A Complete Guide to Internet Speed and ISPs

Sometimes, it seems like internet speed is all anyone talks about when you’re choosing an internet plan.

But there’s a good reason for that! Your internet speed will determine what you can do online. It’s crucial to have enough speed for the online activities you enjoy.

There’s a little more to internet speed than just a single number. But it’s not rocket science, either. That’s why we put together this complete guide to give you all the information you need about internet speed.

It’s all here in one easy resource so you can find out about bandwidth, download, upload, Wi-Fi, latency, and more. With this information, you can get the best possible deal without overpaying for speed you don’t need.

Internet speed is simply how fast your device can bring you the data you need.

If your internet speed is perfect for you, you never even notice it. You click away browsing for bargains, watching fun videos on social media, or talking to your friend on Zoom. Everything goes smoothly.

When your internet is too slow, your screens freeze or go blank. Buffering and glitching drive you crazy.

Your internet speed will depend on what providers are available in your area.

Will you pay more for higher speed? Not always! More competition in high-population areas sometimes means low prices for fast internet.

You decide! That’s the short answer. But we’re here to give you some help.

We’ll start by telling you what the government has said about fast internet. In 2015, the FCC stated that  “high-speed internet,” aka “broadband, meant any connection that had at least 25 Mbps download speed and 3 Mbps upload speed [1].

But that was then, and this is now. Almost ten years later in 2024, the FCC says it is time for an upgrade, and we agree. The new FCC proposal is that “high-speed internet” will be defined as 100 Mbps download speed and 20 Mbps upload speed [2].

Why the change? Because HD streaming, gaming, and remote work have changed our internet requirements.

In your area, you will usually be able to choose from at least two types of internet technology. The only exception is in very remote places where your only choice may be satellite internet.  But in more populated areas, you may be able to choose from all five major internet types!   Here’s a quick guide to what each technology type costs and what each offers you for internet speed. Most guides do not include upload speed, but that will be an important part of your decision too. If you are planning to videoconference, upload large files, or play online games, make sure your upload speed is fast enough.

Fiber Internet

Fiber internet is the newest and fastest internet technology, with speeds up to an eye-popping 50 Gigs. With fiber service, data travels through fiber-optic lines that transmit data at 69% of the speed of light. That light-based signal is much faster than an electricity-based cable internet signal that travels through older copper cables. Fiber is the only connection that will give you equal download speeds and upload speeds, often called “symmetrical speeds.” Fiber’s only drawback is that it is not available everywhere.

Cable Internet

The signals that transmit cable internet pass along the same cables as cable television when they reach your home.. Most cable companies now offer a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) network, which means only the last mile or less is copper wiring. The main spine of the cable provider’s network is fiber, which is why cable internet speeds have improved greatly.  Cable internet download speeds can rise as high as 1 Gig (1000 Mbps) or even 2 Gigs (2000 Mbps). Upload speeds will be around 10 – 50 Mbps depending on your plan. These speeds are high enough for most current internet activities, and cable is popular for that reason.

DSL Internet

DSL internet service runs through copper wiring that also hosts landline telephone signals. DSL is an older technology than cable or fiber internet. Still,  DSL is ten times faster than dial-up internet. But with speeds that may frequently top out at 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload, DSL often can’t support many heavy-data activities, such as HD streaming for multiple users.  There are exceptions, of course. DSL varies so widely by location that you may luck out with the faster kind at 100/5 Mbps.

Satellite Internet

Satellite internet service covers over 99% of the USA. The downside of satellite is high latency, which means there will be a lag in your signal. Satellites transmit data from space, which means the signal must travel a very long distance to reach your home. The latency, or delay, means that satellite works best for low-data internet activities such as email and web-browsing. Satellite won’t usually work for multiplayer gaming or HD video streaming. Most satellite plans also have data caps, which makes the service a better choice for those who don’t plan to use large amounts of data. Still, satellite coverage fills a valuable need for those who can’t get online due to their remote locations.

Sometimes, you may need to find a faster internet provider. But before you do that, you want to make sure your slow internet isn’t caused by something in your own home.

Here are some common quick fixes for problems that may be slowing down your internet.

Reposition your router: Most routers send out a signal in a 360-degree, three-dimensional sphere. The closer your router is to the “center” of your device locations, the stronger your signal will be. Often, positioning the router higher on the wall rather than on the floor can help. Keeping the router away from appliances and obstructions such as bookshelves can also improve your signal.

Test with an Ethernet cable: To see if your router is the problem, try plugging directly into your modem with an Ethernet cable instead of using the Wi-Fi.

Optimize for multiple users: See if your speed slows down when you have multiple devices doing heavy-data activities. If so, you may need to either plan to stagger your usage, or upgrade to a higher speed.

Upgrade your modem/router: If your modem/router is more than a few years old, you may need to get one with higher capacity. Your home Wi-Fi network will only work at the fastest speed your router can handle, even if your plan is faster. Make sure you are at least on Wi-Fi 5 if not Wi-Fi 6 standards.

Update your router firmware: Sometimes, your ISP will handle firmware updates automatically if you are using their modem/router. But at other times, you may need to manually update by checking with your router settings.

Check whether your ISP is throttling your connection: Sometimes, ISPs may slow down your connection if you exceed your data caps. Your internet speed may also drop during periods of network congestion.

Choose a new plan or provider: If none of these quick fixes work, it may be time to get a faster plan! Enter your zip code to find which internet providers might give you more

You may hear a lot about how fiber internet is the only connection that will offer you symmetrical speeds. That’s true at least for the moment, though some cable companies are working on advancing their technology [3].

That means that your upload speeds will be the same as your download speeds with a fiber connection.

Whether or not this matters to you personally may depend on what you most like to do on the internet.

If your favorite thing is 4K or HD streaming, your chief need is download speed. And you will want more of it for every person in your house.

If you’re planning to upload a lot of video or other large files, then you want more upload speed. You also need more upload speed for videoconferencing or gaming.

A fast cable internet plan can easily support most ordinary upload tasks, even for large files. So it almost goes without saying that the much higher upload speeds of fiber are ideal for almost any user.

DSL, fixed wireless, and satellite usually will have very low upload speeds compared to either fiber or cable, so consider your options carefully if you need fast uploads.

One more big influence on internet performance is the latency of your connection.

So what is latency? Think of it as “lag.” Latency is like friction in your internet connection. Latency can happen because of signal interference, but the highest latency happens when internet signals travel a long distance.

That’s why satellite internet has higher latency than any other kind of internet connection.

High latency is not good. It means a longer delay between the time you press a button and the time you get a response. As you can see in the above table, satellite internet tends to have 20 to 100 times more latency than other internet connections.

For most internet activities, you won’t even notice a difference. But anything that needs to take place real-time, like split-second gaming or video calls, may become difficult to impossible.

Most experts agree that latency under 40 ms is ideal for real-time activities. Even latency under 100 ms will often work. So as you can see, the lower latency of anything but satellite internet may work just fine for your real-time needs. Just make sure your general internet speed is high enough.

You need high-speed internet because without it, you won’t be able to do everything you want online. For most users, 200 Mbps download speed would be easily enough to do most normal activities. (You would also want low latency and probably at least 20 Mbps upload speed.)

If you really just want the internet for email and browsing, though, you may be fine with a 10 Mbps/2 Mbps DSL connection. But most people now at least want to be able to watch HD video or upload videos easily.

If you have the option of a fiber or cable connection, you will almost certainly be able to get the fastest speed you want. That will make it easy to stream without ever buffering or game without long load times. You won’t have to worry about dropped connections for video calls on Teams or Zoom. Remote work will be seamless and smooth.

“Internet speed” means something more than just how quickly data transfers. It also determines how much data you can transfer at once, which is something we usually call “bandwidth.”

So, when you have high speeds over 200 Mbps (and even up to multigigabit speeds), you will be able to use multiple devices at once. That’s when you might hear someone say, “I have a lot of bandwidth,” which means, high speeds for multiple users.

Having great bandwidth is even better if you have smart home devices from the Internet of Things. If you’re trying to run your home security system, your thermostat, all your lights, and a stereo speaker system on Wi-Fi, you will love having high bandwidth.

Usually, you’re going to see two speed measurements for internet speed.

The most common until just a few years ago was Mbps.

Mbps = Megabits per second

A bit is a very tiny unit of digital data. So, a megabit is one million bits.

Back in the 1990s, the dinosaur times of the internet, we even measured speeds in “kilobits per second.” A kilobit was a thousand times smaller than a megabit [4]. So kilobit speeds were very, very slow. Kilobits only applied to the first internet technology, dial-up internet.

Flash forward thirty years, and we have advanced to GIGABITS. A gigabit is a thousand times bigger than a megabit.

So speeds measured in gigabits (Gbps) are super-fast. And the fastest of all are what we call multigigabit speeds, which means anything over 1 Gigabit.

People are also starting to call Gigabits “Gigs.” So now you know why the ads put “Gigs” in big, splashy letters. Gigs are the fastest internet speed you can get.

Gigabit internet speed will allow a big house full of people and devices to operate totally smoothly. Having multi-gig internet speed means enjoying the ultimate bandwidth.

In a word, no. Sometimes people use the two terms interchangeably though.

Wi-Fi speed refers to the speed of a wireless connection through a wireless router or a portable hotspot.

Your internet speed is the speed of your original internet connection as it comes in through the wall of your house.

If you plug in a device to your modem with an Ethernet cable, you will see your full internet speed. (As long as the Ethernet cable is fast enough!)

But Wi-Fi speed may be slower, either because the router is slower than the original connection, or because there’s too much congestion on your home Wi-Fi network.

That’s why it’s always smart to test your Wi-Fi speed by bypassing the router and plugging in directly. If your wired internet speed is much faster than your Wi-Fi speed, it’s time to make some changes.