Fiber vs. cable internet: compare speeds & prices

Fiber internet sends data as light through thin glass strands. When the fiber runs all the way to your house — often called fiber-to-the-home — the whole path from the provider to your wall is built for very high speeds in both directions.

Cable internet uses the same coaxial lines that were built for cable TV. Providers have upgraded those networks enormously, and the main lines are often fiber, but the last stretch to your home is still coaxial cable, which is shared with nearby homes.

For downloading — streaming, browsing, game downloads — both technologies can deliver plenty. Many cable providers offer gigabit plans, and fiber plans commonly run from a few hundred megabits up to multiple gigabits.

For most households, a plan in the 300 to 500 Mbps range is comfortable either way. The bigger question is usually which provider serves your address at a fair price.

Upload speed matters when you send data out: video calls, uploading large files, backing up photos, live streaming, or working from home with big documents.

Fiber plans are often symmetrical, meaning upload matches download — a 500 Mbps plan may upload at 500 Mbps. Cable upload speeds are typically a small fraction of the download speed. That's enough for one or two video calls, but households with several people on calls or regular large uploads will notice the difference.

Cable providers are rolling out upgrades that raise upload speeds in some markets, so check the upload figure for the exact plan you're considering.

Because the final stretch of a cable network is shared, speeds can dip in the evening when many neighbors stream at once. Well-managed cable networks keep this small, but it can happen.

Fiber networks have much more capacity, so speeds generally hold steadier at peak times. Fiber also tends to have lower latency — the short delay before data starts moving — which helps with gaming and video calls.

Both are wired connections and are usually far more dependable than satellite. Local network quality matters more than the technology on paper, so recent reviews from your neighborhood are worth a look.

Prices overlap heavily and change often, so compare actual plans at your address rather than general averages. Look at four things: the price after any promotional period ends, equipment fees, contract length, and whether data is unlimited.

Fiber plans more often include unlimited data and sometimes include equipment in the price. Cable providers vary — some now include unlimited data on current plans, others don't.

Availability is the deciding factor for many people. Cable reaches a much larger share of US homes, while fiber is expanding but still unavailable on many streets. Two homes in the same neighborhood can have different options.