The last decade has seen an explosion of internet services available to consumers, mainly through widespread access to broadband internet. It offers many advantages compared to dial up like faster speeds and freeing up your phone lines. As consumer demand for faster rates increase, ISPs have responded by offering a sizable variety of broadband packages.
Broadband speeds are usually measured in bits per second (bps), moving to larger units such as gigabits per second (Gbps). Typical dial up connections are around 56 Kbps while broadband packages normally start at 512 Kbps, which is at least 10 times faster. Broadband connections are correspondingly more expensive than dial-up.
However, many customers experience internet speeds far lower than those advertised, leading to frustration. Often they do not even have a way of knowing if they are getting what they paid for. Before measuring your internet speeds though, it is important to remember that it can be influenced by many factors like:
1. Contention ratio
ISPs use this ratio to cap the number of simultaneous users. A ratio of 50:1 means that you are sharing the connection with up to 49 people and if everyone tries to download at once, your speeds will suffer. Although this rarely happens, it explains why consumers often experience better speeds at night, when there are fewer people online.
2. Number of devices/connections
Broadband allows many devices to use the same connection for browsing. Two or three devices downloading files at the same time will have to share bandwidth, leading to slower speeds.
3. Multitasking
Many people stream content such as movies and songs through the internet which can take up bandwidth, slowing down other applications. The more you do at once, the more speed you need.
4. Using wifi
Wifi routers, while convenient, are also slower than using wired connections – in some cases up to 30% slower. Wifi signals can also be blocked by thick walls, appliances etc so you may not be getting the maximum bandwidth possible.
There are many test applications available on the internet to measure speeds. ISPs offer their own tools also but it is better to use independent, third party websites to reliably check your connection. You should also repeat them on various devices and different times of the day to get a more accurate picture. If you are consistently not getting the speeds as per your package, it might be time to talk to your ISP.