Why Internet Service Providers are Misleading in their Commercials
When you purchase a new automobile, a sticker on the window informs you of the vehicle’s fuel economy in miles per gallon. Although it is not a perfect safeguard, it ensures that automakers cannot just make outrageously exaggerated mileage claims since the United States Department of Transportation inspects these claims. The fact is that when Internet service providers (ISPs) promote upload and download speeds, users must take their statements at face value. And in many situations, those customers will never experience the speeds that have been promised to them. Internet service providers are misleading in their commercials.
Why Gig Internet is not a real term, but Gigabit is?
Most of us tend to think to misinterpret 1Gbps to transferring 1GB data over the internet per second. However, it is far from the reality. The devil lies in the details as that smaller case ‘b’ means bits while the upper case ‘B’ signifies Bytes. Now you may ask what is the difference between the two? This can be explained by a simple equation 1 byte = 8 bits. To put it simply a bit is 8 times smaller than a byte. Many of the service providers tend to exploit the lack of knowledge among their customers and charge much higher than what the actual cost is.
Why the term fast is relative when it comes to internet speed?
Most of the Internet Service Providers claim their internet speeds to be blazing fast. However, it is a pretty vague term in my opinion. The term “fast” is always a matter of personal preference. Some people consider a sedan with a 2L Turbo engine to be quick, whereas those who drive cars with more than 500 horsepower consider it to be slow. The same goes with internet as for some 40 Mbps is a revolutionary speed while some even consider a 75 Mbps speed as slow. The best way to gauge what is fast for you is to take a basic plan and see if it is working for you. If not, you can upgrade to the higher plans and see if is fast enough for you.
How internet speed can be determined with ping and bandwidth?
Ping – The time it takes to transmit the ping packet and receive a response is partly related to the time it takes to send it via your local connection. That time can be considerable if the connection is really sluggish. However, because ping packets are tiny by default, the quicker your line, the less relevant.
The main impact is how busy your line is and how much “buffer bloat” it has. If a ping packet is held up in a queue behind a high number of other big data packets, it will be considerably delayed. If your router has a too large buffer, the delay will be increased.
When the line is idle, poor or unpredictable ping times suggest either upstream congestion or noise on your local connection. Ping times that are too long while the line is busy indicate buffer bloat or that the line is simply overloaded.
Bandwidth – To get to know how bandwidth works is to think about a pipe, the bigger the pipe, the more water can flow through it in a given period.
This concept also applies to bandwidth. Bandwidth, like water pipes, has a finite size. Because the home only has so much water (bandwidth) available, operating many taps at the same time reduces water pressure and speed. The same goes for your home internet. Another device connecting to the same internet at the same time slows down the pace and quality of the online video game.
Why most people don’t need the most premium internet plan?
ISPs make it difficult to choose, so you wind up paying more to be sure you have what you need. In reality, most individuals can get by on the bottom level they provide.
On a 25 Mbps connection, a 1080p Netflix stream works perfectly. Even if we play games, download movies, and do loads of other stuff online. 25 Mbps can do all of that at the same time. I didn’t also believed it at first but only realized it once I downgraded to the lowest plan.
However, if you have three kids who want to watch movies at the same time, or a 4K streaming setup, you may want to increase this.
It is critical that higher tiers are accessible and that internet providers update their infrastructure to increase competition, dependability, and lower pricing.However, most people can easily get by with the lowest tier plans.
Does number of devices connected to a Wi-Fi matter?
“No, the number of devices connected to an AP has no influence if they are idle.”
The longer answer is more complicated, but fundamentally Wi-Fi is an asynchronous technology, and clients don’t “speak” anything unless they want something. The client Wi-Fi chip has only around 76us to react during a transaction, therefore nearly all low level functionality is performed in specialized hardware even for host-based systems. Idle clients produce relatively little actual overhead.
So there you have it, that is how internet service providers are misleading in their commercials and how you can now make an informed decision on the internet plan that works for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, and I can try and help the best I can.
Matthew J Fitzgerald is an experienced DevOps engineer, Company Founder, Author, and Programmer. He Founded Fitzgerald Tech Solutions and several other startups. He enjoys playing in his homelab, gardening, playing the drums, rooting for Chicago and Purdue sports, and hanging out with friends.