When planning infrastructure expansion and upgrades, internet service providers in small territories like the Cayman Islands suffer from a low-density customer base and difficulty reaching the economies of scale enjoyed elsewhere.
The result of this is internet prices that are eye-wateringly expensive compared to elsewhere. But being a small market also allows providers to roll out 21st Century fiber optic services relatively quickly to customers in prime districts, who now have a choice of providers offering wireless, DSL, cable and fiber optic in a variety of packages.
Fiber optics in the Cayman Islands is currently available along Seven Mile Beach and most neighbourhoods in West Bay, George Town, South Sound, Prospect and Savannah.
So, when the options are available and you are faced with choosing between cable and fiber optic for your internet connection, here are some reasons why fiber optic internet is the better choice:
Very Reliable A fiber optic cable carries no electricity. Unlike the traditional copper wires that would bring cable TV and internet to your home, it is not affected by power cuts because the cables are made from glass, do not conduct electricity and carry only light. This means you can still access your fiber optic network when the power is out, as long as your device has an independent power source.
Very Fast Data Transfer Network speeds in the Cayman Islands range between 10 and 500 megabits per second (Mbps) in districts served by fiber internet. A typical high-definition movie of 5GB would take around seven minutes to download over a 100Mbps cable internet connection, but over a 1GB fiber optic cable it would take about 40 seconds – at least 10 times faster. Cayman’s relatively slow average internet download speed of 50Mbps, while exceeding the Caribbean’s average, is unlikely to reach the blistering speeds of elsewhere until further infrastructure is installed.
Equal Download and Upload Speeds Only fiber optic internet typically has the bandwidth available to allow you to upload data as fast as you download it. Many providers of cable and other internet services restrict upload speeds to 50%, often less, of download speeds, to maximize the bandwidth available to their customer base for downloads. This can cause lag and have a negative effect on users doing a lot of data sharing, such as when online gaming. Cable networks also suffer from speed reductions, 25% or more, during peak times, a problem not found with fiber optic.
Cost and Availability The difference in cost between cable and fiber to the Cayman Islands Internet customer is probably less of a concern than availability, which is still concentrated around George Town and adjacent built-up areas. All four local internet providers offer bundles that include various data packages and speed options along with traditional cable TV in the same contract.
If you’re looking for the fastest connection, need a lot of bandwidth for data transfer and have essential business that requires exceptional reliability, then fiber is probably your best choice if it’s available. Alternatively, if you don’t need these features, then you could look at cable internet for the cost savings.
