As the name states the wireless broadband technology does not use wires to connect the device with the internet. Instead of using wires they use Wireless Fidelity which is commonly known as Wi-Fi. In this process, the signal is received by a wireless router, and it decodes the signals. Through the wired Ethernet Connection the signals are sent. In this article, we will see the different types of wireless broadband technologies.

Fixed Wireless

Fixed Wireless is a high-speed internet connection that uses radio signals for transmission. The fixed wireless connection is capable of providing a speed of   1 Mbps to 10 Mbps. They use transmission towers that are very similar to phone towers. These transmission towers directly connect with the receiver equipment in the resident’s place. It also communicates with providers in the ground station.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi or a wireless fidelity is a technology that provides internet connection for a short range. Wi-Fi is generally used with DSL, cable and fiber modem. It connects the devices in the home or in the business area. It is also available in common places like airports, coffee shops, colleges, and schools. They are referred to as the hot spots. A Wi-Fi network uses radio waves to connect with the devices. The signal is received by the router and is decoded. Using the physical connection that information is sent to the internet.

Mobile Wireless

The mobile wireless is a high-speed connection that refers to the 3G connection and 4G connections. We all know for a fact that mobile wireless technology is one of the predominantly used technologies in the present situation. It is one of those things that people are constantly working on perfecting the existing technology and on improving the transmission speeds. In the near future, we can expect 5G to hit the markets.  The mobile wireless needs a base station that is connected to high-speed data transmission.

LET

LET refers to Long Term Evolution. It is a 4G technology that provides higher data rates. It also reduces data latency. It has better scalable bandwidth capacity than its 4G predecessors. LET is very advanced and can handle a lot of things like multicast and broadcast streams. The internet protocol based network allows flawless voice handovers.

Satellite

There are some instances where you have to depend only on satellite broadband. It is the condition in most of the rural areas. Even though there might be a lot of disturbances like whether, it will be the only option that you will have. Since the satellite is orbiting, there are possibilities that the connection will not be perfect. The charge is comparatively high. There are a lot of issues that include the cost of the equipment, location, latency and a lot more. The time that is taken for the data to be received by the user is very high when compared to the rest of the methods.

The Internet has become one of the important things in our lives. Some might feel it as an exaggeration, but it has become more like oxygen. It is difficult to survive without it. Even simple things like communication have become dependent very much on the internet.

When it comes to broadband connection, there are two major types. They are fiber broadband and copper broadband. Both have their advantages and unique characteristics. In this article, we will see in detail about these two.

Bandwidth

When it comes to bandwidth fiber optics is a clear winner. It can provide a bandwidth of sixty Tbps while copper can provide only ten Gbps. To put in simple words fiber links can provide a bandwidth of thousand times of copper broadband. Information in fiber links can also travel a hundred times faster than copper links. The normal bandwidth distance for multimode fiber is five hundred megahertz per kilometer which means one Gigahertz can be transmitted in a five hundred meter cable. The signal lost in that five hundred meters is very much negligible.

Transmission distance and speed

The first thing that you need to understand is that fiber optics should be seen as the speed of photons and copper cables as the speed of electrons. Photons are nothing but light particles. We all know that light travels faster than anything.  At a distance of twelve miles, fiber optic cables can transfer ten thousand Mbps. The copper broadband can transmit a thousand Mbps at a distance of three hundred feet. This is actually a huge difference and clearly gives fiber optics that upper hand.

Reliability

Fiber optic cables are much reliable when compared to copper cables, taking into consideration the various environmental conditions. For example, there are good possibilities that copper will undergo degradation because of the environmental conditions which is not the case when it comes to fiber optics. They remain unaffected, and hence there will not be any issue with data transfer. One more thing is that fiber is totally immune to electromagnetic fluctuations. They can also be used underwater.

Security

The first thing that we need to note when it comes to security is that optical fibers do not use electricity and copper uses electricity. There no radiation of signals which makes optical fibers completely safe. It cannot be tapped that easily. Since copper uses electricity, it can be tapped easily. Any kind of damage in fiber optics can be easy detected by various monitoring techniques. On the other hand copper cables, it is hard to detect the damages in copper cables, and single damage will destroy the entire line.

Cost

There was a time when fiber cables were costlier than copper cables. As the use of fiber cables increased, it has come down drastically. Even though fiber cables are a bit expensive, there are a lot of industries are opting for them because of the advantages that they have in various aspects.