Fiber Internet to House

[SamuraiJack]

Hi Everyone. We are looking at buying a piece of land. One option has a fiber internet drop 50 feet from the build site. There is a wide array of people and opinions here and would like to know what would that be worth to you? The price of the place is a bit more and just trying to factor in everything I can think of.

I work from home 3 days a week so having great internet access is probably worth about $10k. To not have to deal with connection issues/data caps or having to rely solely on a cell tower are big deals to me. And would really like to hear all your opinions.

 

[loganb]

Personally fiber would be big to me, but don't discount the other site getting it in the future as well. If the other site without fiber has acceptable internet options I'm not sure I'd pay a huge premium solely fiber for fiber but it's definitely nicer, less latency than copper lines

 

[john_hackworth]

Great internet is important but you don’t need fiber for great hard wired internet anymore. DOCSIS 3.1 cable will do over 1000mbps down reliably.

Does you work involve a ton of uploads or just downloads? Usually fiber will have far superior upload speeds to cable. My cable is 1000 mbps down but only 50 up. In that case you may need the fiber.

if reliability is a huge concern you can get a 4G LTE modem for backup for $50 per month or so. Ten grand would cover nearly ten years.

 

[P0234]

I think it all depends on the alternatives. If one site has fiber and the other site has absolutely no internet options then it's easily worth a lot more to most folks. There are some pretty compelling wireless options now that muddy that as well, for example TMO and Verizon 5g home internet. For me personally, no internet means no buy. It's right up there with water and septic.

 

[Jagmandave]

We've been on Google fiber for about 5 years now - it just works - always. Whether that adds a lot to the value of the land I don't know, but if access to good internet is important it's worth a look

 

[kbuhagiar]

While I can't say that **everyone** should need internet access, do not overlook how important it is in today's world.

We just purchased a house in San Diego county, and we passed up two otherwise great rural properties because of a lack of internet access. It is a deal-breaker for us.

 

[rlitman]

We've been on Google fiber for about 5 years now - it just works - always. Whether that adds a lot to the value of the land I don't know, but if access to good internet is important it's worth a look

There are all sorts of fiber providers. Google has been trying to exit the FTTH (fiber to the home) business for some time, but what's been built is supposedly really great (as you can attest).

I happen to be in a neighborhood that's got a healthy competition between FTTH and cable, and while I've had FTTH for several years over two stints, I keep returning to cable because here, it costs significantly less and is good enough for me. I don't need the upload speed fiber provides.

 

[reader2580]

Where I live the only areas that have fiber to the home are parts of the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. If you live in a suburb you most likely don't have a fiber option. Comcast can supply gigabit Internet via cable, but the upload speed is only 20 or 30 megabit.

I know someone who recently moved from the city of Minneapolis to a new house in a far flung suburb. His job requires high upload speeds on his Internet. He asked the local cable provider, Spectrum, if he could get gigabit Internet and they said yes. He didn't think to ask about upload speeds which are very limited. He has signed up to get Starlink since it has higher upload speeds.

I moved in 2014. High speed wired Internet was a requirement along with natural gas for heating. I eliminated several houses due to not having one or the other. High speed Internet is even a bigger deal now that I've been working from home for 18 months and will work at home at least part time long term.

 

[niget2002]

We moved in to this house with only fixed wireless. It worked and was fairly reliable with the company we had, but as more neighbors moved in, the sustained bandwidth dropped.

Fiber came in last year and it's been awesome. Cheaper and more reliable.

 

[FredWanaker]

unless you are running huge servers out of your home fiber would be a benefit but not something I would pay extra for compared to other amenities of the property - good water, drainage, functionality, location, size, condition, hazards, etc., but if I had to chose between DSL, dial-up or wireless, and 1gbs cable / fiber, then the DSL, dial-up, or wireless would lose. If you are going to have anyone in the house remoting to work, you want essentially the same experience as if you were at work. That requires good Internet. Wireless is too slow. Highspeed 5G is only in high density areas now like financial districts, University campuses etc.. It has a range of about a city block. Low speed 5G is not much faster than 4Lte. There are 3 types of 5G and they each use different technology and phones.

 

[BillK]

I don't think the fiber or copper argument matters as much as who the actual provider is.

In my neighborhood we have Verizon Fios (fiber) and Comcast (copper) You constantly hear people complaining about the Fios going out etc. I have Comcast and basically never have had a problem. They took over the original local cable company probably 30 years ago and I have been with them ever since. I am almost certain that the wires in the street are the same and are probably 35 years old. We had some issues about ten years ago and they replaced the line from the street box to the house. Other than that its been fine.

 

[FredWanaker]

I don't think the fiber or copper argument matters as much as who the actual provider is.

In my neighborhood we have Verizon Fios (fiber) and Comcast (copper) You constantly hear people complaining about the Fios going out etc. I have Comcast and basically never have had a problem. They took over the original local cable company probably 30 years ago and I have been with them ever since. I am almost certain that the wires in the street are the same and are probably 35 years old. We had some issues about ten years ago and they replaced the line from the street box to the house. Other than that its been fine.

Bill - that "copper" is probably cable. Copper refers to POTS. - Plain Ole Telephone Service, which was a pair of copper wires. Best speed on that if one is close enough to the CO is DSL, which is better than dial-up but still substantially slower than cable. Cable is better able to send a digital signal at high rates than copper is. We have Comcast cable here at the house and it is 1.2 gig down, and soon up to 1.2 gig up. Right now it is 1.2 gig down and 400 mbps up. Our DSL was 20 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Here, Comcast used to feed some 70 - 100 homes off one line, now they bring in fiber to the tract to feed the 70 homes, then feed 7 homes off the one cable.

 

[reader2580]

Comcast may not have replaced the lines directly to your house, but it is almost certain they have installed fiber relatively close to your house. 35 year cable main lines would never be able to handle the current volume of Internet traffic. I bet a single house uses more bandwidth than entire neighborhoods did when cable Internet first started.

Comcast installed fiber main lines in my area about 15 years ago. The fiber terminates in large boxes every 1/2 mile or mile in neighborhoods. It appears they have small natural gas generators in them since they have gas meters.

 

[Pen & Wrench]

You don't realize just how important a good internet connection is until you talk to people who don't have it but really want or really need it. DSL or copper has limitations and every year it seems that bandwidth keeps increasing. Fiber is a great long term solution, not the only one but a really good one. We have cable, which is fiber to a node and then cable to the users in our neighborhood, and it is capable of more than we need, thus we are fine with our cable provider. I worked out of my home for 5 years before COVID and a good broadband connection was required. If we were buying a different home to live in it would at least need to have cable or better still fiber, or we probably would not be interested.

 

[reader2580]

Bill - that "copper" is probably cable. Copper refers to POTS. - Plain Ole Telephone Service, which was a pair of copper wires. Best speed on that if one is close enough to the CO is DSL, which is better than dial-up but still substantially slower than cable. Cable is better able to send a digital signal at high rates than copper is. We have Comcast cable here at the house and it is 1.2 gig down, and soon up to 1.2 gig up. Right now it is 1.2 gig down and 400 mbps up. Our DSL was 20 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Here, Comcast used to feed some 70 - 100 homes off one line, now they bring in fiber to the tract to feed the 70 homes, then feed 7 homes off the one cable.

Do you have fiber to the home with Comcast? It appears that even DOCSIS 3.1 is limited to 1 gigabit upload. I can get the 1.2 gigabit service for an extra $10 per month. It might be worth it if the upload speed increases substantially. Comcast/Xfinity never tells you what the upload speed is.

 

[BillK]

Bill - that "copper" is probably cable. Copper refers to POTS. - Plain Ole Telephone Service, which was a pair of copper wires. Best speed on that if one is close enough to the CO is DSL, which is better than dial-up but still substantially slower than cable. Cable is better able to send a digital signal at high rates than copper is. We have Comcast cable here at the house and it is 1.2 gig down, and soon up to 1.2 gig up. Right now it is 1.2 gig down and 400 mbps up. Our DSL was 20 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Here, Comcast used to feed some 70 - 100 homes off one line, now they bring in fiber to the tract to feed the 70 homes, then feed 7 homes off the one cable.

Fred,
I used the term to differentiate between actual "metal" coax and the fiber optic cable that Fios uses. I know Comcast has not run anything in the ground for at least 1/4 mile from me. After that I am not sure.

 

[BillK]

Comcast may not have replaced the lines directly to your house, but it is almost certain they have installed fiber relatively close to your house.

If they have it is at least 1/4 mile away. I can find out, I know someone who works for them

 

[nadogail]

My city has only one franchised cable supplier, but I have the option of putting up a satelite dish.

 

[SamuraiJack]

This is awesome. I have a 4g jet pack as backup but dont want to be relying solely on it. We have had to a couple times so far and everyone in the house has to be disconnected so I could work. the files I’m working with continually sync back to home base so multiple users can access at the same time and seems to take up a lot of bandwidth.
I’m definitely putting a premium on it not just because it is fiber but high speed in general. And i am starting to thinking of it as a necessity vs want for the time being. So far every place we have looked at has positives and negatives and i did not know where to classify this on the pluses side.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Hi Everyone. We are looking at buying a piece of land. One option has a fiber internet drop 50 feet from the build site. There is a wide array of people and opinions here and would like to know what would that be worth to you?

What kind of internet access is available at the other locations you've looked at? Cable, DSL, satellite, Wii-Fi or what?
The main concerns are reliability and speed. As other have said, you can get very high speed connections through a variety of means. If there's another location you like better but it has cable instead of fiber, it may still be a good choice if the cable speed is good and it's reliable.

 

[SamuraiJack]

What kind of internet access is available at the other locations you've looked at? Cable, DSL, satellite, Wii-Fi or what?
The main concerns are reliability and speed. As other have said, you can get very high speed connections through a variety of means. If there's another location you like better but it has cable instead of fiber, it may still be a good choice if the cable speed is good and it's reliable.

The other places were a mix. two were jump pack only, the other had dsl on the road. this is my first time buying a places out of town and it did not really register as important until it was explicitly pointed out to me by a realtor.

 

[john_hackworth]

Jack, you might consider Starlink as well. The wait list is about a year, but it’s only $100/m.

 

[blacksaleen95]

Something that may be an option if you have access at the road but not right at the site...

https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/outdoor-radio/cpe710/

I use this to connect my house network to my shop ~ 300ft away, I've read where people have connected longer distances (miles) with a clear line of sight. You'd use two of these, one to transmit your internet from the source (near road) then another at the house to receive. I've got 500mb/s service and these have no problem with great signal and bandwidth.

Just a thought

 

[58Yeoman]

Something that may be an option if you have access at the road but not right at the site...

https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/outdoor-radio/cpe710/

I use this to connect my house network to my shop ~ 300ft away, I've read where people have connected longer distances (miles) with a clear line of sight. You'd use two of these, one to transmit your internet from the source (near road) then another at the house to receive. I've got 500mb/s service and these have no problem with great signal and bandwidth.

Just a thought

How much does it cost?

 

[CraigStu]

We moved three years ago and have satellite internet and TV. It ***** and we are both retired so no real need. Had I realized how bad it would be, we never would have bought here. Youtube has to run at the next to the bottom resolution so it doesn't have to pause to catch up. Video attachments to emails can take 90seconds or more to download. I read a 3 lines of text email and replay w/ 8-10 words and sit for 20-30 seconds waiting for the 'sent' to appear. My wife was still working when covid hit so worked from home. Many times I would have to get off the web so her zoom would work. Even w/ me off, zoom calls were often downgraded to audio only because video wouldn't run at actual speed. Have you noticed that on many websites (like Fox News) 80% of the news links are video. I usually don't click on them because I know how long I will wait for the download. So my recommendation is make the fastest internet possible a TOP priority,

 

[blacksaleen95]

How much does it cost?

Amazon has them for 70 ea, which is what I paid.

 

[mike93lx]

Jack, you might consider Starlink as well. The wait list is about a year, but it’s only $100/m.

"Only"?

My 300 megabit fiber is $40/month. Gigabit is $80

This is Fios, same pricing in MA and VA

 

[kbuhagiar]

Jack, you might consider Starlink as well. The wait list is about a year, but it’s only $100/m.

"Only"?

My 300 megabit fiber is $40/month. Gigabit is $80

This is Fios, same pricing in MA and VA

If your options are limited then Starlink may be a great deal, even at $100/month.
Trouble is you may be waiting for a very long time. When I signed up six months ago the expected delivery date was late 2022, but it just got bumped out for another year.

Also, not so sure about Elon Musk. Brilliant but erratic.

 

[gmcgeo]

I wish i could get more then 40 mpbs. then you talk about gig! lol i wouldn't know what to do

 

[mike93lx]

I wish i could get more then 40 mpbs. then you talk about gig! lol i wouldn't know what to do

That's rough.

 

[gmcgeo]

That's rough.

when you live in Amish country they do not worry about running 50 miles of line to give me fiber for one person

 

[gungatim]

LGR!

 

[dcg9381]

I don't think the fiber or copper argument matters as much as who the actual provider is.

This. What's important is that you have a residential internet drop within 50'. Look at who the provider(s) are, what the speed is, and what their cost is. 50' (here) is just another residential internet install - no up charge. But confirm that, because when they start digging and trenching, it can be a pain in the *** to figure that out.

Regardless of copper or fiber, it's rarely the wire from the residence to the internet service that makes any difference. We have providers (here) that are 1Gb over copper.

It would matter if you're building a data center. But in that case, you'd want multiple providers.

 

[john_hackworth]

"Only"?

My 300 megabit fiber is $40/month. Gigabit is $80

This is Fios, same pricing in MA and VA

I pay $100/m for 1gbps, so for satellite I didn’t think $100 is too bad. No $10,000 install fee!

 

[Slednut]

The company I work for sells 250x250 Mbs for $60 a month but goes up to $85 after a year.

Our Gig service which is 1000x1000 is 85 a month and goes up to $95 after a year. Both have free installation.

 

[Jazz1]

I don't think the fiber or copper argument matters as much as who the actual provider is.

In my neighborhood we have Verizon Fios (fiber) and Comcast (copper) You constantly hear people complaining about the Fios going out etc. I have Comcast and basically never have had a problem. They took over the original local cable company probably 30 years ago and I have been with them ever since. I am almost certain that the wires in the street are the same and are probably 35 years old. We had some issues about ten years ago and they replaced the line from the street box to the house. Other than that its been fine.

we got fiber in the ’hood couple years ago…improvement is spotty and wife tracks our speed so frequently contacts provider who is not keeping up with the speed we were promised,( it is a contract!) so many discounts,,at one point they gave us 6months free

 

[paredown]

I don't think the fiber or copper argument matters as much as who the actual provider is.

In my neighborhood we have Verizon Fios (fiber) and Comcast (copper) You constantly hear people complaining about the Fios going out etc. I have Comcast and basically never have had a problem. They took over the original local cable company probably 30 years ago and I have been with them ever since. I am almost certain that the wires in the street are the same and are probably 35 years old. We had some issues about ten years ago and they replaced the line from the street box to the house. Other than that its been fine.

Around here, we have Comcast vs FIOS--and although they both have pretty awful customer service. I would say that the FIOS connection is much more reliable--but large scale outages are possible with any provider. The go-to site for help is this one:

DSLReports Home : Broadband ISP Reviews News Tools and Forums

DSLReports Home : Broadband ISP Reviews News Tools and Forums, broadband news, information and community

www.dslreports.com

And as far as Comcast using fiber, so far as I can tell they have rolled out a Professional Gigabit service and are building out fiber backbones in urban areas, at least in our area they are still using their copper/coax delivery system at least for the 'last mile'. It is also worth mentioning that any older cable network used a type of shared loop, so you tend to get slowdowns as more people join your network segment at peak times... ADSL and Fios are point to point connections (but of course ADSL is limited by your proximity to an exchange).

For the OP--I would pay a premium to get a good connection--we have have looked at rural properties that had limited or no service--and the problem is that it is very hard to go backwards.

 

[pcmeiners]

Purchased a home just a year ago, high speed was a great concern for me. At the time I figured it was worth between 10-15k to me. The house I purchased is up on a mountain, a few miles from civilization.
Luckily some "special" people live down the road from me so I have a fiber installation.