LPT: If your ISP has the ability to offer you 5gbps, 10gbps or faster speeds, check to make sure the devices in your home can actually make use of those speeds before paying extra each month for something you might not use.

Submitted by RjBass3 t3_z95bx6 in LifeProTips

I'm one of the fortunate ones in the USA (but this can be applied anywhere) in that I have access to Google Fiber, AT&T Fiber, Spectrum 1gb and a couple others of less importance. With Google I can get 2gbps if I desired and with AT&T I can get 5gbps and 10gbps if I desired. I'm an IT guy and even though I have access to those speeds, I have stuck with Googles 1gbps speeds. I've done this mostly because i only have two PCs in my home capable of getting speeds faster then 1gbps but they are behind gigabit switches. In order to get them faster speeds I would not only need to subscribe to the faster, more expensive service but then also change out two PoE (power over Ethernet) switches to faster, more expensive switches. 1gbps has proven to be more then enough for us (for now) and so the cost of upgrading hasn't been worth it.

As an IT guy, I see people subscribing all the time to Googles 2gbps and AT&Ts 5gbps speeds, yet they don't have a single device in their homes capable of using those speeds. When I point out to them what I have discovered, 9 out of 10 of them downgrade, and as you may have guessed, none of them notice a difference.

For now at least, very few homes can make proper use of those ultra fast speeds. While I'm sure we are not far off from being able to use those speeds properly, and while I'm sure a small group of home users have the money to use them now, the vast majority of us will be just fine with 1gbps, 500mbps, 100mbps, and many homes even slower speeds. So don't waste your money. Stick with 1gbps or slower. I'm sure you will be just fine.

44

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

keepthetips t1_iyf1coe wrote

Hello and welcome to r/LifeProTips!

Please help us decide if this post is a good fit for the subreddit by up or downvoting this comment.

If you think that this is great advice to improve your life, please upvote. If you think this doesn't help you in any way, please downvote. If you don't care, leave it for the others to decide.

1

rpmerf t1_iyf7loh wrote

It's not about having a single device that can use the speed, it's about having a bunch of devices. Maybe none of the devices can use that speed, but when you add up phones, tablets, desktops, laptops, washer, dryer, microwave, fridge, toaster, whatever all connecting to the internet at the same time, you could get closer to that limit than you could with one device.

However, I do agree that gig is way overkill for most households. Even 100mbs would likely be sufficient for most households.

2

Samwarez t1_iyf7szd wrote

Also remember that past about 150mbps you are not going to utilize those speeds unless you have several devices pulling data at once, like multiable TVs streaming 4k content When I worked at an ISP my desktop had a full 10Gbps connection to the internet (for testing), and user experience was not any different than the 100Mbps I had at home. Most services will not serve you data at more than a few megabits a second, even big cloud services.

2

jacksonhewitt t1_iyf8bc9 wrote

Lucky you! I just built a small tower on my garage to get a cellular signal on my new antennas so that I can get off of "Verizon Enhanced High Speed DSL" 1.3Mbps speeds (actually more like ~0.8Mbps with 38 service calls in 6 months to fix it) where I basically couldn't use the internet half the day, every day. This is the only service available to me, and I got a lawyer involved before they would even hook me up. No other option. Except Armstrong cable, who I offered 25k to to come the last 1/4 mile. They said no, and when I said "then name your price", they also said no.

Good advice, but unfortunately many in the USA do not have access to these services. And ALL of those people should be complaining heavily, as these ISPs continue to take tax breaks and taxpayer money and don't do shit for us.

Can you guys just take the 1Gbps, and send whatever leftover broadband you have our way?

1

HotSalsaAssFire t1_iyfbh6q wrote

Replying to rpmerf (#834,293)

The accounting subdirectory on the Cuisinart is working really hard.

We've got one person online, but the workload is enough for, like, 10 users.

I think we've got a hacker.

2

Samwarez t1_iyfbzmr wrote

Replying to jacksonhewitt (#834,623)

Have you looked into a local WISP, (Wireless ISP) they use different tech then cellular (usually) and specialize in rural areas. Should be able to get you in the 15-25 MBPS range.

2

Samwarez t1_iyfc9ua wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#835,404)

speed calculations can be a bit funky based on a lot of factors. you also have to think about what the servers on the other end can provide, it's usually not as fast as you would think.

1