Currently we can contract fiber optics of all types of speeds, with figures that start from 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps. Most of the offers are concentrated in figures between 100, 300, 600 or 1,000 Mbps , since offering more speed is impossible without the migration to XGS-PON, which the large operators have initiated. However, does it really take that much?
The traffic that users generate on the Internet does not stop growing year after year. Included in this traffic is the demand for higher quality content , including for example 4K resolutions. Streaming something in 2160p without cuts requires, yes or yes, a fiber optic connection, since even with a fast ADSL connection we can have buffering problems. In the case of mobile connectivity, it is possible that we have coverage problems or that the network is occasionally saturated when we go to download that content.
The 50 Mbps is scarce, and the 100 almost
The situation is complicated if, for example, we are several people at home. In that case, a 50 Mbps connection may fall short if there are, for example, three people streaming something at the same time, which can be a fairly common situation. 4K video streaming requires a stable bandwidth of 25 Mbps . This is the reason why there are almost no operators that offer this speed, beyond some OMV.
The minimum speed that can be required of fiber optics at present is 100 Mbps . With it, we are guaranteed the streaming of content, as well as being able to download and upload things to the network with some ease. While it is a decent connection for households with a tenant or two, with normal use such as watching the news, checking mail, using messaging or watching online videos, in a household with three or more people it will not be enough to cope possible peaks of use.
300 or 600 Mbps – the best speed
That brings us to 300 Mbps , which should be the minimum we would have to focus on when hiring a fiber optic rate . With this rate we are ensuring that our connection is not saturated when viewing content, and even leaves some margin for high-speed downloads of content in the cloud, or to upload it if we hire a symmetric rate. This will also be appreciated when we are playing, since we will not saturate the network traffic, generating latency peaks and an increase in jitter .
From 600 Mbps, we begin to enter a field where we may not notice much difference beyond more speed in direct download from the cloud, or when using torrent. The same happens with 1 Gbps fiber , where we even reach the speed limit that most Ethernet connections you have at home allow. Most computers have built-in Gigabit Ethernet ports , and only in high-end models are we beginning to see 2.5 Gbps, or 10 Gbps Ethernet in the higher-end ones.
Therefore, there comes a time when it no longer makes sense to hire a higher fiber speed rate. 300 or 600 Mbps is an ideal speed for using the Internet on a daily basis and even downloading content at high speed. 1 Gbps is only recommended if you download a lot of content in direct download or games from platforms such as Steam, PSN or Xbox Live , and you want patches and games to download as soon as possible. However, looking at the offers in 600 Mbps fiber in the last 2 months from Movistar, Orange or Vodafone , there is no doubt that these are the most profitable to hire.