Hello all users, people ask me many times what kind of internet should I get (Fios, Cable, DSL, etc..)? or how much should I pay for my internet? I will not say any vendor here because don’t want to sell you one vendor over another, all I can say is shop around and pay attention to details especially on fine prints, not that you will have an option to change, but at least you are aware of it. The answer to this question is not clear unless you know what your needs for the internet are and how many users going to be connected to the internet. One thing for sure normal users, who don’t know much about technology, the provider makes big money from them, buy selling bundle packages, and upgrade packages. When your internet runs slow, the first thing to do is check to make sure it’s not only you having issues or you’re a device.
Here are few ways to do find out if the website you are on or your internet connection:
- Go to any other website
- Use a different browser (like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet, etc..)
- Do a speed test
https://fast.com/en/, http://speedof.me, https://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/, many others out there, but the vendor has their own, so they can control, while you test it) - If you have option user another device, nowadays most people have a smartphone or tablet, so check on that
- Also in a different location if you trying to find out speed
If your internet use is normal, meaning browsing, shopping, watching videos, etc… then you fell into general use. You may be paying too much for your internet connection if it’s normal to use and paying over $100-$200 per month, because Vendor may have you in a bundle package with high speed/download like 150Mbps/75Mbps, in reality, you only be using 3Mbps to 25Mbps for Download and upload maybe about 1Mbps to 10Mbps. Here are some facts, you can watch High Definition videos with speed of 5Mbps that’s 1080p if you have Ultra High Definition (UHD 4k), then about 25Mbps. Also if Vendor giving you 150Mbps, but where you getting your content like website or videos limits you from download maximum about 5Mbps or 20Mbps, then you are just throwing your money out the window. Also, your Vendor might be blocking or throttling, look at up on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandwidth_throttling, you from downloading or uploading.
How can you find out if your Vendor is throttling you? It’s very easy, but your vendor will not accept it or give you all kind of excuses, that it’s on your end. Also, tech person cannot say anything because they were monitored and recorded for quality and training purposes. You can do a simple test by downloading or uploading a big file from one source and checking in two different locations. You may have to try few locations or sources, to confirm it’s not the source, vendor or hosting service throwing. I hope people get the service for what they paid for, not pay a lot and use just a fraction of it. Feel free to leave a comment on anything, you want, maybe someone can learn more.