What is technology? Are you paying for more internet speed than you need? – WAKA 8

Posted: 10:46 a.m. September 8, 2023 CDT

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WAKA Action 8 News

By JAMIE TACKER Consumer Technology Reporter

Every home needs internet. It may not be as important as electricity or water, but if you’ve ever lost connection for a while, you’ll quickly realize how dependent you are on the Internet.

You also don’t want to pay too much. Internet packages range from $25 to $100 per month. You won’t have to pay for electricity you don’t use. Again, if you have to pay for a certain amount of water, you won’t want to run out before the next billing cycle. The same is true of the Internet.

You only want to pay for the Internet speed you need and many people just jump in “I want the fastest speed possible” and this can be a mistake. You may be wasting money on unnecessary speeds.

It’s not easy to figure out how fast your internet speed needs to be because there are so many factors:

● How many devices are connected to the Internet/WiFi at the same time?
● What are those devices doing? Stream 4K video, browse the web, stream music?
● How many smart home devices do you have?
● How many people work from home?
● How many Zoom or video conference calls are being held at any given time?
● Do children go to school online?
● Is anyone uploading or downloading files?
● Do you or your children play games on the internet?

The answers to those questions will help you determine whether 100 megabytes per second is enough or if you need more.

A megabyte per second is simply the amount of bandwidth transmitted from your Internet service provider to your router and devices. Think of it like a highway. The smaller the number of megabytes, the less
traffic on the highway. Internet “pipes” can transmit a limited number of megabytes at once. The more devices and megabytes that are used at the same time, the larger the internet “pipeline” needs to be.

Here’s something many people don’t consider or know: You won’t have to pay for total Internet bandwidth for the month. It doesn’t matter if someone plays online games every day or
if you watch 4k movies several times a week. That’s how much bandwidth you need at any given time. Remember what a pipe looks like and how much it needs to pass through at any given time.

Internet speeds won’t slow down as you approach the end of the month or billing cycle. It slows down when those devices access the internet at the same time.

So how much do you need? To answer that we need to consider how much bandwidth certain things require.

According to highspeedinternet.com, here are some of the most common actions and how much bandwidth they require:

Check email 1Mbps, social networking, Web browsing, 3 MBps
SD video streaming, 3-5 Mbps
HD video streaming, 5-10 Mbps
Stream 4K video, 25-35 Mbps
Online gaming, 3-25 Mbps

That’s a pretty big range. It’s important to note that if those devices are used at the same time, each action is multiplied.

For example, in a family of 4, if 3 people are watching Netflix 4K videos on 3 different TVs or devices, that’s 105 Mbps. If one of those people is also browsing social media on another device, that speed increases by 3 Mbps. If someone is playing video games online, you need more than just 100 Mbps.

If people are using their phone or tablet while sitting down to watch something on Netflix, that’s why you might see buffering or the movie stops playing.

Consider all smart home devices connected to the internet/WiFi at the same time. Those devices don’t require much bandwidth individually, but they add up.

Remember that your plan is offering speeds up to megabyte plans. If your internet package is 100 Mbps, look closely and it will say speeds up to 100 Mbps. If you regularly watch 4k movies on multiple TVs, if you work from home, and if someone plays video games online, chances are you need speeds of more than 100 Mbps.

Run an independent speed test at www.speedtest.net to see what results you’re getting. Just make sure you run that test using your home WiFi and not your cellular plan. If you don’t get at least what you’re paying for, contact your internet service provider.