Question at position 12 Which type of Internet Service Provider is generally considered to be the fastest and most reliable?DSLCableFiber opticSatelliteSingle choice
A
DSL
B
Cable
C
Fiber optic
D
Satellite

Question

Question at position 12 Which type of Internet Service Provider is generally considered to be the fastest and most reliable?DSLCableFiber opticSatellite

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Fiber optic transmits data as pulses of light through glass fibers, giving it far higher bandwidth, lower latency, and greater immunity to interference than copper- or radio-based connections.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Medium and signal: DSL and cable use electrical signals over copper; fiber uses light in glass; satellite uses radio to/from space.
- Bandwidth (maximum throughput): fiber supports multi-gigabit symmetric links; cable can reach gigabit ranges but is often shared; DSL is much lower and distance-sensitive.
- Latency and propagation: fiber has low latency because light in fiber travels quickly over short terrestrial distances; geostationary satellite links add large propagation delay.
- Reliability and interference: fiber is immune to electromagnetic interference and less affected by weather; copper and wireless (satellite) are more vulnerable.
- Shared vs dedicated resources: cable is a shared last-mile medium (congestion possible); fiber deployments can be dedicated or high-capacity shared but with far more headroom.

2. Step-by-step reasoning
- Compare typical speeds: DSL typically tens of Mbps (up to ~100 Mbps with VDSL in ideal cases). Cable (DOCSIS) commonly provides 100 Mbps–1 Gbps but speed can vary with neighborhood congestion. Fiber routinely provides 1 Gbps, 10 Gbps or higher, often symmetric (same up/down).
- Compare latency: fiber links within a region typically have round-trip times in single- to low-double-digit milliseconds. Geostationary satellite links incur large delays (see calculation below).

3. Calculations / intermediate steps (satellite latency example)
- Altitude of geostationary orbit ≈ 35,786 km one-way.
- Radio speed ≈ 300,000 km/s. One-way time = 35,786 / 300,000 ≈ 0.119 s ≈ 119 ms.
- Typical GEO path involves four legs (user→satellite→ground station→satellite→user), so RTT ≈ 4 × 119 ms ≈ 476 ms. Real-world GEO RTTs ≈ 450–600 ms. Fiber RTTs are typically tens of ms or less for regional links, so much lower.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
Fiber optic is the fastest and most reliable because it supports the highest sustained data rates (multi-Gbps), has very low latency, is less susceptible to electromagnetic interference or weather, and scales to future higher capacities. These physical and operational advantages make fiber the top choice for performance-critical ISP service.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- DSL: limited bandwidth, degrades with distance from the exchange, higher latency than fiber.
- Cable: higher peak speeds than DSL but shared neighborhood bandwidth can cause congestion and variable performance; still inferior to fiber’s capacity and latency.
- Satellite: very high latency (especially GEO), prone to weather effects and throughput limits; not as reliable or low-latency as terrestrial fiber.

6. Conclusion / confirmation
Given the bandwidth, latency, reliability, and scalability advantages detailed above, the correct answer is Fiber optic — which matches the provided answer.

Question at position 12 Which type of Internet Service Provider is generally considered to be the fastest and most reliable?DSLCableFiber opticSatelliteSingle choice

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