If your home is full of devices that connect to the internet and people who regularly use them, you may wonder if you need to upgrade your internet speed, says Clearwave Fiber.
Many factors influence internet performance in a home – the location of your router, obstructions like walls and glass, and interference from electronic equipment, not to mention the number of devices being used at one time – all of these can contribute to slow-downs and underperformance.
Self-assess whether you should upgrade your internet service plan’s speed. Then choose a speed plan that optimizes your home’s internet service.
Count Your Devices
Given the diversity of devices in a typical home, it can be easy to undercount how much internet-using tech there is in your house. Use the following list and guide to ensure you don’t miss any device:
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Start by counting your personal devices like your laptop, tablet, and cell phone. Do the same for every adult and child in your home.
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Next, count the number of smart TVs in your home, including televisions that use a streaming stick (e.g., Roku, Amazon Fire Stick).
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Finally, count any smart home devices like smart speakers (think Echo or Google Home devices), smart doorbells (like Ring), smart security video cameras, smart appliances, and smart thermostats.
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Get to a total number and save it.
Device Bandwidth Usage
Now that you’ve done an accounting of the total number of devices in your home, you need to understand how much bandwidth these devices can take up. Bandwidth, in simplest terms, is the maximum capacity any internet connection can have.
The higher the bandwidth, the more data can be sent to and from your device. Many devices in use at the same time can “eat up” the bandwidth and lead to slowdowns.
Some devices use a lot more bandwidth than others. For example, smart TVs use vast amounts of bandwidth to stream movies and television shows. So, if you have multiple smart TVs streaming simultaneously, you may…
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