By: John Shepler
The Internet’s Most Critical Part: Your Last Mile Connection
For internet users like you, especially businesses, the most crucial aspect is the “last mile” connection. This final leg of the network often determines speed and causes the most issues. A better connection is essential, and fiber optic technology is the current gold standard.
Last Mile Limitations: Why Fiber Matters
It’s important to remember that no internet connection is foolproof. Everyone shares the same priority, meaning network congestion or server outages affect all users equally. However, the internet’s core infrastructure is now highly robust and offers ample bandwidth.
For businesses needing top-tier connectivity across multiple locations, private solutions like dedicated point-to-point connections and MPLS networks are ideal. These offer superior control over bandwidth, latency, and data packet loss, but they come at a higher cost and don’t directly connect to the public internet. This is why utilizing the public internet remains crucial for most businesses, particularly for sales and customer interactions.
Pricing and quality for last-mile connections vary significantly. The most significant factor is whether you choose shared or dedicated bandwidth. Dedicated bandwidth provides exclusive access to the entire line capacity, meaning any unused portion remains available whenever needed.
While ideal, dedicated lines for everyone would make internet access prohibitively expensive. Instead, providers like cable and wireless companies purchase high-capacity dedicated lines and then divide them among multiple users. This approach relies on the fact that not everyone uses the internet simultaneously, and even then, not all users are constantly uploading or downloading data.
Before remote work became widespread, peak consumer internet usage occurred in the evenings, while businesses primarily used it during the day. However, with more people working from home, daytime demand has surged for shared bandwidth connections. This increased load can lead to slower speeds for everyone until the demand decreases.
Dedicated High-Speed Connections: The Ideal Solution
Dedicated, symmetrical high-speed connections provide the best performance. Symmetrical means equal upload and download speeds, which is typical for dedicated lines. Shared bandwidth connections, on the other hand, usually have much faster download speeds compared to upload speeds.
Connecting through a top-tier Internet Service Provider (ISP) is also recommended. These larger companies connect directly to the internet backbone. Smaller ISPs, however, must pay fees to these larger companies to access the backbone, adding an extra step in the connection chain.
Dedicated lines can be implemented using copper or fiber optic technologies. Some providers also offer wireless connections with comparable performance using microwave technology. These tend to be short-range, line-of-sight connections available in major metropolitan areas.
Copper-based options include traditional T1 and DS3 (also known as T3) lines. A newer technology, Ethernet over Copper, utilizes the same twisted-pair cabling as T1 lines but supports much higher speeds. However, bandwidth tends to decrease as distance from the central office increases.
Fiber optic connections were once rare and costly, but that’s no longer the case. Even cable companies have adopted fiber as their primary network infrastructure, with some offering dedicated fiber optic internet connections alongside their standard shared bandwidth services over coaxial copper cables.
Fiber optic solutions encompass traditional telco Optical Carrier services like OC3, OC12, and OC48. Ethernet over Fiber is a more recent and generally less expensive technology with excellent scalability. This means you’re not limited by the initial bandwidth you choose. You can begin with 10 or 100 Mbps and effortlessly upgrade to 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps, or even 100 Gbps as your requirements grow. This flexibility alone makes it highly cost-effective. The competitive fiber optic market has driven down bandwidth prices significantly.
The expansion of cellular towers for 4G LTE and 5G has fueled a fiber optic construction boom. Consequently, numerous buildings have been equipped with fiber optic connectivity for business use. These locations are ideal for offices since the high cost of fiber installation has already been addressed. If your office doesn’t have fiber yet, connecting it might be inexpensive or even free. This is because a nearby fiber point of presence likely exists, and providers are eager to connect new buildings and secure tenants’ business.
Ready for a reliable, affordable last-mile internet connection? Get multiple competitive quotes now and discover the bandwidth you can afford.
