Bandwidth is the ability of a communications network to carry information. As today’s bandwidth requirements are exploding – whether for tele-healthcare, remote home monitoring, video streaming, photo storage, virtual assistants (Siri), advanced TVs and more – we will need access to increasing amounts of bandwidth in our daily lives.
Most large telecommunications companies focus on “download” speeds but offer very slow “upload” speeds. When we download, we are typically obtaining or consuming information from the internet, whether it’s a video from Netflix, a recipe from Food Network, or directions from Google. But when we are sending information over the internet, upload speeds matter a great deal.
For example, home businesses rely on uploading – think about the local wedding photographer sending photos to her client. Telecommuters must have the ability to videoconference with clients and business colleagues. Educational classes and telehealth all require fast upload speeds. Many of us today use the iCloud to back-up our computers, to store photographs and videos, or to Skype or Facetime with our family and friends. All of these actions require high upload speeds or bandwidth.
Bandwidth is measured in megabits per second, called “Mbps.” Internet speed measurement can be complicated by the fact that although you may have a high-speed link to your Internet Service Provider (e.g., Spectrum, Verizon, Century Link), you will then have to share the bandwidth with other users. This is why the internet is often slower after work /school hours or on weekends and also the reason why Internet Service Providers advertise “up to” internet speeds – more often the speeds you actually experience are far less than those advertised.
Another reason for slow internet speeds is the distance between your home or business and the place where the copper meets fiber. Recall that in our first article we likened the trunks of fiber that connect towns in Maine to the interstate at which cars can travel 70 mph. But when they hit copper wire it’s like hitting a poorly maintained dirt road in terms of internet speed. The further your home or business is down this technological dirt road, the slower your internet speeds will be.
Only fiber always delivers the same upload speed as download speed. And fiber speeds are not slowed down by the use of your neighbors or the distance of your home or business from the fiber / copper connection because there is no copper connection. With fiber, bandwidth is reliable and consistent right to your home or business.
Case In Point : Hearstudios Makes Music In Camden
Our hope as a community is to have our young people stay, build careers and families, and enjoy and contribute to life here in the Midcoast. Jason Hearst is one of those people who chose to come back to Maine, bringing his family and creating a business in Camden.
Jason’s business, Hearstudios, is a professional audio recording facility, located in downtown Camden. Locating his business (which started in his home) depended on reliable, high-speed internet to move large digital audio files around the world. Finding a location that could house both his family and his business while providing the technical infrastructure was not an easy task. In the end, he found a home close to Route 1 and the 3-Ring Binder dark fiber route. He then contracted with a local provider to run the necessary connections to his business.
Only fiber always delivers the same upload speed as download speed. And fiber speeds are not slowed down by the use of your neighbors or the distance of your home or business from the fiber / copper connection because there is no copper connection. With fiber, bandwidth is reliable and consistent right to your home or business.
High speed Internet is referred to as “broadband.” In order to be called Broadband, there is a minimum bandwidth required. How much bandwidth do we need? It depends on what you use the internet for, how many devices are connected in your home or business, and how many users are connected
Although the Federal government defines broadband as 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload (often noted as “25/3”)– these speeds are far less than what most households need today and what will be needed tomorrow. As of August 2019, Speedtest.com ranked the United States as 7th globally in terms of internet speed, and that was based on an average speed of 120 Mbps download and 47.27 Mbps upload – far more than the Federal minimum and far more than most homes and businesses in Maine experience.
Although some FCC commissioners argued in favor of a Federal minimum requirement for Broadband to be at least 100 Mbps, large telecommunications companies and their trade associations opposed even the 25/3 Mbps minimum that was adopted.
To explain in a bit more detail, if you have a 25/3 Mbps connection, you can think of it as a pie. Each user gets a slice of the pie along with their various devices. Essentially your total potential speed is split across all devices connected to your network. Even though Netflix recommends at least a 5 Mbps connection to download a standard video and 25 Mbps to download 4K high-quality content, your pie may only be able to allot 5- 10 Mbps to Netflix if your children are doing their homework or you spouse is watching a YouTube video. Add to this the fact that a seemingly endless list of household devices are sharing your household bandwidth. Examples may include: washers/dryers, CPAP machines, medical monitors, refrigerators, Fitbits, iWatches, virtual assistants (e.g., Amazon Echo and Siri), televisions, wireless headphones, Bluetooth speakers, computers, cellphones and tablets.
As technology advances so do bandwidth requirements. For example, our cellphones are now capable of taking photos that require from 30 to 100 Mbps per image. While internet video used to be a novelty, now it’s the standard way of accessing news, information and entertainment. Today most new computers, tablets and smartphones come with free iCloud storage where most users now store their data and programs. Families stay in touch via Facebook, Skype and Twitter. New TVs are almost all high definition or even ultra 4K, all of which require large amounts of bandwidth.
There are links on the internet where you can test your internet speed, as well as assess your own household’s bandwidth needs, knowing that they will likely steadily increase each year.
Although the Federal government defines broadband as 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload (often noted as “25/3”)– these speeds are far less than what most households need today and what will be needed tomorrow.