Swiss Internet service provider Init7 has established itself as a provider of stable and fast Internet plans. Seven years ago, Init7 became the first Swiss Internet service provider to offer data transfer speeds of 1 Gbps at an affordable price. Now the company is introducing two new and faster Internet plans.
What do the two new Internet plans offer?
The new Fiber7-X plan delivers connection speeds of up to 10 Gbps. The Fiber7-X2 delivers speeds as high as 25 Gbps. Both connections are symmetrical, meaning users benefit from the same high speeds for both downloads and uploads.
How much do the new Internet plans cost?
Like all Init7 plans, the two new plans have a price tag of 777 Swiss francs per year. That comes to 64.75 francs per month.
Are there any one-time costs?
New subscribers to the 10 Gbps plan pay a one-time fee of 111 Swiss francs to activate the connection. The one-time activation fee for the 25 Gbps plan is 333 francs.
Subscribers also need a modem and router which corresponds to the speed of their connection. Init7 offers a device for the 10 Gbps connection for 333 francs, and a device for the 25 Gbps connection for 777 francs.
Users are free to use their own devices or to purchase modems or routers elsewhere. There is no obligation to purchase the devices offered by Init7.
In total, new subscribers to the 10 Gbps plan should count on paying 444 francs in one-time fees for the activation and modem. One-time fees for the 10 Gbps connection total 1110 francs.
Are the new init7 plans different to other high-speed Internet plans?
With Init7, each individual user has exclusive use of the line connecting their home to the central distribution point. That means the full bandwidth is available to you alone and is not shared with other subscribers, as it is with many other Swiss Internet service providers.
Salt launched a 10 Gbps Internet connection back in 2018, and numerous other service providers like Swisscom, Sunrise, Yallo, green.ch, iWay, Teleboy and Wingo have all followed with their own high-speed connections. However, with all of these plans, each line is shared between up to 32 different subscribers. When 32 users share 10 Gbps of bandwidth, the actual speed available to each user is only around 300 Mbps. In practice, it is unlikely that all users will use large amounts of bandwidth at the same time, so effective speeds tend to be higher than 300 Mbps most of the time.
Do I need such a fast Internet connection?
The answer in the vast majority of cases is obviously no. The majority of today’s Internet users will find 1 Gbps more than sufficient. For many internet users, even 1 Gbps of bandwidth is far more than they ever use.
A 25 Gbps connection is astoundingly fast. Just one connection would allow up to 500 people to simultaneously stream videos in ultra-high definition. You could download an entire move in just 2 seconds.
Do I actually benefit from the advertised Internet speed?
In practice user will not likely access the advertised maximum speeds. One reason for this is that many data centers have connections which are slower than 25 Gbps. Additionally, many Internet servers are not set up to deliver ultra-high connection speeds to each individual user.
Another reason is that many computers and other personal devices are not capable of processing data at these speeds. Everything from cables to sockets to devices themselves can become bottlenecks if they do not deliver sufficient data transfer speeds.
What are the disadvantages of the new Init7 plans?
The relatively high costs for activating the connection and purchasing the router are a disadvantage. It is also important to note that the router currently offered by Init7 was designed to be used for Internet servers. As such, the router is bulky compared to consumer routers. Init7 does not currently offer a router which is designed for home use.
Is the Init7 connection the fastest in the world?
The Fiber7-X2 from Init7 with its dedicated connection may well be the fastest home Internet connection available anywhere in the world. While ultra-high-speed Internet connections are offered in some other countries, in almost every case the bandwidth is shared by up to 32 subscribers, as is typical for most Swiss Internet service providers as well. This means the effective connection speeds are slower than the advertised bandwidth.
More on this topic:
Guide to choosing the right Internet connection speed
Compare Swiss Internet plans now
Init7 Internet plans list
