Do You Really Need Faster Internet?

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Some people need no convincing when it comes to getting the best, fastest of anything on the market, but what if you're careful with your purchases? Internet service is one of those things that can be hard to gauge; having better service is good, but how can you be sure that you're using what you're paying for? To get a better idea of what you need to perform your favorite tasks online, here are a few internet performance details.

What Does Fast Really Mean?

When Internet Service Providers (ISP) are selling fast internet, it all depends on your local infrastructure. You're tapping into existing internet service lines, and those lines are all traveling at the same general speed. It's a digital switch--a setting, essentially--that is turned on and off for your internet service.

To achieve higher speeds, your ISP will open more virtual lanes on a virtual highway of information. The lines aren't moving faster; instead, more information can travel into your network at the same time, enabling that higher speed due to higher information delivery at once.

Consistency And High Speeds

With high speed comes concerns for consistency. Pushing the limits of any infrastructure can lead to line noise, meaning that the intensity of the data--whether it's in the form of electricity across Ethernet cables or light through fiber optic cables--is crashing and colliding too much for the given connection.

If the problem is outside of your home, there's nothing you can do. The ISP will need to repair or replace underground wiring in some cases, or may need to repair a specific switch or another device that isn't handling the information exchange easily.

For problems inside the home, you have a limited number of repair options. The ISP will likely replace your modem/router and internet cables (if you're using their equipment, otherwise they will ask you to replace your own equipment), and then look to your computer for issues.

What Needs Fast Internet?

In 2018, a 100 mbps (megabits per second) internet provider has a specific set of customers who actually need the speed for daily activities. This includes heavy-traffic downloaders who need tens or hundreds of gigabytes in a matter of minutes, but they're not the only major customers.

Does your household watch videos on YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, CrunchyRoll, or any number of video streaming websites? You don't need 100 mbps for just watching the service yourself, but if multiple people on your network are doing the same thing--along with other internet activities such as downloading and uploading--you need to add everything together.

Finally, businesses that need to access files on the internet will need a bigger connection to facilitate traffic from multiple desks. Contact a 100 mbps internet provider to discuss your computer use habits and the right speed package for your network.


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