The revolution promised by Iliad in the field of fixed telephony has finally arrived: the optic fiber Iliad’s “clear and round”, presented by the CEO Benedetto Levi on January 25, promises a connection FTTH from the maximum speed of 5Gbps at a cost of only € 15.99 for users who have already signed a contract for a mobile SIM.
Iliad optical fiber, at least for the moment, it is not available for the whole territory Italian: precisely because of the limits due to the Open Fiber network infrastructure and the type of connectivity used by the operator, it is fundamental check coverage network, so you know if your home is covered by the offer or not.
How to check the coverage of the Iliad optical fiber
Check the coverage Iliad optical fiber in your address is quick and easy. To check it, just go to the dedicated page on the operator’s website and enter theStreet address desired in the required fields.
If your address is covered by Iliad’s optical fiber, a page will open that will summarize it details and pricesfrom which you can complete your registration and subscribe.
If instead the selected address is not covered yet from the offer, Iliad allows you to enter your address e-mailso as to be promptly notified as soon as the fiber is available.
Iliad optical fiber, details of the offer
We quickly summarize the services offered by Iliad with its offer for optical fiber:
- 15.99 euros per month for Iliad mobile users with automatic payment, otherwise 23.99 euros per month;
- guaranteed price forever, with no hidden costs and no duration restrictions;
- until 5Gbit / s in total in download, 700Mbit / s in upload for 6 million real estate units, in addition to 1Gbit / s in download and 300Mbit / s in upload for a further 1.4 million real estate units;
- Iliadbox on loan for free use;
- unlimited minutes to landlines and mobile phones in Italy and to landlines in more than 60 countries around the world;
- Ability to add up to four to the offer Iliad WiFi Extenderwireless repeaters to allow optimal coverage in every corner of the house, at a price of 1.99 euros per month for each.
Why do Milan, Turin and Bologna have a reduced speed?
On the page dedicated to the Iliad optical fiber on the operator’s website, even before entering the platform that allows you to check coverage, you will find a toggle with the caption “Dresses a Milan, Turin, Bologna? “.
If you answer yes, the numbers for the maximum speed of the fiber they lower compared to those of the other cities so far covered by this offer:
- Until 1 Gbps in download instead of 5 Gbps (total)
- Until 300 Mbps in upload instead of 700 Mbps.
This disparity in the maximum values reached by the fiber is attributable to the different technology used for FTTH network coverage in the three provincial capitals concerned, which cover a total of over 1.4 million real estate units.
Milan, Turin and Bologna are in fact covered by technology FTTH GPON (Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network) initially performed by the company Metroweba company owned by Enel that later merged into Open Fiber in 2017.
Open Fiber’s FTTH GPON networks support a shared maximum speed of 2.5 Gpbs download and 1.25 Gbps upload, but are subject to nominal limits chosen by each individual operator. In this case, for example, Iliad has established 1 Gbps in download as the maximum download speed.
The other cities covered by the Iliad optical fiber are served by technology FTTH EPON (Ethernet Passive Optical Network), which allows us to arrive at the 5 Gbps in download overallreachable overall between Ethernet and Wi-Fi ports.
Finally, it must be specified that the maximum values of the Iliad optical fiber are to be considered peak values nominal, which will not always match the actual connection speed. For more realistic data referring to a single user, it is better to refer to minimum connection speeds guaranteed by the operator:
- 100 Mbps in download and 31 Mbps in upload in Milan, Turin and Bologna;
- 300 Mbps in download and 28 Mbps in upload in other cities.
Iliad optical fiber, reasons and limits of the Open Fiber choice
He had already discussed, since the first rumors, Iliad’s choice to rely only on network infrastructures in this first phase Open Fiberwhich in fact limits the number of possible customers to a much shorter range than the coverage of the mobile network, which has now reached 99% of the Italian territory.
If you have already checked your Open Fiber network coverage while waiting for the Iliad fiber, you can also find one bad surprise once you consult the operator’s site, on which your address will appear as not covered.
Credit: Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels
As already anticipated by Levi in an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore shortly before the launch event, for the moment the Iliad optical fiber is foreseen only for the so-called “black areas“Of the Italian territory, ie the territories in which at least two broadband networks exist or will soon be developed by two or more operators.
For this reason, if your address is located in a gray or white area covered by the FTTH Open Fiber infrastructure, Iliad’s offer will be not yet available.
When will the Iliad fiber arrive in the gray and white areas?
Although for the moment Iliad’s fiber optic coverage is limited only to the black areas of the Italian territory, expanding it falls within the priority operator for the foreseeable future. In an interview with colleagues from MondoMobileWebCEO Levi issued this statement:
[…] we couldn’t wait to get to the market, we were ready and a lot of people were asking for it, so we said ‘go, let’s go’ and then we will add FiberCop, then we will add more and more Open Fiber coverage. We were ready, it seemed a shame not to launch.
It therefore seems that Iliad’s FTTH optical fiber does will extend first to the areas covered by infrastructure FiberCopto then reach at a later time also the gray and white areas covered by Open Fiber. As for the timing of this expansion, unfortunately no estimates are available yet.
Iliad optical fiber, is FWA expected?
One of the reasons why the Iliad optical fiber has coverage limited compared to the fiber cabling of the Italian territory it is actually very simple: this offer is based exclusively on technology FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home), ie the “pure” optical fiber that reaches homes without the use of copper cables.
Iliad’s choice to keep, at least for the moment, 100% FTTH it is a further expression of the positioning on the market decided by the operator, who intends to give an image of himself innovative and current, as demonstrated by the durability tests carried out on the Iliadbox router which, based on company estimates, should last at least 10 years.
For the moment, Iliad’s fiber offer does not extend not even to networks with coverage FWA + (Fixed Wireless Access), or the hybrid network that combines optical fiber with radio frequencies to facilitate signal reception in homes with particularly difficult access.
For the moment, the Iliad fiber therefore remains at 100% FTTH, as a clear signal of support for the Ultra Broadband plan for fiber optic coverage of the territory. However, Levi does not exclude, at least hypothetically, aopening in the future to the Open Fiber’s FWA networkas opposed to the mixed fiber-copper network which is definitely out of the game.
Iliad fiber, the company speaks
We were able to contact the operator to ask him some of the main questions that arose after the launch of the Internet connection service via Fiber also in our country.
|
Virtually no consumer user today could really take advantage of 5 Gbit connectivity, therefore we find it sensible to split the bandwidth over multiple connections. Can you tell us the reasoning behind this door splitting solution? |
|
We listened to people and their needs, which is what we always do. Given the growing need to surf quickly and without interruptions even when sharing the connection with other people, we looked for a solution that on the one hand offered an extremely high overall speed (the optical fiber entering the router reaches up to 5Gbit / s), on the other hand, it allowed to use this speed through the multiple ports available (the one from 2.5Gbit / s – the two from 1Gbit / s) and Wi-Fi. This way you can connect multiple devices at the same time, and they won’t steal each other’s bandwidth, but will all navigate at maximum speed. |
|
|
Are there any plans to date to allow those who live in Milan, Bologna and Turin to access the 5 Gbit offer? If so, can it be assumed that current 1Gbit Fiber users will see an upgrade to 5Gbit if and when this connection is available? |
|
|
In these three cities, the current network architecture does not currently allow to go beyond 1 Gbit / if we do not know if it will change in the future. |
|
|
Are users connecting to 1Gbit networks subject to the same public IP sharing “restrictions”? |
|
|
Yes, IP address assignment is technology independent. |
|
|
Are you planning to extend your connectivity to FTTC networks as well? |
|
|
Currently we have made a precise choice: 100% FTTH fiber only, to give all our users the certainty of always using the best technology available on the market. We will possibly consider in the future whether it might make sense to use other technologies. |
|
|
One of the most discussed points regarding Iliadbox is Wi-Fi 5 compatibility instead of Wi-Fi 6. Why this choice? |
|
|
Devices that support Wi-Fi 6 are not yet particularly widespread and iliad is the only operator that develops routers directly in its own laboratories, both in terms of hardware and software. Therefore, we have worked on the functions that are most important today for users, therefore: speed, stability, an intuitive display for a fast and comfortable interaction with the iliadbox, an app for a very functional management of the service, etc … |
|
|
Some users who search on the Iliad site to understand if they are reached by your offer say that the address (especially the street number) is not recognized or present. What can we suggest to these users who want to know if they can activate the Iliad connection? |
|
|
Users who are not covered can leave their email and will be contacted as soon as the coverage arrives at their homes. |
