“These hybrid services have lots of the same advantages as all-fiber services...”

Santa Cruz Fiber delivers fiber optic internet right up to boxes on the walls of buildings. That’s the very best internet, and we are building more all the time. That’s “fiber."

But we also use our fast fiber network in situations where we can’t yet get “the last mile” of fiber built to a home or office. When we use our powerful fiber backbone to feed fast, fixed wireless internet connections, we call them “fiber-backed” services. These hybrids have lots of the same advantages as all-fiber services.

Fiber-backed services offer very high speeds both for both uploads and downloads. They're reliable. They're easy to install. And they're available not only for big enterprise facilities, but also for residences who just like local, reliable speed.

“​We'll survey your location and put it on the map for all-fiber expansion, free of charge.”

We'll survey your location for fiber-backed service, and put it on the map for all-fiber expansion, all free of charge.

While not backed by our own fiber backbone, Velocity internet and phone are also connected by dark fiber. Velocity hubs are in many (but not all) of the phone company central offices around Santa Cruz County. They’re a strong option for the time being, if wireless isn't available.

So what’s the best service for you? We go into more detail in our “Which Internet is Right for You” article, but here’s a quick summary. Remember, we generally offer free upgrades when a superior technology becomes available to you. When you sign up with Santa Cruz Fiber:

1. If you can, get all-fiber. That’s the best choice. (Cruzioworks coworking & colocation are all-fiber as well!)
2. If all-fiber isn’t available, fiber-backed certified buildings are next best option.
3. Wireless services are the next best choice. 
4. Then comes Velocity. Speeds vary widely, and Cruzio techs will tell you straight up what we think you’ll probably get — no surprises.
5. If you can’t get any Santa Cruz Fiber or Cruzio service right now (on a contract? in a remote location?) take a survey or pledge.

What do our engineers think of fiber-backed services? They love ‘em. They love working on the sites and making adjustments to get the very best performance possible. It’s cool technology, it’s advancing rapidly, and it performs well. 

And when we are looking for neighborhoods to expand fiber-to-the-home — 100% fiber, in other words — we look to the places where people are subscribing to our other services.

In general, the Santa Cruz Fiber plan is to extend next-generation fiber-backed services, which are faster and easier to build. Then when an area has enough demand, we can replace that infrastructure with all-fiber.