Do I need Gigabit Internet?
What is Gigabit Internet?
Gigabit internet speeds are now being offered by the Cable providers and dedicated internet providers. The question is if you need that much speed. In this article, we will discuss what is really meant by Gigabit internet along with what types there are and what are the business applications that are most likely to use Gigabit internet.
It is important to discuss what is meant by providers when offering Gigabit internet. An internet speed of 1 GB/s is so fast that it seems impossible to ever need or even be able to fully use 1GB/s of internet.
The most common offerings of Gigabit internet is usually by the cable providers. Companies like Comcast, Cox, AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Business, Atlantic Broadband, Cable One, and many others. They are the internet service providers (ISP’s) that also provide the cable TV service at your home. There are many different cable providers in the U.S and depending on the zip code you live in, you may have only one cable provider. This is typical, however, in some communities, you may have a choice of two or more cable providers as competitors move in.
The cable providers offer two types of internet service, dedicated and shared. Dedicated internet is typically fiber internet service and available on a subset of the cable providers network. It is more common for the cable providers to offer Gigabit internet over their shared cable network, sometimes referred to as the coax network. In addition, when referring to Gigabit internet, the providers are usually referring to the download internet speeds. The shared cable service upload speed is much less than the download speed and many times not even advertised or mentioned on their website. One popular provider’s Gigabit download speeds come with a 35 megabit upload. Hardly a speed that you would expect with a Gigabit download. However, this is typical. For most home users and small business’s the upload speeds may not need to be as fast as the download speeds. The average user is more concerned with their internet browsing experience and this often means prioritizing the download speeds over that o the upload speed. Particularly if users are accessing the popular streaming web sites like Netflix, Hulu, youtube, Amazon Prime, Sling and many others.
What are the business uses for Gigabit internet?
In the business environment, Gigabit internet is good for several types of organizations. A location with gigabit download speeds will support not just a few employees but likely 15-30 users depending on their usage paterns. Good examples of low usage environments are manufacturing locations where workers are operating machinery, auto repair shops, doctor’s offices (unless they use x-rays), and smaller retail locations with a few points of sale systems. Gigabit internet will also be sufficient for many medium-sized businesses. If you are considering moving to Gigabit internet be sure to read the related article “What Considerations are there before going to Gigabit Internet?”
