Is AT&T replacing copper with fiber?
AT&T has been gradually transforming segments of its infrastructure from the older copper wiring to fiber optics over the last decade. This upgrade translates to a doubling of internet speed and, an increase in reliability and capacity to the areas that enjoy fiber. However, replacing cables with full fiber throughout the operator’s network is possible only on a long-term basis and at a high cost.
Why is AT&T Upgrading to Fiber?
This is true for ATT as for any other major ISP – they all noticed the trend – for the past decade, the bandwidth usage has grown significantly, especially with the emergence of streaming video and gaming, video conferencing, and more generally, any other application relying on a large amount of data. At this point, it is again clear that the copper lines that were good 10 years ago cannot serve today’s needs. Fiber optic cable offers almost infinite capacity to transmit huge amounts of bandwidth to cater the future requirements.
They also have competition threats which come in the form of cable providers, especially with new fiber optic players penetrating the regions where AT&T Internet offers its services. For it to be able to offer better services to its customers and win more of the market share, AT&T requires an upgrade to fiber, which provides higher bandwidth at a lower cost compared to when it maintains the copper.
This transition from Copper to Fiber is perhaps one of the most significant changes experienced in the entire Telecommunications industry.
AT&T has decided to brand the fiber product with the name “AT&T Fiber”. Customer locations that have access to AT&T Fiber stand at over 14 million across the United States by 2022. Their website provides users with information on whether ATT fiber services are available in their area.
It took time for the transition to be made from the use of copper wires to optical fibers although the change has been made. This is because the process of digging trenches where the firm has to lay several miles of fiber optic cable to connect houses is very expensive and time-consuming, therefore, AT&T is selectively connecting the most valuable regions, which are usually the densely populated urban and suburban ones. Rural areas with low subscription density rely heavily on old copper wire lines since it is expensive to install fiber lines. Nonetheless, AT&T insists fiber remains the planned offering for all locales in the long run.
As AT&T is deploying fiber, the company is not tearing out the copper lines concurrently but instead uses them in VoIP. This is important to keep the customers’ access to backup services in case they are needed during the transition. Once fiber in an area becomes fixed, and more people upgrade, copper lines can in the future be completely shut down. The transition between two different technologies, which comprises a different type of infrastructural setup, reasonably requires years to be fully accomplished in the market.
What’s the difference between a Fiber optic Internet connection and Copper based Internet connection?
Compared to copper, Fiber optic internet service supports blazing-fast speeds and is far superior in that facet. While discussing their fiber broadband, AT&T promotes it with the average download/upload speeds between 300 Mbps – 1000 Mbps depending on the location and selected plan. Copper-based connections ordinarily deliver a top speed of 100Mbps at most.
The fact of utilizing pulsing lights in fiber transmission as opposed to an electrical signal results in virtually no data loss over long distances. This means that fiber can deliver data at the same level of speeds over many miles without any hitches, which is not the same case with copper Internet connection which tends to weaken as it stretches from the main internet core lines and servers. Other benefits that fiber optic cable has over traditional copper telephone and cable lines include better reliability and coping capacity against outside interferences.
This is because, because of the technological gains, the pricing of the AT&T fiber optic internet is better, especially when comparing internet speeds to packages that are based on the old copper technology. But even now fiber installation is not complete to every customer so that all can switch over it.
This is something that many users are interested in knowing; When will fiber be available to me?
It may take over ten years or more to shift from copper to fiber as the industry itself suggests and as supported by AT&T.
Visit AT&T Fiber maps from time to time to observe how the rollout occurs in your city. Other important priorities also follow this sequence: major metro areas are the priority. For rural regions, broadband improvement programs from industry groups and the government try to increase fiber, but closing the digital divide is an ongoing effort that proves expensive.
Another way to approach the company and get updates on the rollout plans for your area that may hold potential for fiber rollout is to contact the local AT&T business offices. As the upgrade to fiber is on its way to becoming a national phenomenon, the wait for basic modern infrastructures such as Fiber internet connection continues for many residents. This fiber transition is still at the “Is AT&T replacing copper lines?” level as opposed to a solid “Yes, AT&T has fully transitioned to fiber for all its service areas.
Upgrade to faster, more reliable AT&T Fiber Internet today! Call us at +1 844-905-5002 and get connected with speeds that keep you ahead.
