optic internet connection with Pilot—hooray! But what exactly is fiber-optic internet? Why is it better than any other options?
The best way to answer that question is to start with a pretty literal translation, then give a brief history lesson:
Literal Translation: Fiber refers to the fine and flexible glass along which data is transmitted. Optic refers to the light signals used to transmit the data through the fiber.
Brief History Lesson: For many years, copper cables were the industry standard. They used electrical pulses to transmit data between devices. But copper has its drawbacks—one of the biggest limits is that electricity doesn't travel very far. For example, electricity can travel on coaxial cable for only about 1,500 feet before the data contained within the cable becomes corrupted.
That’s where light comes in! Light moves differently than electricity, which means the same data traveling on a single strand of fiber can travel over 15,000 feet without compromising on quality.
And distance isn't the only advantage that fiber has over copper. In fact, most businesses are more excited about another feature of fiber-optic internet—the extremely fast speeds. Copper cables are only capable of a maximum bandwidth of 300 Mbps while fiber can handle way over 10 Gbps. (That's 10,000 Mbps!)
When you combine reliability over distance and speed, you get a better experience. Businesses in particular need that kind of performance to stay competitive and efficient.
