Conventional ADSL, or "Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line", broadband utilises an existing copper wire telephone line by splitting the line into one channel for voice and the other for high speed data traffic.

The problem with copper wire however, is that the speed of data transmission drops off quite quickly as the length of the wire increases, so that the speed of an ADSL broadband connection can vary widely, depending on how far away from a telephone exchange a subscriber is located.

Fibre optic cable, on the other hand, is constructed from an inner glass, or plastic, core that carries light signals; the core is surrounded by glass cladding and, because light travels at different speeds in the two materials, light is reflected back into the core and so travels the length of the cable. This means that there is very little deterioration in the speed of a fibre optic broadband connection, regardless of the length of the cable.

Fibre Optic Broadband Features, Benefits & Considerations

Fibre optic broadband coverage is currently limited in the United Kingdom, but BT ("British Telecom") has recently received approval for a fibre optic broadband network – covering 10 million homes and offering speeds up to 40Mbps, or 100Mbps, in theory – while its rival, Virgin Media, is already offering 50Mbps fibre optic broadband in some parts of the country.

The BT network will be made available to so-called LLU, or "Local Loop Unbundling", providers, and Ofcom ("Office of Communications") has changed its regulations to allow BT to make sufficient profit to justify its investment.


The transition from ADSL broadband – or its latest incarnation, ADSL2+, which offers speeds of up 24Mbps, in theory – to fibre optic broadband can be likened in many ways to the transition between dial-up Internet access and ADSL broadband itself. Typical broadband speeds have increased substantially, since the early days – when 512Kbps, or 1Mbps, was considered acceptable – and the movement away from copper wire to fibre optic cable promises similar increases.

There is almost no limit to what can be transmitted via fibre optic cable so if you want to send or receive music, photographs or video clips – including direct download from the Internet – fibre optic broadband can allow you to do so faster, and in greater volume, than is possible with copper wire.

Fibre optic broadband is still a new phenomenon in the United Kingdom, so that you may find that, unless you live or work in a major centre of population, you do not have access to a fibre optic cable network immediately. Bear in mind too, that the so-called "last mile" – not literally a mile of course – between a telephone exchange and a subscriber is likely to be copper wire, rather than fibre optic cable, which may negate some of the benefits of fibre optic broadband, in the first place.

Furthermore, a fibre optic cable network has a finite capacity, so its performance may vary according to the number of subscribers accessing the network at any time.