Business Connections for Fall 2018

FALL 2018 3 // Business Connections DSL Internet DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, a family of technologies used to transmit digital data over copper phone lines. This type of Internet service is provided by phone companies and is often bundled with landline phone service. About 90 percent of the nation has access to DSL coverage. Download speeds are generally in the 5–35 Mbps range with upload speeds in the 1–10 Mbps range. Speeds will vary depend- ing on the distance from the subscriber to the provider’s local office. DSL has lower bandwidth and isn’t as fast as cable or fiber Internet, but it’s often less expensive. Cable Internet Cable Internet is delivered via copper coaxial television cable by companies that also sell cable TV services. Like DSL, about 90 percent of the nation has access to cable coverage. Download speeds average in the 10–500 Mbps range, with upload speeds in the 5–50 Mbps range. Bandwidth is generally shared with neighbors also connected to cable Internet, so speeds for residential subscribers can slow down from 20-40 percent during peak usage time in the evenings when people get home and turn on Netflix or other high-bandwidth applications. Fiber Internet Fiber is a relative newcomer to the Internet market, with only about 25 percent coverage nationwide. This is due to the consider- able expense of running fiber-optic lines all the way to customer addresses, referred to as Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH). Fiber is considered to be the gold standard for these reasons: • Greater Reliability – Fiber is unaffected by electromagnetic interference like copper, making it much more resilient to outside factors including proximity to other infrastructure and weather. • Much Faster Speeds – Fiber providers can offer speeds up to 1 Gig (1,000 Mbps) over much longer distances than traditional copper-based technologies like DSL and cable. These speeds can also be symmetrical, meaning the download and upload speeds are the same. • Future-Proof Technology – Even if typical broadband speeds become 1,000 times faster in 20 years, a single existing fiber- optic connection can still support it. Rainbow Communications is proud to bring fiber to our business communities. If you have questions about fiber availability for your business, call 800-892-0163 or visit www.rainbowtel.net. Most Internet connections come to the subscriber via some sort of cable. The prevalent options across the U.S. are landline telephone lines (DSL), cable TV lines (cable), and fiber-optic lines (fiber). What exactly are the differences between these three types of Internet connections? What impact do they have on speed, reliability, and cost? Here’s a quick overview based on content from BroadbandNow.com: DSL vs Cable vs Fiber Here’s why fiber provides the fastest and most reliable Internet connection