We use the Internet at all hours of the day and night for almost everything. We use the Internet to listen to music, watch TV shows and movies, and read the news. But how many gigabytes do we need in our contracted rate to avoid having to install fiber at home?
According to the CNMC report, traffic volume has risen in the last few months. According to the report, the volume of data on fixed networks will be 53.971 million TB in 2021. Much higher than the previous year: in 2020, fiber use increased due to the amount of time Spaniards spend at home, but it remained at 46.264 million TB, compared to more than fifty this year.
It is important to remember that the CNMC’s estimate of 269 GB of monthly broadband consumption refers to a single line, not a single person. In other words, if three users are sharing the same network, we must remember that each of them is likely to consume less than 100 GB with that fiber connection, rather than nearly 270 GB. It is also possible to find rates with 100 GB of data for a reasonable price. It is, for example, offered by o2 with additional lines that provide us with these gigabytes for 15 euros per month.
There are many unlimited data rates that would allow us to use this 269 GB month after month to replace the fiber optic connection over the mobile network, but there would be many issues. The first is that most operators have limitations, and unlimited data is not always unlimited; rather, we must adhere to a “reasonable” or “responsible” use policy, and nearly 300 gigabytes of monthly data would not always fall within these conditions.
There is also the issue of speed. Fiber optics can provide us with great cable speeds, with rates of up to 1 Gbps available. However, when we use the mobile network, we never reach this speed, and even the unlimited rates have speed limitations. Vodafone, for example, has 10 Mbps limits in some of its unlimited plans, while another offers us up to 1 Gbps of maximum speed.
