Is a 1Gbps ISP download speed really even useable in today’s world? Isn’t the limit the speed of the server you are accessing, not your ISP package speed? For example, I have 600Mbps down and I never see more than 220Mbps downloading updates on my Xbox Series X. That’s because I’m at the limit of Microsoft’s servers, right? So what is the purpose of a 1Gbps or faster ISP package? I see ISPs continue to creep package speeds up higher and higher -- 800mbps > 1,000mbps > 1,500mbps -- but what does it actually mean in real world usability? Can you actually use those download speeds day-to-day?
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What's the point of 1Gbps ISP speeds anyway? (Q for IT experts)
- Thread starter Apple!Fre@k
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You can do multiple downloads from different servers at the same time. When you have multiple users in the same house, people are much less like to step on each others' toes.
What you "use" the speeds for is, well, up to you.
... but you have to have the right equipment to saturate the ISP pipe. For example, my ISP offers 1Gbps. My 802.11ac Wi-Fi router has 1Gbps WAN port connected to the ISP modem via Cat5e cable. The router also has 4 1Gbps LAN ports. Clients connected to the LAN ports via Cat5e cables routinely get 980Mbps download speeds. Wi-Fi clients don't get any where near the same downloads speeds as wired clients as there are many variables which impact wireless performance (distance from router, walls in between, other wireless signals, etc), however, a wireless client in the same room with the router will routinely get 750Mbps speeds. Between 450-550Mbps around the house is typical.
In practice, with multiple devices (streamers, gaming consoles, phone, laptops, etc) both wired and wireless hammering the router, I've never been able to saturate the ISP pipe to the point where clients are impacted. I never recommend the ISP 1Gbps packages for this reason. In fact, the only reason I have the package is due to a "promotional" price. Once this "promotion" has ended, I will be switching to the 550Mbps package because the majority of wireless clients can't get faster speeds than 550Mbps any way.
You're pretty much correct that you're at the mercy of the server at the other end. If, as per your example, Microsoft is only pushing 220Mbps, then that's what you'll get even if your ISP offers faster. However, if you have faster service from your ISP, you can get your 220Mbps from Microsoft while someone else in your home gets, say, 250Mbps from another server while someone else gets 300Mbps, for example, from their connection.
So one device may not use the full capacity that your ISP provides, but if you have multiple devices connecting to multiple things, then you'll enjoy the faster ISP speeds since it'll all fit through your pipe without slowing down all your different connections.
In my case, I pay for 1.2Gbit service from my ISP. With that, I can get a constant 250Mbps connection through my workplace VPN when I work from home (speed limited at their end), while my personal computer can get full speeds to whatever it's connected to, and my wife can do whatever it is she needs to do, without slowing down any of our connections. Yes, some things on wifi are of course limited to the maximum speed of the wifi network, but a lot of my equipment is hardwired wherever possible (AppleTVs, desktops, my Peloton machines, some of the smart home gear, printer, etc.) to prevent saturating the wifi network.
Additionally, my work-from-home computer and it's Cisco hardware VPN has it's own ethernet connection to my ISP's modem while the rest of my home's 1 gigabit ethernet network has a separate connection to the ISP's modem, so I don't occupy 1/4 of my home's network capacity with my work VPN traffic.
Thanks, Nermal, Bigwaff, and xraydoc! Makes total sense. So having more than 500mbps ISP speeds really only makes a difference if you have multiple people in the household downloading simultaneously. If you're just one person, it really doesn't make a lick of a difference today. Question: any idea how long it's going to be before server access speeds get upgraded across the board and we'll be seeing 1Gbps download speeds from the likes of Microsoft's, Apple's, Amazon's, and Google's servers? And what do I search for/how do I keep an eye on this to know when it actually makes sense to get a faster ISP package? Is anyone aware of if the major tech companies have any plans to upgrade their servers to the point that an ISP speed quicker than 500Mbps for a single member household makes sense?
You must have an army of kids to stream to, if you need that much bandwith. 8K streaming will likely be about 75 Mbps.
I also thought my internet was fast enough, but then I switched to gigabit ethernet because my ISP was giving a plan on discount and now I couldn't go back.
Even though many servers cannot give me download speeds of what my internet is capable of, I can run parallel downloads at high speed.
Even though many servers cannot give me download speeds of what my internet is capable of, I can run parallel downloads at high speed.
Yep.
In the future. I guess 5 to 10 years from now even that won't be enough. At least on a hard wire line and on a mac or pc.
Looks like Google is playing catch up with AT&T Fiber but glad they are offering it now in some areas!
www.pcmag.com
Then Comcast, but I dislike them a lot thankfully never had it, though this is not symmetrical speed.
www.telecompetitor.com
Google Fiber Rolls Out a 5 Gig Service to Multiple US Cities
$125 a month gets you 5Gbps symmetrical upload and download speeds using a Wi-Fi 6 router.
Then Comcast, but I dislike them a lot thankfully never had it, though this is not symmetrical speed.
Comcast Completes 10G Upgrades to 10M Locations, Symmetrical Multi-Gigabit Won't Be Far Behind - Telecompetitor
Comcast multi-gigabit symmetrical service is coming soon. The company has completed network upgrades required to support
www.telecompetitor.com
Same. I was blessed with AT&T gigabit FIOS for a while (until I moved), and I miss it. I have near gigabit download speeds now from Xfinity (800mbps service tier but I routinely get over 900), but I really notice the pathetic upload speed (15-20mbps). I work from home, and the slow upload speed is a choke point for my VPN that just makes the whole thing a little sluggish.
I'm not sure this belongs here, but rather than start a new thread . . . .
My MBP has an ethernet connection. According to speedtest.net, my download speed is about 300 mbps. I'm trying to download a folder from Dropbox, and Chrome tells me that it's 845 mb total. Seems to me that this should take about 3 seconds. But, instead, Chrome says it will take over 40 minutes to download the whole file. I downloaded other folders from Dropbox that were about 300 mb, and those finished in about 5 minutes. Is there just something odd about this folder?
Thanks,
My MBP has an ethernet connection. According to speedtest.net, my download speed is about 300 mbps. I'm trying to download a folder from Dropbox, and Chrome tells me that it's 845 mb total. Seems to me that this should take about 3 seconds. But, instead, Chrome says it will take over 40 minutes to download the whole file. I downloaded other folders from Dropbox that were about 300 mb, and those finished in about 5 minutes. Is there just something odd about this folder?
Thanks,
Your folder is 845 megabytes but your internet connection is 300 megabits per second. They aren’t the same units.