Study on Fiber Broadband vs Cable

The Fiber Broadband Association has released a new study, authored by RVA Market Research & Consulting (RVA).
Frontier fiber coverageHighlights from the study include:

Digital Equity

Lowest density zip codes have service levels with 1/3 the bandwidth of high-density areas

58 percent of broadband adopters in the past 4 years are low income

37 percent of broadband adopters in the past 4 years are non-white households

Performance

Fiber has 45 percent faster download and 4.7x faster upload speeds than cable

Fiber has reduced the cost per bit by 90 percent over the past decade

Fiber has half the latency of cable

Fiber providers’ Net Promoter Scores are significantly better

Sustainability

Fiber delivers 20 percent more carbon savings than DSL and 40 percent more than cable HFC

Overall, fiber shows the highest net reduction in carbon based on transmission itself and the impact of enabling work from home

Economic Impact

47 percent of rural moves are to areas with fiber

Over $78 million per year of additional primary revenue from home-based businesses could be gained from an FTTH community of 100,000 households

Quality of Life / Personal Productivity

72 percent of consumers rank broadband as very important

Broadband is a Top Three attribute for selecting a community (in addition to safe streets / low crime and affordable living)

Homes with fiber have better access to healthcare and education