If your internet connection is slower than usual, you are not alone. Ever since COVID-19 prompted almost everyone to stay at home, the competition between internet users grows each day.
Certain family members are working and studying at the same time. Imagine the amount of internet bandwidth it takes when two or more people are on a video call for a couple of hours. To top it off, the usual Netflix and YouTube streaming is inevitable to keep ourselves entertained.
Since we cannot do the usual outside activities we enjoy before, we spend most of our time online. It may not look like your phone or laptop is not taking much internet connection, but it does.
The thing is, we may still be stuck in our homes for maybe a year or more. And if we don’t address our slow internet connectivity, we will always find a hard time attending Zoom meetings, chats, and software tools.
What Is Internet Bandwith?
Internet bandwidth and speed are often confused with each other. But they are quite different. Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data sent at a specific time from one point to another. Whereas, internet speed is how fast the data is received or downloaded.
So, if you order 100 Mbps internet connectivity from your provider, your bandwidth is set at 100. However, the speed you will only receive can run from 75-50 Mbps. In conclusion, the higher bandwidth you register for means the higher speed you can get into your devices.
Verizon made a simpler comparison between the two. Take for example a bathtub being filled with water. If the opening of the faucet is quite wide, more water can flow in a short amount of time rather than if the pipes are quite narrow. So, look at the water as the internet bandwidth, and the rate by which it flows is the speed.
If you have multiple devices and multiple family members working on them, you will need more bandwidth to keep up. High-capacity activities such as video calling, gaming, and streaming can take up a lot of your bandwidth. So, if you want to have a seamless online experience, without lags, you have to improve your connectivity.
Different Bandwidth For Different Tasks
Every digital activity requires a certain bandwidth for it to properly run. For those who only use emails, audio call tools, and social media, it will take a download and upload speed of 2 Mbps. This means that the safe bandwidth you can ask from your provider ranges from 5-10 Mbps.
If most members of the family use video conferencing applications, and upload and download files and videos, you will be needing an internet speed of 10 Mbps. Again, you need higher bandwidth connectivity to reach this speed.
A 25 Mbps speed is required for those who have several people at home engaging in streaming and other high-capacity activities. These may include family members watching videos at 4K quality or Netflix movies at the same time. To achieve this speed, you can ask your provider for a bandwidth of 50-75 Mbps.
Of course, these speed plans are adjustable depending on how many people use the internet. Your desired connectivity should also be based on how patient you are with buffering. If you are the type to wait for a good 5 minutes until a webpage loads, then you can grabe a lower bandwidth.
You should also expect that the speed your internet can produce is not the same every second of every day. Both external and internal factors can cause the speed to increase or decrease.
For a more comprehensive guide on what speed is required for each online activity, you can check out the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) website.
How To Test Your Internet Connectivity
To find out if you are enrolled in the right bandwidth, you have to check your internet connectivity’s speed. An easy way to do this is through free internet speed tests available online.
You don’t have to input anything. Basically, the system will run your internet connection once you press the “test” button. The result you’ll receive is the present reading. This means that it can change all throughout the day. You can run the speed on any device of your choice (cellphone, laptop, desktop).
To run the speed test, make sure that the device is connected to the WiFi you use all the time. The result will show you the upload and download speed, ping, and jitter of the internet connection.
Working from home is truly challenging. It takes a lot of patience and adjustment to do your work when you are surrounded by several challenges. And it is even more disappointing when you cannot finish a certain task because of a slow internet connection.
So, although it may add up to your expenses, enrolling in an internet plan with higher bandwidth can make your life a little easier on the technical side. Who knows, you might even be promoted at work because of your productivity.