Fiber-optic internet lines transfer data using modulated light instead of electricity, which gives them much higher bandwidth capacity, since they’re not bound by the physical limitations of electricity conducting through metal.

Fiber internet connections work at speeds up to 1 gigabit per second—literally 100 times faster than those old copper wire connections.

Traditional copper wires used by DSL and cable internet were originally intended to transmit voice only, though, so they’re limited in the amount of data they can handle.

Questions? Contact Jim Lenner at jlenner@johnstownohio.org.