VDSL, LTE, fiber optic - which is faster?

VDSL, LTE or fiber optic - The data transmission types are very diverse. But which is actually the fastest? We chased the three Internet types through a speed test and show you the results. There are big differences between theory and practice.

First of all: What do the speed specifications mean?

The following always talks about speeds in Mbit / s - megabits per second. You really can't do much with this value at first.

• To obtain a clear amount of data, roughly divide the information by 10. For a line with 16 Mbit / s, this gives a value of 1.6. This roughly corresponds to your download speed: 1.6 MB / s - megabytes per second.
• Strictly speaking, you would have to divide the values ​​by 8. This results in a download speed (downstream) of 2 MByte / s for a line with 16 Mbit / s. You can only reach these values ​​in theory. The actual speeds usually look different.

3rd place: VDSL too slow for the competition

VDSL (Very High Speed ​​Digital Subscriber Line) is probably the most conventional type of transmission. Nevertheless, the line gives a lot in comparison to the predecessor DSL. However, the values ​​fluctuate very strongly here.

• In theory, you can achieve a download speed of 250 Mbit / s with a VDSL connection. The upload, on the other hand, is 40 Mbit / s, which almost corresponded to the maximum download rate a few years ago.
• In practice, things look a little different: In fact, you can usually only use 70 to 80 percent of the speed.
• In technical jargon, VDSL is referred to as fiber to the curb. This means that the longest path of the signal is covered by fiber. However, it ends at the DSLAM, the gray distribution box on the street. The last stretch covers the signal over the copper line to your home. The further you are from the DSLAM, the slower your up and down streams become.

The advantage of VDSL is clearly recognizable: Compared to the other transmission types, the DSL descendant is available almost everywhere in Germany. The range is also being expanded steadily in rural areas.

2nd place: The fast LTE radio network does not burn anything

Almost every new smartphone supports the new transmission type LTE (Long Term Evolution - 4G). But what does the successor to the slow UMTS network really bring?

• In theory, speeds of up to 300 Mbit / s in download and 50 Mbit / s in upload can be achieved with LTE. To do this, you would have to be the only person who is currently connected to the Internet.
• The actual speed depends on the number of participants in a radio cell. The more smartphones connect to the Internet at the same time, the worse the bandwidth becomes.
• That is why the large providers such as Telekom and Vodafone also offer much smaller offers: Depending on the contract, you are entitled to speeds of 7 to 50 Mbit / s. The real upload speed, on the other hand, is up to 15 Mbit / s.
• Most of the time, you are throttled after a certain limit and have to cope with the slower EDGE standard by the end of the month.
• But the advantage is obvious: You don't need a phone jack or annoying cables in your apartment.

Download rates in the three to four-digit range are currently only achieved in cities. In the country, on the other hand, the download rates are at DSL level, i.e. 21 to 50 Mbit / s. It will certainly take some time before the transmission standard can be reached across the board.

1st place: With a fiber optic connection, you race all of it

The throne clearly belongs to the fiber optic connection - at least in theory. In practice, fiber optic connections are only slightly faster than LTE or VDSL connections. Nevertheless, this is probably the type of transmission of the future.

• Internet via glass fiber is also called fiber to the house. Values ​​of 255 terabits / s have already been measured in the laboratory. But private households are unlikely to get these results that quickly.
• With most websites, however, you cannot use the speed at all because a single connection does not provide such a fast data stream.
• In practice, download rates of 100 to 1, 000 Mbit / s result. The upload rates are only half as high: between 50 and 500 Mbit / s.

In Germany, only Telekom and a few small local providers such as NetCologne, M-net and EWE are currently deploying fiber optic cables. This means that only a few households can enjoy the speed frenzy. In the future, however, fiber optic technology will certainly be expanded even further. You can find the first offers with our DSL comparison calculator.

In the video: Telekom rolls out VDSL Super Vectoring

You can find out which types of transmission are available at home on the website of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. In this practical tip, we explain the differences between DSL and VDSL.

DSL comparison calculator

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