Whether you’re planning to take an internet connection to your home or move to a new location, choosing the right internet plan can be difficult. Service providers offer several guides on their blogs, but most of them sell the benefits of having faster internet at home, which in reality may not be. The ultimate goal of choosing an internet plan is to opt for a plan that would provide sufficient internet speed for the devices at home. This choice may differ from one accommodation to another. To put it mildly, a home where geriatric parents live, who watch TV and occasionally make video calls, may require a considerably smaller plan than a household where hardcore gamers reside. This article aims to break down various aspects of choosing the internet speed one may need.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, any speed above 25 megabits per second is classified as “advanced service”. However, this needs to be changed as more and more people have started working from home, watching smart TVs and being smart homes. Currently, it serves as a benchmark for determining fast and slow internet speed. At all costs, if the household uses the Internet every day, it will need a plan that offers something higher than 25 Mbps. With our rapidly increasing consumption, it makes sense to choose a speed closer to 100Mbps.
Faster internet may not guarantee fast internet
Several factors determine the internet speed at a location. Despite having a high-speed Internet connection, things like network congestion, interference from other networks, or a bad router can cause the Internet to slow down.
Number of devices and people using the network
An important factor to consider when choosing an internet connection for your location is the number of devices and users residing there. The household may have only two residents, but there may be 15 devices that use the Internet. It also depends on the type of use. If the household depends on 24/7 OTT streaming and makes video calls every day, you may need to upgrade. When choosing the plan, the subscriber must ensure that the Internet speed has the required bandwidth to cover them all. Internet download speeds of 100 Mbps or more are often considered a faster Internet connection because it can handle multiple activities for multiple users at once without creating major disruptions. Fiber optic internet is an optimal choice for speed consistency.
Download Speed vs Upload Speed
Download speed tells you how fast you can send data over the internet. On the other hand, download speed tells you how fast you can fetch data from the internet. Download speed and upload speed together determine the internet speed. People working from home may need to take this into account as they will continue to have data to download and make multiple Zoom calls throughout the day. Many telecommunications offer a lower download speed than the upload speed.
Aware of data caps
When choosing an internet plan, you may encounter data caps. These are the data usage limits prescribed by the internet service provider. For data-intensive uses like video streaming or gaming, the user may consume more data and hitting the data cap indicates additional payment. Low-speed plans may come with tighter data limits.
If the user cannot identify these pieces of information among the plans listed on the telecom service provider’s website, it is always advisable to ask the ISP and clarify the aspects before finalizing the plan.
