The three main differences are:
Bandwidth
- Standard cat 5e copper wire has a maximum bandwidth of 100Mb/s
- UTP cat 6 has a maximum bandwidth of 1Gb/s
- Fiber optics have a bandwidth up to 10Gb/s or greater
- Alcatel-Lucent and BT have today announced trial speeds of up to 1.4Tb/s (Alcatel-Lucent, 2014)
Cost
- Cat 5e (standard) copper cable is cheaper to produce
- Fiber Optics's production cost is higher, except for higher quality non-standard copper cables
Signal Loss
- Copper Cables suffer greater signal loss because of dissipating energy by radiating the signal away into space. (Babani, Bature, Faruk & Dankadai, 2014)
- What this is essentially saying, the further you are from an internet exchange point, the worse your connection is going to be
- Optic Fiber have less signal loss over greater distances than copper cables
Moving Along, I believe it would be best to compare the internet speeds of the many nations from across the world.
By the end of Q4 of 2013, the global internet average speeds were 3.8Mb/s and 133 countries have experienced speed growth in average internet connection speeds than the year before (Belson, 2013). With the fastest average internet speed going to South Korea, at 21.9Mb/s, and the slowest average internet speed going to Libya, at 0.6Mb/s.
The answer is 44th. Australia is ranked 44th in the world for average internet speed at 5.8Mb/s. Luckily over 54% of Australia internet users have an internet connection faster than 4Mb/s, however the number of people with access to "high broadband" is only 9.7% of Australians, i.e. Australians with access to an internet connection of greater than 10Mb/s. At least we have it better than Indonesia, with only 1.8% of internet users who have access to a greater than 4Mb/s connection.
But now, for the most important part of the blog...
How will a faster internet connection affect Australia?
I believe the best way to portray the benefits and costs of faster internet is through monetary gains or losses. However, as this question requests outcomes for a situation that has yet to occur, it should be stated that these are only estimations.
The parts of society that improved internet speed will benefit the most...
Communications
Faster internet will save a lot of time, which is very often equatable to money. We can expect improved internet telephone calls, improved social media and enhanced video calls (Deloitte, 2013). These benefits come in the form of time saving and improved efficiency. Overall, it is estimated to be worth $74 a year in benefits.
E-Commerce
Again, time is important. If we forgo retail consumption for online consumption, a good proportion of travel time is saved. According to the ABS time use survey, on average, we spend 19 minutes a day travelling. If we were to save that time, it would equate to an increased benefit of $156 per year.
Faster internet will allow a greater proportion of Australians access to online shopping. Online shopping provides Australians with choice, this choice allows Australians to pick and choose what they want, and how much they're willing to pay for it. And because of websites like Ebay and Amazon, savings are almost to be expected. With an average spending of $418 per household (Deloitte, 2013), this results in a benefit increase of $453 a year.
Online Services
With faster internet speeds, it can be expected that households will be spending more on online services, in particular entertainment. The benefits gained, again, takes into account of travel time saved, wider selection of entertainment and potentially cheaper sources of said entertain. With an average household expenditure of $22 (Deloitte, 2013), we can average annual benefits to be $269 a year.
Now we should move onto the costs of faster internet
Costs
When something sounds too good, it usually is. You know what they say with great internet, comes great responsibility, by responsibility, i mean cost. The largest cost that society will face will be the forced redundancy of business and services that aren't able to adapt to changing consumer preferences. This is largely due to accessibility and choice that the internet counterpart offers
Some of these include:
- Video Rentals
- Newspaper Publishing
- Free-to-air and paid Television
- Book Publishing
- Movie vending machines
Australia, as a first world nation, is falling behind when it comes to internet speed, 44th in the world is not something to boast about. Copper technology may have gotten us this far, but for society to further improve and develop, further research and development into internet speed is necessary. Fiber Optic Internet is our salvation, It is estimated to bring in at least $952 annually in benefits for the average Australian household which is a very considerable amount. However, I do understand that there are certain costs that are involved with improved internet speed, but the world is a constantly transitioning place and those who cannot adapt quickly enough are left behind...*cough* Blockbuster *cough*
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Well, That's All Folks.
Babani, S., Bature, A., Faruk, M., & Dankadai, N. (2014). Comparative Study Between Fiber Optic and Copper in Communication Link. Ijtra, 2(2), 59-62.
Belson, D. (2013). Akamai's State of the Internet Q4 2013 Report (1st ed., pp. 16-19 & 26-28). Retrieved from http://www.akamai.com/dl/akamai/akamai-soti-a4-q413.pdf?WT.mc_id=soti_a4_Q413
Benefits of High-Speed Broadband For Australian Households. (2014) (1st ed., pp. 6-17). Canberra. Retrieved from http://www.archive.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/174642/DBS_41314_Benefits_of_Broadband_Doc_8.pdf.pdf
