This is probably the most obvious question ever, but I just want to be sure, so please forgive my ignorance.

I currently have Spectrum 500mbs internet. When it works it's great; however, it seems to periodically drop and lag. It also has the peak time slow down.

Looking in my area AT&T and Earthlink offer 75mbs fiber connections. Earthlink guy tried to tell me his 75mbs fiber service was faster and more reliable than 500mbs cable internet.

My internet usage is typical: work from home, streaming, some gaming, etc. But only up to 3 devices at a time.

Is there some world where 75mbs fiber would be a better option?

Spectrum is "asynchronous". You get 500Mb downlink (i.e from the internet to your house), but only 20-25Mb uplink (your house to the internet).

AT&T Fiber is "synchronous". You get the same speed downlink as uplink. MAKE sure it's AT&T fiber. The slowest AT&T Fiber I know of is 500Mb downlink and 500Mb uplink so if you see something from AT&T that's 75 or 50Mb, then it's usually asynchronous, but it's 75Mb downlink and only something in the neighborhood of 8Mb uplink.

If you do a lot of video conferencing with sharing as well as wanting to access your content at home, anywhere, then AT&T Fiber is a better option.

I'm currently on Spectrum and I see I have some challenges doing large video calls due to the smaller uplink. As soon as they have the AT&T fiber ready in my neighborhood I will be switching.

akaggie05 said:

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75 Mbps is not a fiber speed offered by AT&T. Their fiber tiers are 300, 500, 1000, 2000, and 5000 Mbps. If they are pitching 75 in your area, it is VDSL2 over twisted pair (copper) phone lines with a much slower upload speed. Their marketing is tricky and may also refer to this as "fiber to the node."

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Thank you! I thought it sounded odd. I know I don't want DSL.
I guess I'll deal with Spectrum until we actually get fiber in the area.