Wifi, fibre, and cellular – are all technologies designed to variously deliver connectivity at a location (fibre, cellular, satellite) and distribute connectivity within that location (wi-fi, Private Mobile Network).
What is Wi-Fi?
Wifi is a well-established set of standards for providing wireless LAN (Local Area Network) functionality over a limited area. Low cost, high speed (especially 5GHz band, Wi-Fi 6) but limited range (10s of metres), frequency bands especially 2.4GHz are subject to contention from users, negatively influenced by walls, furnishings and other objects. Limitations can be mitigated by using managed “mesh” networks of Access Points but adds to cost and complexity.
What is Cellular?
Cellular is a well-established set of standards (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G) for providing wireless WAN (Wide Area Network) infrastructure over large areas based on a cell structure. Cellular is cost effective and easy to quickly deploy wherever cell or mast structure exists. Network operators such as EE, Vodafone, O2, and 3 cover 98% of the population in the UK.
However, public networks can suffer from user contention (too many users!) which limits speed. 5G services are currently limited to city locations and true high speed requires the user to be close to the mast. Speed and resilience issues can be mitigated by the use of bonding or load balancing routers which can combine the services of multiple mobile operators in to a single fast, reliable internet connection. EMS develops and manufactures the OptiBond 225 multichannel bonded 5G router that can provide failover to 2 networks and satellite.
What is Fibre?
Fibre or ‘GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network)’ as it’s sometimes called, is a transmission mechanism reliant on optical signals(light) for the delivery of internet services directly into premises. Fast (Gigabits) and reliable; but often expensive and time consuming to deploy outside urban areas. New construction sites will typically have to bear excess construction charges (often 10s / 100s of ‘000s of £s) for the dig to site. Leadtimes often 6 + months.
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Image Compare Fibre via Unsplash