We live in a time where there are many Internet options available to get connected, whether it is a
wireless connection, a fibre connection, ADSL or a satellite connection. But what are the actual pros
and cons for this? We will have a look at the pros and cons of Wireless Internet and Fibre Internet.
What is Wireless Internet?
Wireless Internet works on the principle of being connected to a tower via a radio, which is
assembled on the client’s roof. Between the tower and dish, signal will be received and sent.
What is Fibre Internet?
Fibre Internet makes use of fibre optic cable, which is physically installed up to the client’s premises.
Pros and cons
Wireless Internet Pros:
When a problem arises, it can easily be identified exactly where the problem is. Down time in such a
case is kept to the minimum.
Furthermore, the network overall is easier to be managed in terms of too much congestion and can
easily be countered in case the network is experiencing congestion. This is done by means of
additional hardware installations. If the network congestion is managed properly, the client should
experience a good connection. For this reason, it is easy to keep contention ratio to the minimum for
clients.
Wireless Cons:
Unfortunately, Wireless hardware is more expensive than Fibre hardware. This however should not
be a deterrent since it is, once again, easily fixable and downtime will be kept to the minimum
should there be any problems.
With extreme weather, the signal may be affected. Strong winds can cause the radio on the client’s
roof to misalign, strong rain may cause some rain fade. These are once again, easy to fix and will
cause minimum offline time and discomfort to clients and usually lasts for as long as heavy rain is
experienced.
Fibre Pros:
Should the network not experience too much congestion, the line should perform as advertised at a fast speed. Installation of Fibre Internet is also cheaper than that of Wireless Internet. The connection should not experience any difficulties during extreme weather conditions, but damages are not excluded from it.
Fibre Cons:
The network can easily experience congestion since a fibre optic cable can handle only a certain
amount of traffic. Due to its popularity currently, this seems to happen quite often. To have an
upgrade done to fix this, will take some time since new cable should need to be trenched, laid and
connected.
Contention ratio is almost always present in Fibre networks. For this reason, is Fibre Internet is not
always cheaper since clients will share their lines with other clients.
Should there be a fibre breakage, the problem is identified between point A and point B. Fault
finding and repairs might take some time due to trenching and installing a new cable, in order to
reinstate the Internet connection to clients.
Clients should also consider what they want to use an Internet connection for. Should the want to
Netflix and Facebook for example, a 100mbps line is overkill and they will pay more than what they
need.
People are advised to do proper research on companies before signing up, and read companies’
terms and conditions (https://wi5wireless.co.za/about/) before doing so.