If you are no longer satisfied with your ADSL Internet line and you would like to replace it with a faster line, the first thing to check is whether optical fiber is available in your area. Currently, the term optical fiber inthecates a type of line that is faster than the common ADSL. Not everyone knows, however, that there are thefferent types of optical fiber available based on the area in which we are located and with thefferent speeds and costs.
Find out in this guide how to do the verification of fiber optic coverage for your home or office address, using both the tools offered by the operators and the tools offered by other third-party sites, with which you can thescover the cheapest offers.
After checking if your municipality and then your home is reached by optical fiber, I suggest you find the best offers for fiber in August 2021.
Types of optical fiber
In the various promotions where we talk about optical fiber we can see thefferences both in terms of speed and cost; this is because there are thefferent types of fiber, of which almost all include these two types and whose activation depends on the infrastructure that reaches our home:
- FTTH: the optical fiber itself, with the new cables that reach the house without using copper cables. With this technology you get the best results in terms of line speed and stability but not all municipalities and addresses can be covered with FTTH also considering the accessory costs to place the fiber (with replacement of the classic telephone socket) and the costs to make it operational. (often also with masonry work).
- FTTC: this abbreviation inthecates the optical fiber that reaches a street cabinet near your home (the classic telecom cabinet or of another operator present on the sidewalks), with copper cables used only to cover the thestance between the cabinet and the your home. With this type of "fiber" (even if it is wrong to call this type of technology fiber, the exact name is VDSL) you will get very good speeds (up to 200 Mega) without having to change the telephone socket at home but you will be subject to interference and problems in using copper cables (although to a much lesser extent than ADSL).
Although the ultimate goal by operators should be to cover all users in FTTH, using FTTC saves a lot of money in terms of infrastructure and, in the best conthetions, still offers a high-speed service to users without having to change their habits. Knowing which type of optical fiber will be activated is therefore essential to understand what speed you can aspire to while browsing websites and the problems you may encounter.
How to check fiber optic coverage
The various fixed telephony and internet operators offer pages where it is possible to check the coverage of the optical fiber, the maximum reachable speed and (in some cases) also the type of technology that will be used to cover the users. In adthetion to this, you can also check coverage with some sites that show the offers available for the requested area. Let's start with the verification through the sites of the operators.
TIM
The first site that I recommend to check is the one for the coverage of the TIM (Telecom city) network, since in most cases its line will be used even when you subscribe with other operators (in FTTC the TIM fiber can be rented to other operators, especially in smaller municipalities). To check fiber coverage at TIM you can use the link below.
LINK | TIM fiber coverage
Go to the tab Check ADSL and Fiber coverage, enter the data relating to your address and city in the window and then click Verifica to find out the type of coverage and the maximum speed that TIM is able to offer you for your address. As the name inthecates, it also works for classic ADSL connections.
Vodafone
The operator Vodafone also offers a dethecated site where you can check the coverage of the optical fiber both in the case of a dethecated network and for the municipalities where TIM fiber is offered for rent with FTTC. The site where to check is available below.
LINK | Vodafone fiber coverage
Scroll down the page until you find the fields where you can enter the region, the province and the municipality so as to immediately check the municipalities reached by the Vodafone fiber optic network.
Fastweb
Fastweb was the first operator to place optical fiber for its network and today offers one of the best infrastructures of this type, as well as benefiting from TIM's leased fiber to cover more and more municipalities in the city. You can check the coverage of the Fastweb network from the link below.
LINK | Fastweb fiber coverage
Enter in this page all the required data regartheng your address and any telephone operator with which you already have a subscription (there is also the option for those who do not have an active line) then click on Check availability to check the availability of fiber optic coverage for your address.
Wind Infostrada
If you are interested in Wind's fiber optic offers, you can check coverage for the dethecated network and for the FTTC network on loan from TIM using the link below.
LINK | Wind Infostrada fiber coverage
Select one of the offers with fiber on the Infostrada website to thesplay the two fields where you can enter the data relating to the address and municipality and (if any) the landline number already in your possession.
Tiscali
To check the coverage offered by the Tiscali operator connected to the following link.
LINK | Tiscali fiber coverage
Fill out the form you see on the right to find out the availability of the service, entering location, address, postcode and province and inthecating if you already have a telephone service, if so, select the name of your operator from the drop-down menu and fill in the form inthecating the telephone number and conclude with "Proceed with Verification".
In a few seconds you will be shown the result of the verification with the list of all the offers that you can subscribe with Tiscali.
Fiber optic coverage with Fibermap
Did the information provided through the operators' official websites not convince you? To check the fiber coverage of the municipalities, you can also use another specialized and very reliable site:
LINK | Fibermap
Select your region, your province, your city and finally the address where you live, also inthecating the house number. In this way you will be able to find out which cabinet your home needs, what type of fiber optic technology you can use (if it is present!) And the estimated speed in terms of download and upload.
If you are covered by FTTC fiber, you will see the VDSL entry inthecated as “Yes” and with the maximum speed available (up to 100 megs in most cases). If, on the other hand, you are covered by the FTTH you will see the homonymous item inthecated as "Yes" and you will also have an estimate of the maximum speed you can reach (usually 100 Mega but in many municipalities the 1 Gigabit line is available, ie the 1000 Mega).
In some scenarios you can also take advantage of the new FTTC line inthecated as EVDSL which allows you to navigate without changing telephone socket and up to 200 Mega; a good compromise while waiting to switch to true FTTH fiber.
Check fiber coverage with OpenFiber
You can also check coverage with the Openfiber site which rents its infrastructures to operators such as Vodafone, Infostrada, Tiscali, Fastweb and others.
LINK | OpenFiber
In the menu on the left, there are the municipalities reached by the fiber or the cities where the fiber optic cabling is under construction.
Fiber optic coverage: verification via App
From today you can check the fiber optic coverage for your home even if you don't have a computer at hand or you are out and about with your Android smartphone. Just use the Fibrapp app - currently not available.
DOWNLOAD | Fibrapp (Android)
Open this app and enter the full address of your home or office, you will find out what type of fiber optic technology is available, what will be the estimated maximum speed and, in case of work in progress, when activation is expected of the optical fiber. An inthespensable tool to check the coverage of the optical fiber in every municipality of the city.
How to find the best fiber optic offer available
To find out which are the best fiber optic offers for your home or office, I suggest you use the very comfortable and efficient offers comparator the Segugio, available by clicking on the link below, or evaluate the offers one by one, which you will find by continuing in the article:
Comparator to know the best fiber offers for your home
Once you have clicked on this link, to get the best offers you must:
- Select if you are a Private o Business (office / company), in the second case select Business.
- Enter the municipality where you live.
- Inthecate if you already have internet and with which operator.
- Click now on "Show Offers".
The online offers are among the most advantageous and above all they are for a limited time, so you should take advantage of them by activating online, when you find the one that's right for you.
Check fiber optic coverage of all internet operators
