How TIM’s Ultra Broadband Works

In Italy, everyone is constantly looking for information about the technologies of surfing the Internet at full speed.

However, the available information is not always intelligible to those who do not have much faith in ICT languages. For example, what is broadband really? And what about the gang? UltraWide? What is the difference between the two? How do they work, how fast are they? How do you choose the connection to equip yourself with it?

In this article we try to answer these questions.

And we try to do it in the simplest way possible, so that absolutely everyone can understand.

Broadband: Meaning

The Italian term “broadband” is the literal translation of English “broadband”, which for years now refers to the transmission of data over cable used for fast Internet connections.

Bandwidth, in telecommunications and electronics, is a measure Capacity: Specifies the amount of data that can be transmitted on the channel, and therefore the speed of transmission of this data.

The more the gang LongIn fact, data can be transferred faster.

In common parlance, the term “broadband” is used to designate high-speed Internet connection technologies such as ADSL or FWA.

An ADSL connection uses copper cables called “twisted pairs”: the cables actually used to connect users and homes to the telephone operator’s console.

To better understand what ADSL is (and why it is called), you can read on This is our in-depth study on this topic.

On the other hand, Fwa communication partially exploits mixed transmission: over cable and radio. Communication between the operator and the customer is done in the first part via radio, with a 4G signal, and then from the console to the house, via fiber-optic cables.
If you want to know more about the topic of Fwa, we suggest that you read our article on this topic.

contact with long squad Allows you to connect to the Internet through a file modem, to keep the line always free for phone calls and to allow simultaneous connections with multiple devices (computers, smart phoneAnd plank, printers, televisions, video game consoles …) with or without cables (WiFi).

As a general rule, broadband Internet should travel at a speed of between minimum 1.5-2 Mbps and peak 20Mbps for ADSL and 200Mbps for Fwa.

But the range allows for more speed Ultralarga.

Ultra broadband: what is it?

with input Optical fiber, the bandwidth expands further and becomes Ultralarga.

An ultra broadband connection provides the Internet at a very high speed, much faster than broadband: up to 1 gigabit per second.

So it is possible to download and exchange files, make phone calls, listen to music and watch HD and 4K movies. And all this through the simultaneous use of multiple devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets, printers, video games) and multiple applications at the same time.

Connection of this type can be based on different types, but the two main ones are:

– FTTC (short for “Fiber to Cabinet”, Fiber to Cabinet: in this case, the Internet makes its journey from the console of the telephone operator to the console on the road, below the user’s home, and then from here it reaches the user’s home on copper cables);

– FTTH (“Fiber to the Home”): The optical fiber arrives directly from the operator’s console to the user’s home. This, of course, ensures a higher bandwidth, and therefore a higher speed, than FTTC.

Ultra broadband speed: examples

Let’s take some examples to better understand the performance of TIM’s Fiber Ultra-wideband (FTTH), and compare it to Broadband (Adsl):

– With TIM FIBER, to download a file high definition movie (about 2 gigs), it only takes 16 seconds (with ADSL, about 13 minutes).

– With fiber to download a file 1.2 Gig Photo Album It only takes 10 seconds (with ADSL, 8 minutes);

– again: using fiber can download a file music album (about 0.5G) in 4 seconds. With ADSL, it takes 3 and a half minutes.

broadband and devices

It must be remembered that the performance of ultra-wideband depends not only on the fiber, but also on the devices used to connect to the network. Older models of smartphones, tablets, and computers, especially with older operating systems, are no longer able to make the most of ultra-wideband.

Ultra broadband plan

Among the goals of the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience (commonly known as PNRR) is to achieve ultra-fast 1Gbps connectivity across the national territory. by 2026 (that is, 4 years before the European goals, which was the end of 2030).

For months, TIM has been working across the country on its cable plan to bring optical fiber to all Italian municipalities and make ultra-fast fiber connections (1Gbps FTTH, as explained above).

At the time of writing, September 2021, a TIM’s national ultra-wideband coverage is up to 91% of households with a fixed line and 85.2% of homes.

The number of kilometers of optical fiber laid in Italy is more than 20 million, but this number is increasing every day, every hour, every minute (You can follow its growth in real time on this website).

For optical fiber laying, TIM uses, at least where possible, the infrastructures that already exist. If it is necessary to carry out excavations, they are carried out by adopting technologies with low environmental impact, that is, with interventions on the road from 10 to 15 cm.

You can check if your home is already reached by TIM FTTH fiber by going To this page from tim.it And write down your home address.

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