Blog Posts

09.07.2023 Eight Real-Life Ways Fiber Broadband Makes a Difference

Just about any of our customers who have already made the switch from older forms of internet (like cable) to fiber broadband will tell you that fiber’s advanced technology is vastly superior to anything else they’ve used.

From downloading files at near-lightspeed, to voluminous amounts of available bandwidth for handling multiple applications simultaneously, to more reliable material components that provide pristine streaming TV and movie experiences, fiber is simply heads-and-shoulders above cable, DSL, and satellite internet.

But those are just technical specs—and that doesn’t tell even half the story! Fiber broadband, like the kind delivered by Dumont Telephone Company, can genuinely enhance your quality of life in a myriad of ways, including the following eight use cases we’re proud to support in your community.

1. Telehealth Expedites Critical Health Interventions

We begin with everyone’s top priority—keeping their family healthy. And fiber broadband now plays a significant role in delivering healthcare to millions. Telehealth, which allows physicians and other medical professionals to provide initial consultations (and other healthcare) from a patient’s home, has expanded massively in recent years.

Telehealth helps doctors and patients assess when more urgent in-person care is needed (and when it’s not). Prescriptions can get filled faster with telehealth, and consultations over fiber broadband can even assist in properly applying first aid to injuries.

Telehealth consultations can be performed quickly and reliably thanks to fiber’s bounty of bandwidth, which lets audio and video data transfer between doctor and patient seamlessly. Many doctors won’t make a diagnosis when a poor internet connection causes choppy video calls, but that’s not a problem when the patient has fiber broadband!

2. Remote Work Improves Convenience and Productivity

While remote work isn’t for everyone, it can be life-changing for caregivers who need a little more flexibility. Plus, while avoiding the hassles of commutes and traffic delays, remote workers also save money on gasoline and reduce their carbon footprint.

While many workers and employers decide to go fully remote, even partial remote work flexibility can be a blessing. But it takes a particularly robust broadband connection to facilitate remote work (especially video conferencing), which isn’t always supported by inferior connections like satellite.

Fiber’s symmetrical downloads and uploads let workers send and receive large files and transmit data during long meetings and conferences, making a remote staff member genuinely feel part of the team!

3. Distance Education Allows Students to Gain Skills and Get Ahead

Access to higher education is more attainable than ever, thanks to the multitude of online distance learning opportunities available through colleges and universities around the country.

From undergraduate and graduate degrees to technical certifications, fiber broadband puts education within reach for many who thought it was impossible or beyond their means, while helping them achieve the skills necessary to meet their career goals.

Fiber broadband’s enormous bandwidth facilitates reliable distance learning and even genuine classroom experiences. It allows students and professors to share large files like presentations or lectures in real-time and enables video conferencing to foster learning and growth, including one-on-one student-faculty interactions—all without sweating frequent distortions or outages that frustrate students on older internet technologies.

4. Lifelong Learning Keeps the Mind Active and Engaged

Beyond bringing official degree and certificate programs to students, fiber broadband also facilitates a less formal but still highly valued form of education: lifelong learning. Lifelong learning provides opportunities for the curious to understand their world—and even the universe—well after college ends.

Several companies and major universities, such as Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses), edX, Harvard, and Yale have developed extensive online course offerings. You can find classes from prestigious professors spanning topics like ancient Greek history, Renaissance art, classical music, modern astronomy, and more.

And many courses are available free of charge! Through fiber’s near-lightspeed downloading, these courses can be streamed and enjoyed right from your home.

5. Virtual Reality Lets You Explore the World from Home

Fiber’s hefty bandwidth and vigorous download speeds also brings the wonder of Virtual Reality to your home—and with it, the travel experiences many have only dreamed about! Unlike traditional forms of entertainment, VR’s wonderous technology envelopes a user in multiple dimensions of visual and sound effects.

VR—through fiber broadband—makes viewers literally feel like they’re wherever VR is showing them, whether it’s a tour of the Grand Canyon or an Amazon rainforest, an astronaut’s view from outer space, or a sonorous symphony hall.

Fiber’s speed and bandwidth combined with VR technology allows you to explore Paris’ Louvre Museum one day, and the Colosseum in Rome the next without ever leaving your living room!

6. Smart Homes Save Energy, Time, and Money

Fiber broadband and its spectacular speeds and enormous bandwidth capacities make it possible to power a genuine smart home—a place brimming with tech and devices to cut energy usage and costs and make life better and more efficient.

From smart refrigerators that let you know when it’s time to get a new gallon of milk, to smart lighting that cuts off when you leave home, to smart speakers playing music (or soundscapes) throughout every room, smart home technology can turn your dwelling into the home of your dreams.

Remember that fiber broadband can keep these devices and smart home features running smoothly, while still letting you stream TV and movies, upload videos, and enjoy everything else about your broadband. Unlike other forms of internet, with fiber broadband, you’re not forced to choose which online activity to sacrifice at any given time!

7. Smart Home Security Makes for Safer Homes and Neighborhoods

One smart home feature everyone should take advantage of is improved real-time safety and security delivered by smart lighting, smart cameras, smart doorbells and related tech. Fiber-powered devices can monitor your home for security threats at all times, whether you’re tucked in your own bed upstairs or thousands of miles away on vacation.

Additionally, outdoor smart lighting and doorbell systems help make your neighborhood safer too, deterring “porch pirates” and other crime. Fiber broadband has the power to keep these crucial smart home safety and security systems running strong while still allowing you to stay productive and engaged in other online activities simultaneously.

8. Video Calling Keeps You Connected Face-to-Face

Lastly, fiber’s impressive speeds and incredible bandwidth make video calling crystal clear and convenient. Grandparents can easily have face-to-face conversations with their grandchildren, and both sides of the call can see faces as well as hear voices.

Video calling is simply a much more intimate way to stay in touch than by phoning or emailing. And fiber broadband enables this improved communication without the distortions and interruptions that plague other types of internet.

The eight examples above are just a small sample of the way fiber broadband’s innovative technology enhances your life. From practical matters like health, work, and security, to broadening your worldview and sharing knowledge and world cultures, fiber can improve your well-being, inspire your mind, and uplift you.

To learn additional ways that Dumont Telephone’s fiber broadband can make a real difference in your life, follow our social pages!

06.16.2023 Is Fiber Really Worth All This?

Trucks on the curb. Roadside digging. Traffic detours. Workers invading your quiet neighborhood. Although we do our best to minimize disruptions, we understand that the fiber construction process can be a noisy inconvenience.

Improving any infrastructure—from broadband networks to public roads—can be a hassle at the time, but the outcome is (hopefully) always worth the temporary disruptions. As we work hard to bring future-proof fiber broadband to our community, we wanted to take a few minutes to look ahead and consider all the value fiber can bring to our town.

We believe fiber is worth the trouble because we believe your area is worth it—and we hope you’ll agree!

Fostering Remote Work Opportunities

For starters, fiber facilitates remote working. This provides more options for the people who live in rural areas while also enabling more people to move here and contribute to our local economy.

Remote working has expanded exponentially over the past several years, with some estimates indicating that up to a quarter of all professional jobs will be remote for at least a majority of their time. And having a reliable broadband connection is simply essential for those remote workers to be productive and stay competitive with their colleagues!

Remote work involves much more than just web browsing and checking emails. Quality, interruption-free online videoconference calling is critical for remote workers to stay connected to their fellow staff members. Fiber broadband has both the speed and the bandwidth necessary to make video calling clear and dependable, dramatically reducing the frustration so many individuals have felt in the past.

Of course, the presence of a trusted broadband connection also makes employers much more willing to let their employees work remotely from home in the first place! We’re excited to see local residents take advantage of more remote work opportunities in the months and years to come.

Energizing Economic Growth

Of course, the economic value of fiber broadband extends well beyond remote workers! Indeed, our rural area’s entire economy is improved by having access to future-proof broadband.

Existing businesses are more efficient and can compete with companies in any major metropolitan area in America—or even around the world. That’s because Dumont Telephone Company’s fiber broadband is as fast as that of any large city.

Having fiber broadband helps attract new business investment to our area, too—and with it, more jobs. Fiber has a “multiplier” effect on our local economy, as each new business and job attracted to our area because of fiber spreads economic growth across our region, helping it grow and flourish.

Improving the Value—and Security—of Your Home

As fiber broadband is the most sought-after form of high-speed internet in America today, having broadband through Dumont Telephone Company can also increase the value of your home.

Indeed, one study indicates that having fiber broadband can increase the value of a home by 3.1%! For the average-priced home in America, that could be a difference worth many thousands of dollars.

High-speed broadband also helps protect your investment by keeping your home safer, too. Smart home technology has advanced over the past several years. Smart cameras and doorbells can prevent “porch pirates,” smart lighting adds visibility at night and deters trespassers, and security systems can alert you and emergency services if disaster strikes while you’re away.

Facilitating Home Health Care

The technology enabled by fiber broadband doesn’t just protect your home but the people inside it, too. The innovations in telehealth in recent years make getting health care, including urgent care, faster and easier than ever before.

A reliable broadband service with fiber lets you speak one-on-one with your physician and other health care providers from home, making many health consultations much quicker and more efficient. These at-home telehealth sessions can even save you from unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office in the first place!

Telehealth is not just for conveniently treating the common cold, either. With a sufficiently strong broadband connection, home health video conferences can provide better ongoing care and monitoring for those with chronic health conditions.

Improving Our Community and Providing Educational Resources

Beyond the walls of your home, the pillars of our community benefit from fiber’s incredible speeds and generous bandwidth, too. Public schools can provide extra learning resources for all our students and teachers. Public libraries can offer increased research capacity, media, and programs. Community centers for seniors and youth can extend their outreach through skills-building and hobby workshops. Emergency services can respond more quickly and accurately when needed.

In this way, Dumont Telephone Company’s fiber broadband does far more than just help an individual family enjoy their home or a small business get the job done. At its core, fiber is as important a part of our area’s infrastructure and future as our roads and electrical grid.

Competitive Gaming and Esports

Finally, fiber’s many advantages extend to the vast world of online gaming. Whether enjoyed solo or with friends or other competitors, online gaming has become a hugely popular pastime in America. And Dumont Telephone Company’s sophisticated fiber technology has all the bandwidth and extraordinary speeds to prevent lag, crashes, and other delays that plague online gaming, ensuring the best possible gaming experience.

While this may seem frivolous compared to other examples above, gaming isn’t only about having fun or passing the time. Esports (competitive video gaming in leagues and tournaments) has become a booming enterprise, taking ordinary online gaming and turning it into a serious sport.

Esports can open exciting opportunities for the next generation in our area. To date, more than 30 colleges and universities offer esports scholarships to talented gamers, some of which reach into the tens of thousands of dollars per year! From there, graduates can even find a career in many gaming-related fields. (Selfishly, we hope some of them will come back and join our own team to help us continue improving technology in our area!)

Get Connected!

As we continue to build out fiber in our areas, we’re excited about the future this technology can make possible here and we hope you agree!