What Is Multi-Gig Internet?

Multi-gig internet is a broadband service faster than one gigabit per second. Providers sell it in tiers such as 2, 5, 8 and 10 Gbps, almost always over full fiber to the premises, and many tiers are symmetrical, with the same upload as download speed.

The term matters because most equipment still has Gigabit Ethernet ports. A 1GbE link carries about 940 Mbps of real data once protocol overhead is taken off, so a computer plugged into a 2 Gbps line with a Gigabit port will never see more than that, however good the connection is. Getting the full speed means every link in the path, from the provider’s terminal to the device, has to run faster than a gigabit.

That is why multi-gig internet and multi-gig Ethernet go together. The broadband tier is the headline, but the ports, switches and cables inside the building decide what a user or a test point actually sees.

Multi-gig tiers rely on fiber all the way into the building. Older copper services such as FTTC cannot reach them. Most operators now use XGS-PON, which shares 10 Gbps in each direction between the premises on one fiber, in place of GPON, which shares about 2.5 Gbps down. Our GPON vs XGS-PON FAQ covers the network side in detail.

At the premises, an optical network terminal (ONT) converts the light signal to Ethernet. On a multi-gig service the ONT has a 2.5GbE or 10GbE port, and that port is often the first speed limit a customer meets.

A single home user rarely fills a 2 Gbps line. Multi-gig tiers pay off where many devices share one connection, or where one system moves large amounts of data. Offices and schools use them to give dozens of users full-speed cloud access at once. Sites that back up video, logs or machine data to the cloud use the upload speed of symmetrical tiers. Studios and remote production teams move large media files. Edge computing sites send sensor and camera data to central servers, and operators need test points that can prove the tier they sell. In each case the wider network, not just the line, has to keep up.

The IEEE 802.3bz standard added 2.5GBASE-T and 5GBASE-T in 2016, so multi-gig speeds can run over the twisted-pair cable many buildings already have. 10GBASE-T needs better cable for full distance.

Our Cat5e vs Cat6 FAQ covers cable choice, and our 10GbE networking FAQ explains the copper and fiber options at 10 Gbps.

Every hop between the ONT and the device has to match the tier, or the slowest one sets the speed.

A speed test is only as fast as the device running it. Operators selling multi-gig tiers need test points that can measure above a gigabit, close to the customer, without sending an engineer each time. 2.5GbE is the first step past the Gigabit limit and works over existing cabling, so it suits test points for 2 Gbps services. Faster tiers call for 10GbE.

Industrial computers fit this job well because they run fanless in street cabinets and exchange rooms and can be managed remotely. Our fiber verification case study shows a 2.5GbE industrial mini PC measuring 2 Gbps services from the cabinet.

We supply industrial computers with 2.5GbE and 10GbE ports already configured for remote test and monitoring roles as standard. Send us the service tiers and site conditions, and we will specify the ports, cabling and enclosure to match.