Homes are Getting Smarter. Is Your Internet Ready?

^{Originally published in The Gazette on Sunday, September 22nd.} 

In 2015, American households had an average of eight Internet-connected devices. Today, that average is 17. 

In less than a decade, Americans have doubled the amount of Wi-Fi-enabled technology in their homes. More devices mean a higher demand for Internet bandwidth and speed – but not all types of Internet are prepared to deliver on that demand.  

This article explores how increasingly-smarter homes are reshaping the way you use your home Internet – and how you can ensure your Internet is prepared to keep up for years to come. 

What is the Internet of Things? 

The drastic increase in devices per household isn’t because more types of gadgets have been invented—though new smart home tech is constantly being invented. 

Instead, everyday items you already own have been replaced with “smarter” versions equipped with Wi-Fi capabilities. This idea is called the Internet of Things – ordinary physical objects that now communicate via the Internet.  

Speakers are a perfect example. They’ve existed since the invention of the telephone 150 years ago. But in 2014, Amazon launched the first smart speaker – Amazon Echo with Alexa voice recognition. Now, our speakers connect to the Internet, and we talk to them as often as they talk to us.  

However, many devices in the Internet of Things are objects that were not previously considered “technology.”  

Consider something as simple as your doorbell – an object most people don’t think of as a “device.” Twenty percent of homes in the United States have replaced their regular doorbell with a video doorbell, such as a Ring camera, allowing people to answer their door from anywhere in the world.  

Light bulbs, thermostats, vacuum robots, fridges, garage door openers, and picture frames – these are just a few of the household items that are now commonly connected to the Internet, contributing to the growing Internet of Things. 

How does the Internet of Things affect home Internet? 

All this smart home innovation hinges on one key factor: your Internet.  

Think of your Internet as a highway and your devices as cars. If you add more vehicles without increasing the number of lanes, traffic will build up and slow down.  

Similarly, increasing the number of devices in your home without increasing your Internet bandwidth will cause slowdowns, lagging, and buffering.  

In other words, as Internet-capable technology progresses, your Internet must progress along with it.  

Your current Internet service may work for your digital needs now – but can it scale to meet your home’s digital needs in the future?  

This is where the type of Internet connection you have matters. Not all Internet technologies are created equally – and not all are prepared to handle the smart homes of the not-so-distant future.  

What type of Internet is best for smart homes? 

Ultimately, it comes down to the material each type of Internet uses. Of the current Internet technology that’s available today – cable, 5G, and fiber – fiber is widely regarded as the best option for smart homes. 

Cable Internet is made of copper coaxial wires, which use electrical signals to send Internet data over the network. These electric signals degrade over distance and are impeded by nearby electromagnetic signals – everything from lightning to power lines to your microwave.  

As a result, the maximum speed and bandwidth an all-cable network can deliver is limited. Many cable Internet providers today offer speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) for residential customers – but that is only possible using a hybrid of fiber and cable coax. 

5G home Internet uses airwaves to transmit data, operating on the same network as your cellphone. These signals also degrade with distance. Plus, physical objects between the cell tower and your home – like trees and buildings – weaken the signal.  

Like cable, these pitfalls limit the maximum speed and bandwidth 5G can deliver, both now and in the future. While it’s sufficient today, cable and 5G likely won’t be able to keep up with smart homes in the decades to come.  

Fiber, on the other hand, has often been dubbed “future-proof.”  

That’s because fiber optic cables are made of tiny strands of glass that transmit data using pulses of light. These pulses of light can travel much further without weakening and are resistant to the factors that interfere with cable and 5G signals. It's why fiber can easily power 15+ devices at a time with 1 Gbps of speed.  

In fact, many fiber providers offer top speeds of 1-2 Gbps for homes, but that's far from the limit of what fiber can do. The fastest-ever recorded fiber speed is 319 Terabits per second, which translates to 319,000 Gbps.  

Put simply, fiber has the current and future bandwidth capacity to power smart homes. When the average of 17 devices per household becomes 30 or even 50, fiber has the scalability to handle that extra traffic.  

Because fiber will be so valuable to future connectivity, it’s often considered an amenity in the housing market. A recent study from the Fiber Broadband Association found that fiber Internet can increase a single-family home’s value by up to 4.9%.  

Fiber also has unbeatable longevity. Though it’s made of glass, it’s surprisingly durable. Unlike copper, which is easily damaged by the extreme cold and heat in the Midwest, fiber is weather-resistant by design.  

As a result, the fiber cables laid today by companies like ImOn Communications will still be around for decades to come, ready to power your smart home. 

If you’re ready to future-proof your home with fiber Internet, visit ImOn.net. We are happy to help increase your bandwidth and ensure your Internet can keep up with all of your devices – now and for years to come!