FIOS vs Cable

dvsman

dvsman

2[H]4U
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Dec 2, 2009
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So I was thinking of switching my ISP a few days ago and started looking around. Apparently cable internet can now hit 1gb/s to1.3gb/s nowadays. FIOS also has been offering Gigabit service as well.

From a technical standpoint - are there any benefits to one type of gigabit internet vs the other? Technical / security / whatever you can think of?

This is assuming that the actual speeds are essentially the same.
 
What you need to figure out is, not what your speeds are, but what your monthly data cap is.

The reality is that even 100Mbps would be very fast for most people, but if you stream a lot, especially at 4K, the data adds up. I'd rather have a <100Mbps connection with no monthly cap than a Gigabit connection with a cap. You don't need gigabit to stream, and stuff will always finish downloading eventually.
 
FiOS claims no data caps but, someone here was hosting websites at home thru FiOS and they told him to get a business account when he hit 77TB. We stream all day long here. Plus I work from home most days now and I do training via MS Teams 3 days a week for 8 hours at a time. No issues with data caps here.

Also, I've zero issues with FiOS. With Comcast it was a problem every other week.
 
wra18th said:
FiOS claims no data caps but, someone here was hosting websites at home thru FiOS and they told him to get a business account when he hit 77TB. We stream all day long here. Plus I work from home most days now and I do training via MS Teams 3 days a week for 8 hours at a time. No issues with data caps here.

Also, I've zero issues with FiOS. With Comcast it was a problem every other week.
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Well yes when they see 77tb in a month they will flag it. I am pretty sure it is in the terms to not do that and suppose to get a business account for that. Fios is the way to go over Comcast. It is cheaper and no real data cap. Comcast is 1.2tb nationwide now so screw that. Pro tip if you get fios get the older modems off eBay for dirt cheap and avoid the monthly rental fees. I currently pay $40 for 200mb but I am pulling down almost 400mb.
 
Thanks guys, that's the type of insight I was hoping for.

I'm on cable right now @ 300mb/s and its perfectly fine but as other members have said, when you have multiple streams of dense data, things can bog down. I have a modem capable of 1 gb/s but wanted to get some feedback on what others experiences have been for comparison.

This is definitely a want and not a need to be sure. I'm back in the office now so WFH isn't really an issue anymore. Heck I could live with 100mb/s if I had to but I do like streaming 4k and building new PCs (always requires re-downloading lots of things including Steam and similar).
 
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Had FiOS across 3 houses in 10 years and currently have their Gigabit service. I cannot remember a time when its ever gone down. Not an exaggeration either, its never been down. Consistently low latency and true symmetrical gigabit.

Really will never go back to copper.

I used the included "Quantum" router and had intentions to replace it thinking it would be garbage but its never had a problem or let me down so it just works. There was one weekend where I thought it was the cause of a problem in a game (Destiny 2) and replaced it with some $200 Asus unit but came to find that it couldn't cope with the 1Gb/s throughput so that went back immediately. Mentioning that to keep that stuff in mind if you plan to run your own router, make sure its beefy enough.
 
I've had FIOS for almost the last five years. While I've had some issues with it, overall it's been fantastic. Again, the technical benefits of fiber vs. cable have already been pointed out so FIOS gets my vote here.
 
I actually nearly hit my advertised 1.2gb cable speed (My network is only 1GB, so that's my constraint.) and I'd fucking drop comcast and go FIOS the very first fucking chance I get.

I rarely have problems with my cable, which is good, because dealing with Xfinity support is one of the most truly awful things I've ever had to deal with involving customer support, and I'm a fucking college bar manager.
 
I've never had FIOS so I'm sure those people will speak up, but I would only pick a service that gives me a genuine public IP. No inbred CPE doing NAT. If you can pick your own devices, even better.
 
Having had both.. Fios no question. Rock solid stable and consistent in bandwidth throughput / latency. Also I can't think of a downtime ever in the 3-4 years i've had it. Whereas for cable i've had several downtimes, unstable pings, inconsistent bandwidth, etc.
 
I've got Comcast's premium service (can't remember their marketing name right now) with an ARRIS SURFboard SBG8300, just tested and I get ~450Mb (depending on which test site I use) down, and 23Mb up, latency ~25ms. No experience with any other broadband except AT&T dsl, which sucks.
 
Valnar said:
I've never had FIOS so I'm sure those people will speak up, but I would only pick a service that gives me a genuine public IP. No inbred CPE doing NAT. If you can pick your own devices, even better.
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I've had FIOS for 14 years here in Texas. I too vote for FIOS. However to Valnar's point, any service that carrier NAT's your outbound IP is junk. Mind you I don't believe most cable carriers do that, and FIOS certaintly doesn't. Starlink and I believe all the cellular carriers do.

FIOS and Cable let you use whatever router you want. I would recommend a custom router (PFsense, untangled, etc) and Unifi access points, you won't look back.
 
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