Fiber is Different . . . and Better

[Commentary] Does fiber matter? The Fiber to the Home Council (FTTH Council) recently conducted its annual survey of fiber deployment in the U. S. and adoption of fiber connections by residential users. They found continuing upward growth in the number homes passed (almost 20 million or 100 times growth since 2001), the number of homes in the U. S. connected via fiber (6.4 million). They found that the median download speed for fiber networks was 16.6 mbps versus 10.8 mbps for cable modem. Likewise, median upload speed for fiber networks and cable modem were 4.5 mbps and 1.4 mbps respectively. In order to get a sense of the quality of the connection, they examined how many times consumers had to reboot per month on average depending on the type of connection. They found that customers on fiber connections had to reboot only 1.5 times a month versus 3.4 times a month for cable. While a crude indicator, speed alone is not the only metric that counts when it comes to broadband connections. When asked how satisfied consumers were with various aspects of their broadband service, almost 70 percent of customers with fiber connections said they were very satisfied with the reliability of their fiber connection versus only 49 percent of those with cable modem connections.

There is much more research to be done on these questions but when it comes to the consumer, economic and societal impacts of fiber, there are clear indicators that it is a significant contributor to reducing commuting, improving energy efficiency, and promoting small business growth. In other words, fiber is not just another broadband technology. There are clear indicators that consumers believe it is a better technology.