Is your internet laggy or just slow at times and you can’t figure out if it’s your internet provider or your computer? First, you will need to figure out your speed and then pick a plan that fits your needs and price range if you need to switch plans.
How to check and improve your internet speed
The internet speed will most likely also be driven by price. It’s important to pick the right speed for your online needs but also stay within a budget that is affordable to you. You can easily check the rates for Frontier internet, and the other providers who operate in your area, to compare and contrast them to ensure you get the best deal for your needs. But, do you know what is a good speed or what you will need if you have multiple devices and users at once? Browsing all of the new internet plans, Spectrum internet prices, internet providers, and internet speeds can be very tricky, confusing, and time-consuming if you don’t know what you are looking for.
The first thing that you need to know is how the internet speed is measured, what is considered slow or fast internet, and what is considered a good speed that fits your specific needs. Do a quick internet speed test at Speedcheck and you can quickly determine your speeds. For the best speed results, connect your laptop or computer directly to your router with an ethernet cable instead of using the WiFi connection.
The speed is determined by how much data the internet connection can upload and or download per second. The speed will be shown as bits per second (bps). While researching for plans or checking your internet speed, you will most likely see Mbps more than kbps (K=1,000) or Gbps (G=1,000M) since Mbps (M=1,000k) speeds are better suited to what the internet is used for.
To make a better decision, you will need to know what the uploading and downloading speeds actually mean. Having a fast download speed is important for things such as downloading or streaming music, streaming TV, watching videos, and social media. Upload speeds are most important if you are doing things such as video conferencing, some online classes, and uploading large files.
Once you have done your internet speed test, review the test results. You should see Latency, the number of milliseconds it takes for your connection to respond to a command in something like a search, query, or page load. You should also see Mbps upload, the number of megabits per second your connection is uploading and downloading. The number of megabits per second your connection is downloading.
If you’re having slow WiFi internet speeds, try moving the device you are running the speed test on closer to the router or access point. It is best to have your router in a centralized location where the walls and floors do not obstruct the wireless signal. Some routers will have two signals, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi. Connecting to the 5 GHz will make a huge difference, but note, older devices may not connect to 5G.
For a baseline speed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that a broadband internet connection has a minimum download speed of 25 Mbps and a minimum upload speed of 3 Mbps to determine a fast and a slow internet speed.
You also need to keep in mind that the internet speed will also be slower when you add more connected devices and the usage of more demanding tasks such as streaming a movie or downloading large files can slow the internet speed and make a “fast” speed seem slow.
There are lots of carriers to choose from, but availability and speeds will depend on your area. Some popular internet providers include Verizon Fios, AT&T, CenturyLink, Cox, Spectrum, Suddenlink, and Xfinity. With these providers, you can find speeds up to 1,000 Mbps in select areas.
If your speed test has slow results, shop around to find a faster internet speed if your current provider or plan does not offer the speeds that you need.
