Fiber, Copper, or Wireless: Which Connection Is Best for Your Company?


internet transmission

Bandwidth, the speed at which you gain Internet access, is not something small business owners probably put much thought into. And that is a mindset worth changing.

The Internet now plays a substantial role in business, probably to the extent that we take it for granted.

Consider, for example, how extensively used a data-heavy function like video conferencing is, how often we access cloud-based apps, stream videos or download large files from a website. Your bandwidth is taxed for any of those high-demand activities. One video service recommends that you need 5.0 megabits per second, just to stream an HD video.

If multiple users on your network are streaming multiple videos, uploading large files or doing other high-demand tasks concurrently, the needs multiply. If you only have limited bandwidth such as a 20 megabit per second speed, you can see how quickly a few heavy demands on your Internet access can eat up your access and slow everything and everyone down.

Still, businesses tend to use the same Internet connection for years, blithely oblivious to the speed of technology’s progress. Bandwidth problems can slow down your company’s productivity, waste your employees’ time and result in lost sales.

Before you can figure out how to ensure your operation is Internet optimized, you first need to know what you’re dealing with. Consider this a primer regarding the three basic materials we use to connect to the Internet:

  • Copper
  • Fiber optics
  • Wireless

These three mediums for Internet connections are available today in the marketplace. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Let’s look at the pros and cons of each.

Copper Has Dominance

Since the telephone’s advent over 100 years ago, the dominant way to “wire” the home involved the use of copper cabling. The copper phone wire is perfectly adequate for a voice signal, which is what it was intended for. All things considered, however, it offers very limited bandwidth. Still, so many are familiar with copper that they doubted any other medium would ever supplant it.

Until fiber optics came along.

Fiber optics refers to technology that transmits data through thin strands of a highly transparent material that usually is either glass or plastic. Fiber optic communications were launched in the 1970s, though the first fiber optic telecommunications networks were not installed until the early 1980s.

By the mid-1980s, fiber’s bandwidth and distance capabilities made it significantly less expensive than other communication mediums, so it has replaced them.

In the mid-1990s, cable television discovered fiber could enhance performance reliability, as well as enable the offering of both phone and Internet service on the same fiber.

Fiber Optics or Copper Cables?

Assessing which type of network cable is optimal for a particular company requires consideration of several factors.

Copper does offer advantages for those in rural areas. It already exists (it has been used, as noted, to wire telephones, so copper already found its place in the household) and is less expensive when used to connect network devices. Those in rural areas where no fiber optics have been run may find copper the most cost effective, because they don’t have to pay to run new cabling.

Still, fiber optic cable offers many advantages over copper:

Fiber optic transmission is faster: Fiber optic versus copper wire transmission can be boiled down to the speed of photons versus the speed of electrons. Photons travel at the speed of light, whereas electrons (as used in copper wire) occurring in nature travel at less than one percent of the speed of light. And while fiber optic cables don’t travel at the speed of light, they come very close — only about 31 percent slower. So as you can see, there’s a huge inherent speed difference.

Fiber optic transmission results in less attenuation: When traveling over a long distance, fiber optic cables experience less signal loss than copper cabling, known as low attenuation. One source estimates that fiber loses only three percent signal strength going over 100 meters (approximately 320 feet) in distance. By contrast, copper loses 94 percent over the same distance. Repeaters or boosters can improve those rates, but in its native state, fiber beats out copper when it comes to avoiding signal loss.

Fiber optic cables are impervious to electromagnetic interference: Copper wires, if not properly installed, will produce electromagnetic currents that can interfere with other wires and wreak havoc on a network. An added benefit of fiber optic cables is that they are not a fire hazard. (Fiber optic cables, unlike copper cables, do not conduct electricity.)

Fiber optic cables do not break as easily: This means that you will not have to worry about replacing them as frequently as copper wires.

Wireless versus Fiber Optics and Copper

While fiber optics seem to have the upper hand over copper, wireless broadband is gaining in popularity and usage.

Wireless broadband (or 4G, which stands for 4th generation wireless), a method of broadcasting an Internet connection over radio waves, is a broad term that represents many different technologies.

4G requires infrastructure to be built out so that coverage can reach remote areas, and it is becoming more widespread with each passing year. Think of 4G as the type of technology used by mobile phone carriers — except that it has faster speed, making it a more realistic choice for Internet access than older 3G mobile phone connections.

Wireless Has Potential to Remove Costs

When it comes to fiber optic or copper cables, expenses run the gamut from purchasing the cabling, getting permits signed, paying for work crews and insurance and remunerating the IT wizards who make the network function properly.

Wireless networks may alleviate much of this cost.

One of the biggest problems, however, is that wireless signals degrade with distance: the further away the user is from the broadcast station, the weaker the signal. Fiber optics can convey a clear signal much farther.

And there are still parts of the United States without wireless coverage or with spotty coverage, such as in rural areas. Without sufficient wireless towers to broadcast the signal throughout rural areas, wireless may not be a viable choice in remote areas. However, provided the 4G infrastructure reaches your area, it can be a good choice.

The two systems — fiber optic and wireless — can complement each other, with many communications systems using both fiber optics and wireless transmissions. Australia, for example, has proposed hooking up more than 90 percent of its population to a fiber optic network for Internet access, with rural Australians receiving wireless instead.

Cable companies provide fiber-optic service to a home’s front door. But go inside and you’ll see its owners using Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity. Businesses wire up their local area networks, but staffers use Blackberries or iPhones to manage email out on the road.

Considering the complexity involved with determining whether fiber optics or copper is better for your company, you may want to consider the pros and cons of outsourcing your IT network, for an expert opinion.

Outsourcing lets you focus on what your company does best. Keeping up with the technology required to run your business is expensive and time consuming. By outsourcing your IT networking, you can spend your limited time and money on items that are directly related to satisfying your customers, rather than on the underlying infrastructure.

As important as your network is, remember, it’s still not your core business. To net it out:

For those in areas where fiber optic cable has been run already, such as urban and larger suburban areas, fiber seems like the choice for building for the future. Fiber offers speed and reliability, along with cost effectiveness.

For those in rural areas, copper-based connections may be the most cost effective and practical choice, because it’s already in existence in most places.

And in places where 4G technology infrastructure has reached, wireless may provide a realistic option, especially as it becomes more prevalent and the technology improves.

Fiber Optic Image via Shutterstock

37 Comments ▼

Ed Lieber Ed Lieber is a staff writer for Small Business Trends. He is a journalist and marketing copywriter with 20 years of experience writing, editing and managing for print and digital vehicles.

37 Reactions
  1. While the preferred combination for future is optical fibre and wireless, this can work only if wireless segment is scalable and provides contention free access.

  2. The reality is, is that our telecommunication system is rubbish and over congested and so that is why the NBN was though up but NBN co, will use existing infrastructure such as the Telstras HFC and copper wires compared to the “fiber to the node – which is the only way the consumer will get reliable and competitive pricing”.

  3. I’m sticking with fiber optic for much reliable and stronger connection.

  4. I like the advantage of fiber-optic speed compared to copper that you mentioned. I have an office that is planning on rewiring its cables. I hope they choose the fastest option. It seems that more and more people want speed more than anything. Hopefully, the speed and new wiring will add to the productivity of our team.

  5. whether phone connection is required for fibre internet.

  6. When Bell Fibre Optic to WIFI reached my building in Sherbrooke, Quebec in September 2015, I became increasingly sick, finally worked out a possible source of the problem, and called an electrician who told me not to spend more than 3 hours at a time in my apartment. I am a researcher, and use cable in my computer – it is the neighbor’s wifi that has made me very, very sick. I am now called ‘electro-sensitive, but from what I have read, every body is affected – mine just has a very acute warning system! BEWARE.

  7. The speed of transmission over copper is not the same as the speed of electrons. Information is propagated along copper cables the same way it is on fiber, electromagnetic radiation. Thus, the speed of information on copper is comparable to fiber. The difference is the amount of information…the rate that is, data/time. I just wanted to clear that up…

    • Thank you for correcting that. I was reading this article to my boyfriend who is a physicist who specializes in optoelectronics. As soon as I read that part of the article he asked me. who wrote this because it contained incorrect information. I was curious to see if anyone in comments had picked it up, and we were happy to see someone had!

  8. For small businesses that rely heavily on the internet, this is good to know. I have always wondered what the difference between these transmission methods were, so it’s definitely good to know. Thanks for sharing!

  9. All said and done. South Africans have HAD to move to Fiber or Wireless as Copper Theft in our country is out of control.
    The Government has laid down the law with Scrap Yards THEY MAY NOT BUY COPPER “PERIOD”. If they are found with Copper on their premises and do not have a licence they are marched off to jail.
    Companies in South Africa have major problems with “downtime” and it has affected business badly.
    Copper was initially brought out to deal mainly with telephone systems then eventually used on ADSL Lines and Telephones. Can you imagine the havoc the theft of Copper caused to Business in South Africa?
    All that is now required in South Africa is to design an Electricity Supply system whereby the cables cannot be spliced and pulled to the other side of the road illegally, the electricity thieves take their lives into their own hands doing something this outrageous, however they continue to do so even though people are found dead daily through electrocution.? This will be an excellent business and investment incentive to any budding entrepreneur.

  10. Hi Ed, I want to know where do you find information about speed of eletrons in cooper cable, can you share that references please?
    Thanks.
    Prince C.

  11. I currently use a wireless communications network, and I have a ping of about 650, but it can jump to over 800 if I have used all of my wireless data and am on my Liberty Plan, or if there is overcast. Before then I had a copper based network, witch had a normal ping of about 700, but it would never go near as high as the wireless provider. The provider that offers the copper line is now upgrading to fiber optic, do you think that fiber optic will be a better choice than wireless? Or do you think that it will not be able to assist me in my situation?

  12. They way people have started consuming data, Fiber Optics is the future of communication. We now have smart TVs and watch 4K or 8K content. Fiber can deliver what we need.

  13. Fiber optic is the best for company and family, 4G is the best for the business person and the copper is worst for every body. Don’t use copper. Your internet connection will slow.

  14. I’m glad this article talked about the speed of fiber optic compared to copper cables. I’ve been thinking about switching to fiber optic, because the data I send to my brother takes a while to get there. I might start looking to switch to fiber optic if it transfers information a lot faster.

  15. Copper – 2.3 × 108 m/s
    Fiber – 2.0 × 108 m/s
    So while it might be a bit faster it’s definitely not .03C vs .73C and there is no sense in statement that fiber optic cable is sturdier than copper. Fiber optic is spun glass.

    Just my .02

  16. Ramnarayan Natarajan

    I have been using copper broadband which comes with a fixed line phone for years. Provided by the government and the plan now which I am on is 16mbps upto 100gb and beyond that 2mbps speed. They charge me USD 42.50 monthly.

    I’m very unhappy with the cost and the speed. So I’m choosing a private company who is offering me 125mbps speed upto 500gb and beyond that 1mbps speed. Fiber cable. one time payment for installation is USD 17.26 and for router is USD 42.38 and monthly plan is at USD 27.76 only.

    Let’s see.

  17. Working in the industry myself I can see the future being a underlying Fiber layer and last mile (last couple of miles) Fixed-Wireless delivery to the end customer for most scenarios. The cost, speed of install and overall scalability and maintainability of the Fixed Wireless networks are greater than Fiber and in the recent years the reliability and speed you can achieve on these networks is on par if not better than Fiber itself.

  18. Thanks for pointing out that a problem with the bandwidth will affect the productivity of people, so it must have a good connection. With that in mind, I will be choosing a connection that will not be having those kinds of problems. This is because we will be having a hotel constructed near business corporations which might mean that we will be getting clients who will be needing connection for their business-related emails.

  19. Our church switched from regular internet using ethernet and I guess wire cable to fiber and noticed that the signal not that fast is consistent and we do not loose connection or loose packets while using. Also wifi- seems to out perform our G3 network even using wifi on our mobile phone to broadcast our sunday services.

    You can see it as we switched 2 weeks ago. The morning I bought minutes and the quality was choppy and pixelated. When i switched later in the service to the wifi signal, the quality was much better.

  20. Nice informative post on the other hand ,The visible light communication (VLC) market is expected to grow from USD 1.30 billion in 2017 to USD 75.00 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 96.57% between 2018 and 2023.

  21. I’m glad this article talked about the speed of fiber optic compared to copper cables. I’ve been thinking about switching to fiber optic, because the data I send to my brother takes a while to get there.

  22. I cannot believe you’ve made the mistake of equivocating the speed of electrons with the speed of electricity. And nobody has commented on this.
    Electrons travels far slower than light, as you say, but electricity and electrical signals travel at (near) the speed of light. The speed of movement of electrons is irrelevant, because it’s the propagation of the electrical wave as carried by electrons that matters. Look it up if you don’t understand. This is a poorly researched and misleading article, and it’s very sad that nobody knows enough science to call you out for it.

  23. Fiber optic is the best for company and family, 4G is the best for the business person and the copper is worst for every body. Don’t use copper. Your internet connection will slow.
    Thanks for Shairing 🙂

  24. Hello I prefer wire for my company.

  25. These are some great things on fiber copper wirless internet transmission method that you have discussed here. I really loved it and thank you very much for sharing this with us. You have a great visualization and you have really presented this content in a really good manner.

  26. South Africans have HAD to move to Fiber or Wireless as Copper Theft in our country is out of control.
    The Government has laid down the law with Scrap Yards THEY MAY NOT BUY COPPER “PERIOD”

  27. Copper is the best material and material and the transmission of internet through it is fabulous. I am also now switching to it after reading this article. thank you so much for the amazing information

  28. I think fiber optic cable being fastest is best for companies and families. On the other hand copper is the slowest and has a bad internet connectivity.
    Thanks for sharing.

  29. The cost, speed of install and overall scalability and maintainability of the Fixed Wireless networks are greater than Fiber and in the recent years the reliability and speed you can achieve on these networks is on par if not better than Fiber itself.

  30. 5G has been gaining traction and improving its area of coverage and it’ll definitely be a good choice in the coming years. But for now, Fiber Optic connections are still the most reliable in terms of speed and value.

  31. This looks amazing. Never thought that copper can be used in transmission

  32. Uh, please tell me how I have a choice.
    I’m a consumer in a residence. As far as I know
    my only choices are the service providers.

    Besides that, can you tell me how I could ping distant
    locations over copper?

  33. Thank you for this fibre optic that used with wireless internet transmission.

  34. They way people have started consuming data, Fiber Optics is the future of communication. We now have smart TVs and watch 4K or 8K content. Fiber can deliver what we need.

  35. This wireless optic cooper are wireless and can help us in many ways. We mainly use this for transmission methods.

  36. These are some great things on fiber copper wirless internet transmission method that you have discussed here.