Fibre-optic Broadband: Weave your way to lightning-fast connectivity

You may have heard of your road or residence upgrading to “fibre-optic” broadband recently, either to cabinet (where wires split off to go to individual houses) or even to premise. But what does this really mean, and is it worth the cost and effort?

Fibre-optic is an alternative system for Internet connectivity to copper wire, the more old-fashioned and widely used one. It uses the concept of optical fibres to enhance connection speeds, causing them to be significantly greater then when copper wire is used. An optical fibre is in essence a wire constructed of a circular core, surrounded by cladding. The core is usually made of silica, chosen for its ability to efficiently reflect and refract light at the desired degree as a result of its refractive index. The cladding is made of an insulative material that won’t allow light to pass through it.

Data is transferred via an optical cable in binary format, represented as sequential pulses of light. Due to the angle these pulses travel at through the fibre, they reflect off of the edges of the silica core when they reach it, for they intersect it at an angle greater than the “critical angle” of the silica – that is, the angle they reach the edge of the core at is too great for the light to be refracted (changed direction) and so it is reflected back inside of the core. This is an extremely efficient method of transferring data, far more so than electrical pulses through copper wire, since the data being transferred travels at the speed of light in air – around 299,702,547 metres per second, and therefore Internet speeds are elevated as a result. Furthermore, multiple optical fibres are collated together in a fibre-optic cable, meaning more data can be transferred simultaneously.

Whilst the difference will vary based on factors such as distance or specific types, as a rule of thumb, fibre-optic broadband connection will result in Internet speeds faster than copper wire by one or two levels of magnitude (that is, tens to hundreds of times faster), since data inside fibre-optic cables can quite literally travel at the speed of light in air, whereas the speed of electrical signal through copper wire is restricted by the conductivity and resistance of that wire. Openreach’s fibre to premise – that is, fibre-optic cables straight to your house, entirely removing copper wire from the system – offers download speeds (Internet speeds) of up to a gigabyte. Conversely, their copper network provides download speeds only of up to 24 megabytes – that’s around 42 times slower.

Besides higher speeds, fibre-optics come with a plethora of other benefits. They are less susceptible to interference by electromagnetic radiation or weather conditions than a basic copper wire, so the high speeds will be reliably maintained. The bandwidth provided by fibre-optics is also greater, as a result of the collection of fibres in a single cable, so the Internet can be used for multiple tasks by multiple devices simultaneously without experiencing a drop in speed. A somewhat more niche advantage is that upload speeds and download speeds can be identical, making services like video calls and computer games run more smoothly, with less delay or “ping”, a problem that often plagues gamers. Fibre-optic broadband is also now highly sought after in a new house, so its installation to premise or even just to cabinet raises the property value of any property in question.

Are all these benefits sufficient to tip the scales in favour of fibre-optics, despite the cost? The answer is a definite yes. BT’s enhanced fibre connection costs £40 per month, an ultimately small price to pay for download speeds orders of magnitude faster. However, Openreach’s current scheme plans for free upgrade to fibre for a significant number of houses across the country within the next few years. This means download speeds of up to a gigabyte will eventually be installed for free if your residence is eligible (it’s possible to check on Openreach’s website).

Overall, the possibilities fibre-optic broadband provides are nearly endless, with a myriad of advantages, the best of all being that, at some point in the near future, it will be free.