![]() ![]() ![]() (This becomes painfully clear whenever my PlayStation 4 needs a large software update.) Gigabit justification 3: You want the bragging rightsĮven if you can’t think of a particular use for gigabit internet, maybe you just want the satisfaction that comes from having the fattest data pipe available. They also assume that whatever server you’re contacting supports gigabit speeds as well, which isn’t always the case. Those all sound like legitimate use cases, but they’re also quite specific. A computer consultant named “Max” said he needs the speeds to back up his clients’ computers every night. Consumer Reports’ Nicholas De Leon said he likes being able to download PC and console games faster. KTLA tech reporter RIch DeMuro said he has to transfer huge video files on a daily basis for his broadcast TV job, so the gigabit speeds come in handy. To see if I was missing anything, I recently asked folks on Twitter what actual use cases existed for gigabit internet service, and I got a few interesting responses. Gigabit justification 2: You’ve got a specialized use case in mind Verizon and AT&T both offer equal download and upload speeds for their fiber service, so you can safely stick with sub-gigabit plans. And if you have a fiber-optic internet provider in your area, this issue probably doesn’t apply. I’ve found that Spectrum’s 10 Mbps upload speeds have been fine for two simultaneous Zoom sessions. (They also take pains to hide this pitiful fact from new customers.)īut even as a ticket to faster uploads, gigabit service might still be excessive. Unfortunately, this is a common problem among cable providers due to the way they’ve built their networks, so you’ll find similar “asymmetric” speeds on Spectrum and Cox as well. Just to double those upload speeds to 20 Mbps, you’d need to upgrade to much more expensive gigabit plan. ![]() With Comcast, for instance, a plan with 200 Mbps download speeds only offers upload speeds of 10 Mbps. While upload speeds can vary by cable internet provider, they tend to be much slower than what you get for download speeds, leading to more noticeable bottlenecks. Instead, you might need a faster cable internet plan just to get better upload speeds for backing up data or participating in video calls. Oddly enough, the biggest reason to pay for gigabit internet has nothing to do with gigabit speeds. Gigabit justification 1: You need faster upload speeds While negotiating a lower price from the company a couple years ago, I even declined their offer for a “free” 400 Mbps upgrade because I didn’t want to get smacked with a steep price hike once that promo rate expired. Some routers-including older Eero models-don’t support gigabit speeds either.Īnecdotally, I’ve been quite satisfied with 200 Mbps speeds from Spectrum. If you have your own cable modem, you’ll need one with DOCSIS 3.1 support to get gigabit speeds from most providers. Gigabit internet may require additional hardware investment as well. You’d have to stream on more than 108 devices at a time to run out of bandwidth on a gigabit connection. Tidal reports a maximum bitrate of 9216 Kbps for master quality streaming audio.Bandwidth would only become a problem if you had more than 263 video calls going at the same time. Zoom recommends speeds of 3.8 Mbps for 1080p videoconferencing.That means you’d need 40 simultaneous streams-10 times more than what Netflix’s 4K plan even allows-to make full use of a gigabit connection. Netflix recommends download speeds of 25 Mbps for 4K HDR video.
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