But other activities take up more bandwidth and thus require much faster speeds.Īctivities that benefit from gigabit internet: It’s not necessary if you spend most of your online time doing things like checking email, streaming video in HD, and making occasional Zoom calls, since those activities require much less bandwidth. But it’s expensive and faster than most people need, so it’s not worth it for the average user. It’s also worth it if you share your Wi-Fi with a bunch of roommates or family members. Gigabit internet is worth it if you use a large amount of bandwidth on a regular basis. A couple providers even offer 2 Gbps in some areas, while AT&T offers 5 Gbps.
On the high end, residential internet speeds can reach up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) of download speed, or 1,000 Mbps. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has advocated for raising the baseline definition of broadband to be 100 Mbps. Although that’s enough speed for basic internet use, it’s actually a bit slow by today’s standards, since many providers offer 100 Mbps speeds as basic-level plans. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines broadband or high-speed internet as 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload speed. But make sure to do your research before switching over.Fast internet is a connection with speeds of 100 Mbps and up. Other companies might simply have better speeds in your area.
Try using an Ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi.Over time, they may become clogged by errors or end up using too much processing power a simple reset may help speed things up. Below is a list of steps you can take to try and improve your speeds: What can I do to improve my speed?Ī slow Internet speed could be due to any number of factors. A higher speed may also be helpful if you plan on streaming high-definition video or live streaming video or audio from your computer. However, if you have a larger household or a business where several people will be using the Internet at the same time, you may want to choose a plan with a higher download speed. Generally, a speed of around 10 Mbps should be sufficient for most basic Internet functions, like general web browsing or streaming music and video. To learn more about downloading, uploading, and the difference between the two, review our lesson on downloading and uploading. This is typically measured in megabits per second ( Mbps) and is a calculation of the speed at which your Internet is performing when surfing the Web and downloading files. You'll mostly be interested in your connection's download speed, or how fast you're able to pull data from other servers.