How Traffic Affects Home Networking (and What We Can Do About It)
You’ve been working remotely in the home office. The kids are learning from home at the kitchen table. Throughout the day, your household streams videos, emails files, and uploads presentations. All is going fine until it’s time to log on to a video call. Suddenly your audio and video cuts out. “Sorry, guys,” you type to colleagues. “Internet’s not working.”
Sound familiar? A weak network connection can delay your entire day. And with more of us working from home, the previous bandwidth we used doesn’t cut it anymore.
As a technology and network provider based in Vail, CO, we consistently help families improve their home networking. We’ll share signs that your network may need more bandwidth, and how you can achieve that.
What Are High-Bandwidth Activities?
Bandwidth is the volume of data sent over your network, measured in megabits per second (Mbps). While everything you do over Wi-Fi requires bandwidth, some activities use more than others.
Gaming online can use a significant amount of bandwidth, as does streaming movies, especially in HD and 4K. Services like Netflix and Amazon Prime typically require high video quality, so they’ll use a lot from your router. Sending documents, pictures, and slideshows over email requires a good amount of data. Backups, downloads, and device updates can slow down your network, too.
Why Do Too Many Devices Slow Wi-Fi?
If there are numerous devices connected to your router, each will essentially fight for the right to transmit data to the router. With only a few users, the odds are unlikely that they will send information at the same time. But once there are collisions between many competing devices, you’ll be stuck waiting and may have to restart whatever you were doing.
How Can We Fix It?
To save your internet woes, we first need to look and see what your current plan is. If you only have a basic internet plan, you purchase more bandwidth. If your internet service provider doesn’t offer more, it’s probably time to switch to a new provider.
If you don’t want to invest in more bandwidth but still need more speed, one easy step is to limit the number of devices connected. For instance, can you play downloaded music during the day rather than stream? If that doesn’t work, you may want to add a wired connection to your home, or a second access point.
If your home network in Vail, CO, could use a Wi-Fi upgrade, we’re here to help. We can assess the situation and come up with a plan that will cover your needs. Contact Futurian here for a no-obligation discussion. We look forward to speaking with you!