Are You Gigabit Ready?

With top download speeds of 1 gigabit per second, Mainstream’s Unleashed and Unlimited package is 14x faster than the US average for download speed! It’s like watching a race car compete against a tractor. Much like a race car, it takes some fine-tuning to achieve top internet speeds, and we have some tips and tricks to help you achieve these speeds. Tip 1: Check Your Network Adapter Like cars, not all computers are built the same, and specifically, not all models have Ethernet ports, so you might need an adapter for a hardwired connection.  When you pick up the adapter, …

Are You Gigabit Ready?Read More »

Several internet service providers around will advertise their incredible speeds, even us here at Mainstream Fiber, but the dirty little secret that many other service providers have is that although they do provide significant speed, that speed also comes with some baggage called data caps and throttling.  You may have seen it under the speed package descriptions on other ISPs marketing materials or website, a couple lines of small print that read something like, “Download speed only guaranteed for the first 24 Gigabytes downloaded per month, after that speed will decrease to…” or “There is a data cap at 15 …

Internet with No Throttling or Data LimitsRead More »

You may be shocked to hear this, but fiber optics have existed since the late 1800s, of course they were nowhere near as sophisticated as their modern form.  It stared with extremely humble roots, being nothing more than bent glass tubes which were used to illuminate difficult to see areas during medical procedures.  However, in 1880 Alexander Graham Bell, perhaps best known as the inventor of the telephone, created something called the Photophone.  This invention allowed for the transfer of sound on a beam of light; although Bell considered this to be his greatest invention, the practical uses weren’t discovered until many decades …

A Brief History of FiberRead More »

What does "fiber optic" mean? Fiber optic cables are a bundle of thin glass threads, also known as the fibers, which can quickly and easily transport light waves.  Messages and information can be modulated onto these light waves, which allows fiber optic cables the ability to transmit data, this is essentially how fiber optic internet works. Now, you may be wondering, what advantage does this have over the traditional copper cables found in power lines?  Well, fiber optics have a slew of advantages over these traditional metal lines. Advantages of fiber optic internet First and perhaps most noticeably, fiber optic …

What’s the big deal with fiber optic internet?Read More »

Fiber to the home

The benefits of a complete fiber connection Fiber internet runs about five times faster than other internet sources and provides a variety of benefits to users. But did you know that not all fiber connections are 100% fiber cables? Fiber can be installed in a variety of ways including fiber to the neighborhood, fiber to the curb, and fiber to your home. Fiber to the neighborhood  Companies will install fiber cable up to the beginning of the neighborhood. From there, they connect the homes to the main fiber line using copper cables. Fiber to the curb This is similar to …

100% Fiber to Your HomeRead More »