Cory Doctorow1d ago

If you live in Switzerland you can get a 25Gbit fiber link to your home. That's 25Gbit *symmetrical* - upload *and* download. On a dedicated connection that's yours and yours alone. From multiple providers. It's the *ne plus ultra*, *magnifico*, *wunderschön*:

https://www.init7.net/de/internet/fiber7/

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/07/swisscom/#stacked

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Show threadSylocule1d ago
@pluralistic Spain have a similar system to Switzerland. Fibre to the house and you can use any provider. Most are around 1Gb symmetrical, but 10Gb is available from 1 company.
Show threadTroed Sångberg

@Sylocule

Can't say we have a national system in Sweden but most regions have built out "black fiber" (not tied to a specific provider) where we then can select amongst a few.

I'm on 1/1 Gbit and I think some places can get 10/10.

@pluralistic

Apr 7 at 9:07amWeb
Show threadflatplanet1d ago
@troed @Sylocule @pluralistic we have National Broadband Ireland #NBI here. The idea was to run fiber everywhere that wasn't commercially viable, and have multiple resellers sitting on top. Haven't seen any offers for symmetrical, but no technical reason not to. I'm on 500/50 (1G+ services available but don't really need them) on an island in the extreme South West of the county.
Show threadColm1d ago
@flatplanet @troed @Sylocule @pluralistic There is a "technical" reason not to, which is that much of the fibre rollout in Ireland (whether from open Eir or NBI or SIRO) plugs into infrastructure which is largely based on passive optical networks. While many of the recent installs are based on XGS-PON, these networks by their nature are quite asymmetrical, focusing on download speed.
Show threadBjörn Hesthamar1d ago

@troed The fiber is not true black fiber. It is operated as a “layer 2”* network by an “infrastructure operator” and you can choose the “communications operator” on “layer 3* yourself. This was supposed to increase competition in the user facing layer (communication) while still coalesce investment in the infrastructure layer to keep it viable since that is the expensive part to build out. It is not incredibly efficient as every provider have their own multicast TV and other OTT services. I’m paying appx. 60 eur / month for 1Gb symmetric service. I could be cheaper.

* The split is done per port and with vlans and not between layer 2 and 3.

@Sylocule @pluralistic