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I sincerely hope everybody has hooked themselves up with a UPS by now.

Eskom plunges me into darkness, I have my fully charged laptop, and my simple backup power supply ensures the WiFi stays on. We take our small wins where we can.

Factor in that load shedding often renders cellphone signal non-existent, at least in Cape Town, and that UPS becomes even more important.

It still feels like we’re living in the dark ages at times, which is something that those who use ADSL can probably relate to. Today’s brief lesson on why fibre Internet is quicker than ADSL comes via RSAWEB:

ADSL uses telephone lines to transmit data along copper cables from your nearest telephone exchange to your home or office. The further you are from the exchange, the slower your speeds will be. Copper cables are often affected by bottlenecks: the more Internet traffic, the slower your download speeds – just like traffic on the roads.

Fibre Internet – sometimes referred to as ‘superfast broadband’ – uses fibre optic cables to transmit data. This means that data has the potential to travel at the speed of light, and isn’t affected by your distance from the exchange. It can also handle much higher volumes of traffic without your download speeds being affected.

A jacked-up ADSL connection can offer decent speeds on a good day for browsing the web and low-strain online activities.

Fibre, where you can get an uncapped 35Mbps line for as little as R295 a month, is ideal for streaming services such as Netflix and Showmax, online gaming, and homes with many connected devices and users.

Which ISPs are available is dependent on the area. You can check your home address here to see what’s on offer where you live.

[source:rsaweb]