Some time ago Tiscali asked us to test Ultrainternet Fibra, the offer of the Sardinian operator who brings to your home a connection from 1 Gigabit per second. Could we perhaps give up? Of course not. We then identified a house covered by the service - that of our Luca Forti, editor-in-chief of the photography section - and made the transition from the old provider to Tiscali. The results? We are ready to tell you about them in this article.
The internet is not a dark phenomenon. It is a tangible reality
Before delving into the world of Ultrainternet Fibra some premise is needed. The contract that is signed with Tiscali provides, as mentioned above, 1 Gbps fiber which, to date, is the maximum speed that can be reached from a home connection.
Caution: don't confuse Gigabit per second and Gigabyte.
Gigabytes define capacity, Gigabits per second define speed.
So we talk about Gigabyte when we are dealing with a hard disk, a USB stick or even the maximum data consumption expected by your mobile phone provider. Gigabits (per second) instead are used for connection speed. They are not comparable measures.
A gigabyte is therefore 8 times larger than a gigabit 1 Gigabit per second fiber does not download a 1GB file in one second.
Once this important fact is clarified, we can get back to us. We said that fiber today can reach up to 1 Gbps but this does not mean that all connections guarantee this speed. It depends on the type of technology that is used.
Indeed, the Internet is not a dark and mysterious phenomenon. We access the web thanks to a network of cables present all over the planet. Many of these are located in the sea, positioned with the help of special ships and submarine “plows” capable of literally laying cables on the seabed. We are talking about really high depths, also necessary to prevent the shark on duty from biting the cables and leaving half the world without the Internet. And no, I'm not kidding. First of all because sharks periodically attack cables and, secondly, it has already happened that entire countries were left without the Internet. In April 2018, for example, Mauritania was left without connectivity due to damage to the ACE backbone, African Coast to Europe, which runs from South Africa to France and provides the Internet to 22 different countries.
This mass of cables buried underground and in the seabed arrive at transmission centers of operators telephone numbers which, in turn, are linked to sorting cabinets. From here other cables start that reach your homes.
FTTC from FTTH?
The type of cables used to cover the last two sections - from the control unit to the cabinet and from the cabinet to the home - defines the type of connection.
Think aboutADSL.
The latter provides only copper cables, which is the basic composition of our country's network.
However, copper has its limits: performance varies according to weather conditions, temperatures and distance. In fact, this material loses signal along the way so the closer you are to the control unit or to the cabinets, the faster the ADSL goes. On the contrary, the more distant you are, the weaker the connection will be.
With the advent of ultra-broadband, copper will gradually be replaced by optical fiber. This process has been going on for years now but, as you can imagine, it takes time. We are also talking about the replacement of the first section, therefore from the central to the cabinet.
What happens on the second stretch makes the difference.
When you choose a new subscription, the operator performs a test to tell you if your home is covered, then tells you what type of connectivity you can have: a normal ADSL or the optic fiber. The latter is now available in two variants: FTTC and FTTH.
FTTC sta per Fiber To The Cabinet: the fiber cable goes to the nearest cabinet but the old copper cable is used from the cabinet to your home.
This limits the performance of the connection which can reach a maximum of 100/200 Megabits per second.
FTTH instead stands for Fiber To The Home: the fiber optic cable arrives directly at your home and no copper section is provided.
Tiscali Ultrainternet Fibra: how activation works
Tiscali Ultrainternet Fiber bring the connection to your home FTTH. With 27,95 € you can then have internet up to 1 Gigabit per second, but also a pay-as-you-go telephone line, the Chi service is free and a Fritz! Box 7530 modem with which to manage your connection.
Don't you know Fritz! Box 7530 and the advantages it brings to the Tiscali network? Here is everything you need to know
Activating the offer is pretty simple. Just go to the Tiscali website, type in the address and see if your area is covered by the service. If the home is reached by the FTTH connection you will only have to subscribe, activate a new line or switch from your current provider.
So far nothing unusual.
The most atypical part concerns the installation. Once you've signed up for the offer, you'll have to take appointment with Open Fiber technicians, the company that takes care of bringing fiber into the home and that has been working with Tiscali for some time now.
Open Fiber professionals don't just plug in the modem, they have to bring the fiber optic cable inside your home.
Luca lives in a not too recent Milanese building and the technicians have had some difficulties in pulling the cable on the sixth floor, where his apartment is located. Nothing impossible, let's be clear: once they found the wardrobe of the building, they made the fiber optic cable run, albeit with some difficulty, through the narrow and populated duct of the building.
At that point they connected the cable to an Open Fiber box, which in turn was connected to the AVM router. In our case it was un Fritz! Box 7530, whose list cost is 199 euros but fortunately it is completely included in the Ultrainternet Fibra offer by Tiscali. If you are very demanding you can have, for a small difference, the Fritz! Box 7590, the top of the range of the German company.
Tiscali Ultrainternet Fibra: is it really that fast?
About a month has passed from installation to today, a month during which our Luca has had the opportunity to test his connection.
So there is only one question: is it really that fast?
In our opinion, yes. With the cable we reach 800 Mbps without too much difficulty, while we settle on 200/300 Mbps via WiFi. All this allows you to upload videos quickly, enjoy the streaming of both video games and video content, transfer files in a matter of minutes and easily carry out those video conferences we have become accustomed to in recent months.
You can find all our (hilarious) tests in the video below.
Let's sum it up a bit
If you are used to FTTC fiber, you will immediately notice the difference. Loading times are significantly reduced, the gaming experience is more than satisfactory and the productivity benefits are evident.
However, Tiscali's FTTH fibers are not only very fast. Pairing with AVM's router guarantees control that is not normally offered to customers. In fact, individual providers usually prefer to give their modem to subscribers, a modem over which they have full control and which is often limited in its functionality. Tiscali has chosen a different approach, placing Ultrainternet Fibra in the hands of its customers a product that allows you to keep every single aspect of your connection under control, from devices connected to guest networks, through parental controls and smart home support. In addition, the router is designed to support the mesh network: if the house is very large you can buy a repeater or an AVM extender that will communicate in total autonomy with the Fritz! Box 7530 and will ensure that you are always online, without signal loss or of speed.
One last information before concluding: if your residence is not reached by the FTTH fiber, do not give up. In fact, Tiscali and Open Fiber are working daily to extend the coverage area and bring FTTH fiber to other areas of Italy. So check periodically to see if anything has changed.
TagsFiber optical fiber tiscali Tiscali Ultrainternet Fibra We tried Tiscali Ultrainternet Fibra: everything you need to know
