AT&T and Comcast continue their public spat here - maybe everwhere - and the latest salvo is AT&T’s placement of big, boxy mechanicals on various parkways around town that are part of the fiber optic system they’re putting into our fair city. We get our TV service via cable (Comcast) but our phone and computer (DSL) are hooked into the wall phone system, which is AT&T. Comcast keeps telling us to use the cable for EVERYthing. AT&T says don’t. And, of course, dish tv or direct tv is telling us something else. When this fiber optic system becomes operational, what benefits will accrue to us should we choose to use it?
Comcast uses fiber optic cables for most of their distribution system, so there’s less of a difference than you might think. Both coaxial cable and fiber optic cable are capable of carrying many TV channels and a large amount of data. There are many other factors involved in determining whether one distribution system is better than another. The type of cable used for distribution to the home is not that important. I’d be more concerned about quality, reliability, and price, however it gets delivered.