Fiber Optic vs Copper 50 Mbps

Companies looking to connect multiple employees to the Internet or transfer large files, especially high resolution digital images, need more than single digit bandwidth. They traditionally have traded in their T1 lines for DS3 service at 45 Mbps. There are more options now for bandwidth levels around 50 Mbps using both copper and fiber optic connections.

DS3 is thought of as a copper wireline service because you connect to it with a pair of small diameter coaxial cables. The familiar BNC connectors are the standard interface for DS3 modules. It’s rare, though, that your DS3 service is being transported by copper. DS3 service ran on T3 lines when it was invented. These could be large rigid coax or even microwave transmission. Now it’s common to bring DS3 to your door or to the curb outside using fiber optic cable. DS3 doesn’t natively run on fiber. Instead, it is multiplexed onto an OC-3 SONET service over the fiber. A single OC-3 can transport three DS3 services. They are dropped off at their destinations using an add/drop multiplexer.

45 Mbps DS3 service is well established and readily available. It’s facing competition, however, from fixed wireless microwave transmission, Ethernet over Copper and Ethernet over Fiber services. Fixed wireless is typically found in the downtown business districts of major metropolitan areas. The transmission distance is short and you need line of sight from the provider’s tower to your building. If it works at all, you can easily get 50 Mbps or higher bandwidths delivered wirelessly.

Ethernet over Copper started out as a way to get more bandwidth at lower costs than T1 lines. The beauty of Ethernet over Copper (EoC) is that it uses the very same twisted pair copper telco wiring that transports T1. What’s different is the terminal equipment on each end that employes a different modulation scheme than T1 uses. EoC has a simpler interface to your network because it is already in the Ethernet protocol and doesn’t need a conversion to connect to nearly all local networks. Even the connector used in the handoff from WAN to LAN is the familiar RJ-45. Just plug it into your router and you’re good to go.

Does it work? Ethernet is growing every year as a T1 line replacement. Entry level bandwidth is 2 or 3 Mbps instead of T1’s 1.5 Mbps. The prices are similar, so you can wind up getting 50 to 100% more bandwidth for the same money. The real excitement, however, is that single digital bandwidths is where Ethernet over Copper starts. It extends to 10, 20, 30 and even 50 Mbps or higher. In rare cases, you can get 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps bandwidth delivered over twisted pair copper.

What’s the trick? The technology trades distance for speed. Very close to the telco central office, you get high bandwidths. A few miles away, the bandwidth has degraded to the point that service is impractical. That sounds worse than it is in reality because many, if not most, business locations are within a couple of miles of the office that terminates their copper lines. If that office is set up with EoC equipment, you may well get 50 Mbps over 8 pair of twisted copper wires at a cost that is less than you’ll pay for DS3 service.

The next step up is Ethernet over Fiber or EoF. Like EoC, EoF keeps the signals in the Ethernet protocol end to end. There are no conversions necessary to meet traditional telecom transmission standards. As you might suspect, fiber optic cables can bring in just about any bandwidth you want. That’s 1 Gbps for sure and often 10 Gbps. Some carriers can now supply 40 Gbps if you need that much. I’m sure that 100 Gbps isn’t far behind. In fact, most core networks are now upgrading to 100 Gbps as a standard.

Certainly 50 Mbps Ethernet over Fiber service is no trick. If your building is already lit for fiber optic service or nearby, construction costs will be little to none. If the nearest fiber is some distance away, there are going to be significant costs to connect you. Sometimes the carrier will incur the costs themselves if they think there is enough bandwidth to be sold in that location. Otherwise, you get the bill.

Let’s say that you can get Ethernet over Fiber but don’t need and certainly don’t want to pay for anything like Gigabit Ethernet. The thing to do then is have a Fast Ethernet or 100 Mbps port installed. You can get whatever bandwidth you want up to and including 100 Mbps over that FastE port. An advantage of Ethernet services is that they are easy to scale. Order the 50 Mbps you need today and crank that up to 75 or 100 Mbps when the time comes that you need a bandwidth boost. It will be fast and easy with EoF.

Are you interested in higher bandwidths than you can get with T1 or bonded T1 service, but concerned about the costs involved? Get current pricing and availability of 50 Mbps fiber and copper options for your business location. You may be pleasantly surprised with your service options.

Finding The 100 Megabit Connection

Fractional Gigabit connections are becoming more and more common, as demands for video content delivery, electronic medical image transmission and cloud connections increase. A popular service level now is 100 Mbps, the 100 Megabit connection. Let’s have a look at what’s available to deliver this bandwidth level to you.

The legacy high performance telecom service at the 100 Mbps level is OC-3. This is a fiber optic bandwidth service delivered over SONET, the Synchronous Optical NETwork. OC-3 bandwidth is actually 155 Mbps. The next step higher is OC-12 at 622 Mbps and the previous step is DS3 at 45 Mbps. DS3 is often delivered over an OC-3 connection, multiplexed with other services.

SONET fiber optic services are popular because they were first to be deployed by the telecommunications carriers. The TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) technology is directly compatible with T-Carrier services such as T1 and T3. Many Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN) and nationwide fiber optic backbones run on SONET rings that offer a redundant path with automatic failover. This protection scheme gives SONET a high reliability as well as very high bandwidth capability.

A newer competing fiber optic service is Carrier Ethernet. Unlike SONET which needs an interface card to do the protocol conversion between the telecom standard and network standard, Carrier Ethernet is directly compatible with the switched Ethernet running on your LAN. You know that 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet is a standard LAN speed. It is also a standard for Carrier Ethernet. With Fast Ethernet on both your LAN and WAN, there is no “speed” bump when files are transfered to other locations over the WAN connection.

Ethernet has its standard speed levels of 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1000 Mbps and 10,000 Mbps, but it is also highly scalable. If you want to move up or down the SONET digital hierarchy, the jumps between bandwidth levels are large. Ethernet can be set up to deliver just about any bandwidth level up to the maximum speed of the installed port. For instance, if you have a 100 Mbps Ethernet port installed, you can easily get 20, 50, 75 or 100 Mbps as well as other levels in-between. Increasing bandwidth is often no more difficult than placing a phone call to your service provider. The change can be made in as little as a few hours. That doesn’t work with SONET. The provider will need to roll a truck to replace the interface card in their edge router before you can use the higher speed.

If you expect to need higher bandwidths, it probably makes sense to have a 1 Gbps Ethernet port installed. You can start off at 100 or 200 Mbps and then scale-up as your bandwidth needs increase. The advantage of this is that you only have to pay for the bandwidth level that you are actually using. You retain the option to quickly increase bandwidth when justified by increased business activity or additional needs.

What if there are no fiber networks nearby? In rare instances, it is possible to get 100 Mbps Ethernet over Copper. Eight pairs of twisted copper telco wire are used to deliver Fast Ethernet to business locations very near the central offices that have EoC equipment installed. This is most often the case in business districts of large metropolitan areas.

Another high bandwidth service available downtown in major metro areas is 100 Mbps fixed wireless service. This is a licensed line-of-site point to point microwave system with a small antenna installed on your building. Like Ethernet over Copper, high bandwidth fixed wireless has limited transmission range. It can be very useful if it is too expensive to provision fiber optic service across a major highway or a river.

There’s another 100 Mbps service that is suitable for businesses that can use a shared bandwidth asymmetrical Internet service. You typically get 100 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload and your bandwidth varies constantly. Even so, for undemanding tasks like email, web browsing, downloading video clips or providing a free WiFi hotspot for your customers, Cable business broadband may be just the answer. The cost is similar to a T1 line, making this option very affordable for businesses of all sizes.

Are you in need of new 100 Mbps bandwidth service or just wanting to check prices for your business location? Please take a minute and get free instant online price quotes for 100 Mbps business bandwidth services.



Note: Photo of night traffic courtesy of Pekka Tamminen on Wikimedia Commons.