Fibre-optic: how to choose the best provider at the best price?

Fibre optic is an Internet broadband connection able to reach the speed of 940 megabits per second (Mbps), at a short delay time. This technology uses fibre optic cables, and it can send data at approximately 70% of the speed of light. In addition, fibre optic cables are not as susceptible to severe weather conditions as other types of traditional cables, which helps minimize power outages. The great convenience and smoothness of fibre optic surfing allows users to surf the Internet as much as 30 times faster than their old ADSL connection. To give a simple example, a movie can be downloaded in a few minutes compared to the more than 30 minutes it takes with DSL. The increased bandwidth allows more people (in the family or business) to surf the web at the same time without slowing down when viewing sites or downloading data. There are many commercial operators competing with each other, to grab the large mass of surfers coming from older connection technologies such as DSL. Fibre optic connection offers have now far surpassed the previous ones, proposing very interesting rates, at prices similar to DSL offers of a few years ago.

Choosing the best fibre subscription plan

To choose the best fibre optic subscription plan, you need to identify exactly what your needs are beforehand, as there are many offers. If surfing the Internet will be the main activity, offers from a hundred megabits can be enough to check emails, explore different sites, watch videos and download files. If instead the user prefers high-definition (HD / HD +) video experiences, such as those visible today with 4K resolution, a fibre connection of at least 200 Mbit is recommended, to fully enjoy the show offered by a 4K TV. But there are several uses for which Internet users today prefer an ultra-fast fibre connection: downloading HD movies quickly; playing games online without slowing down; watching streaming movies or series; sending large attachments in a short time.

Analyze the offers on the market

Once you have identified your connection speed needs, all you have to do is compare the different subscription packages offered by the operators. Here are the aspects to pay more attention to:

• Price (with the same connection speed)
• Quantity and quality of TV programs
• Phone calls to fixed and/or cell phones (unlimited and not)
• Cloud storage space
• Presence of a mobile offer included