Gig Speed: The Real Difference

Picture this: You’re in the middle of streaming the season finale of your favorite show on Netflix, when the connection starts buffering and eventually cuts out altogether. Immediately, accusations start flying about who is using up all the WiFi, and you come to find that a “certain someone” playing video games in the basement is the culprit.

Now the debate begins about who has to surrender internet privileges for the foreseeable future.

Could all this have all been avoided? In a word: YES.

How? Another three-letter word: GIG.

Americans today use the internet more than any other time in human history, with millions relying on video streaming, file downloading, video conferencing, and—for a select few—even video games to get through their day.

In fact, a 2021 study found that adults in the U.S. spend an average of more than 7 hours every day on the internet. That’s nearly one-third of the entire 24-hour day, and if we discount time spent sleeping, it’s more like half of all waking hours.

So much of our world has shifted “behind the screen,” which means it’s more important than ever that your internet connection be fast, reliable and consistent.

Unfortunately, most Americans put up with painfully slow internet that can impede many aspects of day-to-day online life, from leisure time to work- or learn-from-home requirements.

So, what can you do to fix it?

1 Gig vs. The Rest

Let’s talk about the difference between 1 Gig internet speed and what you probably have at home right now, likely to be promoted as 30, 50, 100 or even 200 Mbps.

The average American household has an internet connection speed of 42.86 Mbps, according to a 2020 report by highspeedinternet.com. A Gig is almost 1000 Mbps*, or, about 23X that average.

To put the difference into perspective, here are some numbers to consider:

• It takes 25 Mbps for one individual to stream Netflix in 4k resolution.
• It takes around 35 Mbps for one individual to stream a video game in 4k.

Those two activities alone go well over the average internet connection speed, which is how people end up in scenarios like the one described at the beginning of this post.

And that doesn’t even begin to include additional usage on social media sites, zoom conferencing, music streaming, and more.

It’s easy to see how quickly a household’s internet bandwidth can be sapped by a few clicks on a video game handset, remote control or mouse pad. Even if you’re not actively using the internet, you may have multiple devices connected that can affect the speeds as well.

Now, going back to where we began:

With an internet connection of up to 1 Gig speed, you would have concluded your season finale without the annoying interruption, while little brother finished playing his video game, big sister streamed her music, mom leisurely downloaded important files for a work project—and so on—while avoiding any buffering at all!

 If you’re like most, you’re spending close to 8 hours a day online.

Why make it 8 hours of delays, frustration and hassle? Find out what all the fuss is about:
1 Gig isn’t just faster, it’s the fastest — and it’s not just better, it’s the best.

*Wired download speeds up to 940 Mbps.