Usually, these speeds are reserved for businesses or high-traffic, high-demand networks like university campuses. Most households don’t require this kind of speed, however. These are premium service packages and are often only available in certain areas where service providers have networks set up to sustain these speeds. What’s a “fast” internet speed?Īny speeds that clock 200 Mbps or above are considered “fast.” Anything close to or at 1000 Mbps is considered a Gigabit speed or service. Below are some tips on what you should aim for when purchasing your internet package or upgrading your current internet services. Let’s be honest: choosing the right internet speed for your home depends on your budget and your needs.
With these free services listed below, you can even track outages and log your speeds on different days at different times.
How do I find what my internet speed already is?ĭo you want to know what your current internet speeds are? Are you considering an upgrade to your current services? There are some handy tools online that can help with finding your current internet speed, ping times, and even more statistics so you can make a more informed purchase. Ping depends on where the remote server is located that you’re trying to ping, where you’re located, and the distance between the two. Ping is also measured in milliseconds, with an average ping time landing anywhere between 30 ms and 50 ms. Sometimes, the terms latency and ping are used interchangeably. The best latency speed you can have is zero. There’s a higher latency between a server in Europe versus a server in the United States, for example, even when using the same computer. Latency is the quantifiable delay (usually measured in milliseconds) of data transfer between your local computer and a remote server. A lag in online gaming can have consequences, for example, but when browsing the web, it isn’t as important.Ī ping test is a request for a response that’s sent to a host to measure the latency, or time elapsed, in the response.
When considering the quality of your broadband connection, another important measurement is latency-an important benchmark when it comes to gaming and streaming because of its ability to impact gameplay or buffer times. Other important measurements: latency and ping It depends on the amount of internet users in the family who are also using the bandwidth in your home.
A household who has a gaming system might need a minimum of 10 - 25 Mbps, but might also need an additional 1 - 10 Mbps of bandwidth to support other functions that are occurring at the same time. There are many factors to take into consideration when determining what speeds are “good” for your specific situation. It’s used when determining internet bandwidth speeds. Mbps stands for megabits per second and is a unit of measurement for the amount of data that can be transferred every second. For example, if your household is located in a rural area, chances are you might have a cap on the maximum speeds available for your household because of the networking infrastructure built in your area.Īccording to the FCC, a student would need anywhere between 5 and 25 Mbps, whereas a person who streams videos or browses the internet would only need between 1 and 8 Mbps. Good internet speeds are determined (and sometimes restricted) by individual needs and location of where your services are needed. What’s a good download speed and upload speed? Upload speeds for home internet are often about 1/10 th of the speed of your download speed. A user is more likely to utilize download speeds than upload speeds. Streaming videos, for example, use download speeds, whereas upload speeds are only utilized when a user is uploading a photo to social media. Download speeds are much more important than upload speeds for an average internet user as most of the activity you do depends on it. When purchasing internet packages, it’s often the download speed that’s advertised. Upload speed refers to the speed that your internet connection can allow data to be sent from your devices to the internet.
In this blog, we break down the terms you’ll see from your internet service provider, discuss how to test internet speeds, and guide you to a smarter, more informed purchase.ĭownload speed vs upload speed: what’s the difference?ĭownload speed refers to the speed at which your internet connection is able to retrieve data from the internet. We all want fast internet, but sometimes we just don’t need the fastest service available. Have you ever wondered about what internet speed package you should choose for your household? Are you worried you’re paying too much for a package you aren’t using all of?