To work remotely without problems and limits you need a fast and stable connection, here’s what you can do with each of the technologies available today.
Internet connection, in case of telecommuting and smart working, is a factor to be carefully evaluated because it is not only the basic requirement to be able to work from home, but it is also the tool that enables (or prevents) various work activities.
The fastest connection of all, i.e. fiber optic FTTH, allows today to fully carry out smart working while a simple ADSL may not be enough for many activities. Let’s take the case of video calls: if the user is following an online course then he will need a sufficiently fast connection in download, but he will not have great needs in upload: at most, if he has to ask a question, he can do it in audio only, deactivating the video camera if the connection is not sufficient. But if the user is the head of a team that is working remotely and needs to transmit his image, his voice and maybe some slides or explanatory videos, then he won’t be able to do all this with a mediocre connection.
Smart working: what you can do with DSL
Today, DSL is the minimum connection for teleworking: it doesn’t create problems if the worker simply has to do office work, read and send emails or some worksheets or Word documents. But if he has to send and receive large files, it already starts to create problems.
This is the case of a graphics and video professional: if he has to send a commercial of several hundred MB to a client, perhaps several times because he has to make changes, then he risks spending too much time waiting for the files to be uploaded.
With DSL it is possible to make video calls and video conferences, but it is very likely that audio and video will not be smooth and there will be big problems if there are more than three participants in the meeting.
Smart working: what you can do with FTTC fiber
With FTTC fiber, that is Fiber to the cabinet (fiber to the street, on the sidewalk) is now possible to do almost everything: the speed of these connections is usually 100 MB per second in download and 10 MB per second in upload.
If the above cabinet is not too crowded because few people have a FTTC in the area, so there are few users who are exploiting the same “port” to the fiber, then hardly a teleworker will feel the need for a better connection.
Unless there is someone else in the house who is heavily exploiting the connection: if the son is on YouTube or Twitch and the partner is on Netflix, then even a FTTC can limp in case of video conferencing.
Smart working: what you can do with FTTH fiber
These limits vanish with a FTTH fiber, technology that provides that the fiber optic cable comes directly into the house and is connected to the modem router. The theoretical speeds are ten times higher than those, already very good, of the FTTC fiber mixed copper and put in crisis such a connection is now very difficult.
At most, in a scenario of massive use of the FTTH connection by several users at the same time, what can go in crisis is the router. In such cases, however, it is possible to keep the same FTTH Internet subscription but change the Wi-Fi router to one that performs better and can better handle multiple data streams simultaneously. Usually such routers are easy to recognize because they have 4 or even 6 antennas.