It's also heavily affected by local weather conditions. It requires you to keep a satellite dish on your property, and usually delivers between 3 Mbps and 20 Mbps.

And Cable also requires you to share bandwidth with people living around you, meaning slower speeds in more crowded areas. But providers will often require you to sign multi-year contracts, which can be an issue if you end up disliking the service. It's more stable than DSL and less affected by distance, and usually gives speeds between 5 Mbps and 100 Mbps. With DSL, you can expect speeds between 5 Mbps and 50 Mbps.Ĭable is the most common internet type in the United States, and most providers will offer to bundle it with TV and phone services. The farther away you are from your ISP's data center, though, the spottier the quality gets. It runs through your phone line, and tends to be pretty stable. There are generally four types: DSL, Cable, Satellite, and Fiber.ĭSL (direct subscriber line) is the cheapest of the four. Here are some tips on how to navigate the marketplace.įirst, you'll want to decide what type of internet you need. There are dozens of internet service providers (ISPs) out there, all in a race to earn your money. And do you plan on buying another laptop or console in the future? That means you'll need more bandwidth. Game consoles, phones, computers, and streaming sticks can still use bandwidth even when not in active use. Sandeep Harpalani, the Vice President of Product Management at NETGEAR, also reminds consumers to think about how many internet-connected devices they have. Maybe you only use the internet to check the news, but is your son streaming Netflix and playing video games at the same time? This includes the other people in your household too. After all, even if you only watch one movie per week, you don't want that one movie taking hours just to load. Consider your peak - think about what the most internet-intensive thing you do is, and plan around that.

When looking at this chart, don't just think about what you do most of the time. If you plan on livestreaming often, you'll want a robust internet connection that won't cut out.Ĭompanies can have dozens of employees sharing the same internet connection at once, which requires much more bandwidth. Most online games don't take much bandwidth, but require fast latency so you don't lag.Īpps like Zoom both send and receive a lot of video, meaning you need more bandwidth.įiber is the only internet type that lets users upload just as fast as they download. Streaming in high quality can take a lot of bandwidth, and needs a decent amount of latency. These are low-intensity tasks that don't take much bandwidth or latency at all.

Browsing the web, writing, and sending emails

What download speed is considered fast