First things first: How happy are you with your router? If you upgraded your router recently but bought your modem sometime around the signing of the Declaration of Independence, you probably just need a standalone cable modem. Modern routers are compatible with just about every modem on the market, so just make sure your firmware is upgraded , and you'll be all set. If you're still using a router provided by your cable company, you should send it back and buy a new router immediately.
As with modems, cable companies usually charge exorbitant rental fees for subpar routers, and it takes less than a year for a new router to pay for itself.
These devices are exactly what they sound like: digital receivers that can pick up a signal via a coaxial cable and then transmit the wireless signal across an entire house.
For small homes and apartments, they can get the job done, although Tom's Guide doesn't usually recommend modem-router hybrids. If something goes wrong, your entire internet setup is shot, and it's easier — and cheaper — to upgrade modems and routers separately. It just means that your modem can provide broadband internet access. The exact differences between them basically boil down to speed and the number of simultaneous channels. When you look at a modem, you'll often see a number somewhere in its description, which can be anything from 8 x 4 to 32 x 8.
It's not at all clear what the average user is supposed to glean from this. The good news is that it's simply a description of how many downstream and upstream channels a modem has. The number before the "x" represents how many downstream channels the modem has. Roughly speaking, that correlates with how much download data your ISP can provide at any given time.
Just about every modem provides many more downstream channels than upstream ones, because ISPs and end users alike are more concerned with downloading content than uploading it. Don't sweat this part too much, unless you want the absolute top-tier packages your cable company can provide.
Just remember that all other things being equal, higher numbers are better. Any new modem you buy should have at least 16 downstream channels; anything less is probably either old or underpowered. Some of the most important things you can learn about a modem are its upload and download speeds — and yet, somehow, these always gets shoved about halfway down the page on a retailer's or manufacturer's website.
You'll see descriptors like "up to Mbps" completely devoid of context. First off, whatever you see advertised is always a download speed, never an upload speed. So if a modem advertises a speed of 1 gigabit, that means it can pull up to 1, Mbps from your ISP. Upload speeds tend to be much slower — somewhere in the neighborhood of one-quarter the download speed. DSL , short for Digital Subscriber Line, uses a connection that looks similar to a phone line, but the wiring inside is different and allows for broadband transmission.
This makes DSL much faster than dial-up. Current or former telephone companies that also provide internet service often use this technology, and it is usually available throughout their service areas. Satellite internet is delivered wirelessly to the receiver, but it still requires wires to transport the signal from the receiver to different locations throughout the building.
Satellite internet has bandwidth comparable to DSL and cable but can often feel slower due to latency. See the previous section for more information about this. Because of its technological limitations, it is almost obsolete. Latency is the time required for a signal to travel from one computer to another computer on the network and back. Latency is often referred to using different terms, including ping, ping rate, and lag. People use these interchangeably, but they actually mean different things:.
Whatever you choose to call it, the lower the number the better. High ping, or high latency, results in longer wait times when information uploads to or downloads from the internet. This distance is much farther and takes more time than land-based internet connections.
Traveling from the satellite to Earth takes more time, leading to higher latency. Keep the strengths and weaknesses of the different types of internet in mind when you choose which service to order. Some types of internet may serve your particular needs better than others. For example, someone on a tight budget may want to avoid fiber, while someone in a remote area should focus on satellite providers.
Another thing to consider is which ISPs offer service fast enough to handle the internet activities you enjoy the most. It will ask you a few questions about your household and how you use the internet and then recommend an appropriate speed for you. Different households can have drastically different internet needs.
To this point, this article has focused on the connection between the internet and your home or business. This section focuses on your home network.
Wi-Fi is a term for a specific configuration of router hardware and controls that allows for wireless transmission of information. It is also known as IEEE When this technology was developed, industry leaders wanted to give it a name that would help it gain popularity.
Your home Wi-Fi network will also impact your internet speed. The more devices on your network using the internet at the same time, the more bandwidth you will need. Many internet service providers offer Wi-Fi networking as an option. If you want to get the most out of your internet service, we highly recommend this option. Just find the one for your ISP, and it will walk you through the process step by step. Your modem is the gateway between your home network and the greater internet.
Your router is the switchboard for all the different connections among the devices on your network. The equipment you get from your ISP is usually sufficient for basic internet usage. But, if you want your home network to perform at its best, you may need to upgrade — especially if you have four or more devices connected to the internet.
Here are a few of our most popular ones:. With so many settings to adjust, this can seem like a daunting task. Our step-by-step guide to improving your Wi-Fi speed will help you do just that. Now that you know why your internet speed is important, how to test it, what the test results mean, how much speed you need, and how to get the most out of the speed you have, you should consider if your ISP delivers enough speed for your household.
People living in major US cities usually have a few ISP options, and, unless you live in a very remote location, you likely have at least two. Most ISPs offer several internet packages, each capable of delivering a different level of bandwidth. If your current internet subscription is not fast enough, you should consider upgrading your package or possibly switching to another provider more capable of meeting your speed needs.
If you would like to know which ISPs are available in your area, simply enter your zip code in the box below. Then you can click to see which speeds they offer on each of their packages. Author - Rebecca Lee Armstrong. Rebecca Lee Armstrong has more than six years of experience writing about tech and the internet, with a specialty in hands-on testing. She started writing tech product and service reviews while finishing her BFA in creative writing at the University of Evansville and has found her niche writing about home networking, routers, and internet access at HighSpeedInternet.
After all, 5G promises not only speedy connections but far more network capacity. And as smartphones are indispensible to most Americans, some in the 5G industry are hoping that the technology leads to much more traffic over cellular networks and — ultimately — bigger profits.
The Verge. So I wondered: could I, a remote worker and heavy internet user who likes to stream video, play multiplayer games, and do cloud backups, actually be fine with internet delivered through the air instead of a cable? Visible's new trial lets you sample Verizon's network for free on an unlocked iPhone Thinking of trying out Verizon's network but aren't necessarily ready to switch to the carrier? If you have a recent iPhone, there's a new way to do it now.
Visible, one of Verizon's prepaid brands, announced on Thursday that it will offer day free trials of its network. Similar to T-Mobile's updated Test Drive program from last year, the Visible trial takes advantage of eSIM which is a virtual SIM card that can live alongside your current cell phone provider in your existing phone.
Once set up, this will allow you to compare Visible's network and by extension, Verizon's to your current provider's right from the iPhone you're already using. Starlink U. Download Speeds Drop But Service Blasts Broadband Out Of The Park Globally Space Exploration Technologies Corporation's SpaceX Starlink satellite internet constellation's internet speed tests for the third quarter of last year reflect the service's expansion as it adds more customers and gradually builds out a constellation of thousands of small internet satellites.
Data combined by Ookla, who is behind the popular internet speed test application Speedtest shows that as Starlink increased its active users in the third quarter of last year, the service's median speeds across the United States dropped, reversing the trend Q2 had exhibited over the first quarter. However, users in other countries, such as Canada fared off better, in the wake of the service being available there as SpaceX continues to launch more spacecraft, with the latest launch having taken place yesterday evening.
Like Comment Share. Light Reading. The cable op said it plans to start rolling out its new xFi Advanced Gateway,
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