Installing high speed internet

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Other plans. Shop all home solutions. LTE Home Internet. Fios TV. Prepaid overview. Shop all entertainment. Apple Arcade. Google Play Pass. Apple Music. YouTube TV. Financial services. Why Verizon. Why Verizon overview. Coverage map. Network awards. Global coverage. Get more. Verizon Up. Device protection. Verizon Cloud. Health discounts. Social impact. Support Support Support Close. If your box does not create a default Wi-Fi network during setup, you can connect directly with an Ethernet cable.

The final step in setting up your fiber internet is setting your home Wi-Fi network name and password. We have a step-by-step guide to help you through the process. If a fiber provider is already in your neighborhood, you might be in luck.

Running a cable from your house to the curb is the smallest investment an ISP would have to make to connect you to its network and will usually be covered by the installation fee.

If the network is still a few blocks away, some ISPs might be willing to run a cable to your house for a much higher installation fee, but usually you have to wait until its network makes its way to your block. They want to expand to wherever they can get the most customers, which usually involves close cooperation with local city governments. One of the best ways to show an ISP that there is interest for fiber in a particular area is to go to town and community meetings and ask about fiber internet.

Better yet, talk to your neighbors and get them all to come with you and you can all express your desire for fiber internet together. Community council members can pass your interest along to the ISP or, in many cases, the ISP might have employees at the meeting. Although some ISPs are expanding their fiber networks, others, like Google Fiber, have cut back or halted their expansion altogether.

There is still one other option: municipal fiber. Although ISPs are more likely to build fiber infrastructure in larger cities first, any city can build a municipal fiber network with enough community support. Cedar Falls, Iowa, had a population just over 40, when it built its fiber network. Building a municipal fiber infrastructure can also have additional benefits. In , the White House commissioned a study into the effectiveness of community-based broadband solutions.

This study found that municipal broadband not only created fast, cheap, and widely available internet connections but also brought commercial competition and private investment to underserved communities. Even in the most technologically developed areas, public investment in fiber is one of the best ways to lower costs and increase competition. New York City recently announced plans to build a city-wide municipal fiber network, focusing on the most poorly connected areas first. Municipal fiber networks can also be the seeds of larger projects.

In addition to Google Fiber, many other ISPs, especially those with aging DSL networks, are rapidly expanding their fiber networks to keep up with demand from consumers. With more people working and attending school from home than ever, the demand for fiber connections will continue to increase. Fiber is the backbone of the internet. If you have the option to choose fiber, take it. Author - Peter Christiansen. Peter Christiansen writes about satellite internet, rural connectivity, livestreaming, and parental controls for HighSpeedInternet.

Peter holds a PhD in communication from the University of Utah and has been working in tech for over 15 years as a computer programmer, game developer, filmmaker, and writer. Cara Haynes has been editing and writing in the digital space for seven years, and she's edited all things internet for HighSpeedInternet.

When she's not editing, she makes tech accessible through her freelance writing for brands like Pluralsight. She believes no one should feel lost in internet land and that a good internet connection significantly extends your life span.

What You Need to Install Fiber-Optic Internet by Peter Christiansen Edited by Cara Haynes Aug 17, Share Equipment Guides Fiber-optic internet connections are by far the fastest and most reliable type of internet connection you can choose, but getting those precious beams of internet light to your devices can be quite an ordeal. Jump to : How does fiber-optic internet work? Tubes full of light In fiber-optics, information is transmitted as pulses of light.

Why fiber is so great So, why should you care about fiber? High download speeds Since fiber is used to connect entire continents with billions of internet users, it should come as no surprise that fiber is the fastest choice for connecting your home and all your devices. Symmetrical upload speeds Cable download speeds are roughly on par with fiber, but uploading on a cable connection reaches only a fraction of those speeds.

Satellite internet can be disrupted by the weather. Is there a fiber provider in your area? Enter your zip code to find out.

See Your Providers. Short-term alternatives Although fiber is currently the best long-term solution for residential internet, many other competing technologies offer connections that, while not as fast or reliable as fiber, are still enough to meet the immediate needs of most internet users. How to self-install fiber Since installing fiber most often requires laying a new cable and setting up specialized equipment, some fiber providers do not give the option for you to self-install fiber internet.

Connect the fiber terminal to the network box. Plug in your network box. Connect your device to the network box. Set up your home Wi-Fi network. Take a look at the image below, that shows a modem being plugged into a simple ethernet switch. Depending on how many devices we need to plug in, it will help us decide between a 5, 8, or 16 port ethernet switch. Alright, so now we have our modem and our switch in-hand. Make sure the modem is powered on, and connected to the coaxial cable.

Then run a short ethernet cable one usually comes with the modem from the obvious port on the modem to the first port on our switch. Since one of our goals with this setup is to reduce EMF radiation in the home along with having faster and more reliable internet I suggest using shielded ethernet cables.

I would personally use these you can get on Amazon , in lengths of either 50 or feet depending on how far you need to run the cable. In fact, here is a really well-done guide on exactly how to wire these boxes for yourself that you can follow step by step. Then you can simply plug the other end into your computer. Many offices will do this by running it through the drop ceiling. Alright, now we just plug the ethernet cables into our laptop, desktop, or other device and we should be good to go!

It can also be smart, when possible, to use an external wired keyboard and mouse. And Voila! You now have a hard-wired internet set up in your home! So, you can either run an ethernet cable yourself, or hire a professional or use a wireless repeater.

To do this yourself, you are basically going to do what we did in the steps above. I would suggest you consult with a handyman or electrician to help you decide what the best route to do this is. Now, a disclaimer about this option.

It is not a truly hard-wired solution, because it does require WiFi to pull off. So this solution is very common if you have a computer or device that does not wireless connectivity, and requires an ethernet cable. A wireless repeater, like this on you can pick up on Amazon , basically picks up a WiFi network, and then repeats the signal, improving the range of your network.

The added benefit to these devices is that they usually have ethernet ports on them. So, you can plug one into an outlet near your computer, connect it to your WiFi network, and then run an ethernet cable to your computer.