Fiber vs. Cable Internet: What's the Real Difference?

Cable internet runs over the same coaxial cable that historically delivered cable TV. It's a mature, widely available technology, but because it uses shared bandwidth across your neighborhood, speeds can dip during peak evening hours when everyone's online at once.

Fiber internet uses light signals over glass fiber-optic cable instead of electrical signals over copper. That generally means faster, more consistent speeds — fiber connections typically don't slow down during peak hours the way cable can — plus symmetrical upload and download speeds.

The tradeoff is availability. Cable networks reach far more homes today than fiber does, since fiber buildouts are still expanding neighborhood by neighborhood. If fiber isn't available at your address yet, a well-chosen cable plan is still a very capable option.

The good news: you don't have to figure this out alone. We check live availability at your specific address and can tell you within minutes whether fiber has reached your block yet.