The future of the internet is fast. 14 times faster than the 70 Mbps the US averaged for download speed in March, gigabit-speed fixed broadband is yet rare, but it'due south making appearances in locations over the globe. Earlier you lot go likewise attached to the idea of downloading 1 billion $.25 of data per second, know that getting gigabit service and adjusting your set-up to reach elevation speeds is harder than you might think.

We're here to offer a few tips to assistance yous achieve the Speedtest results you dream of. Some of these will help you maximize your potential net speeds fifty-fifty if gigabit is not available in your area.

Factors you tin't control

1. Is gigabit-level service available in your area?

While internet service providers (ISPs), municipalities and companies similar Google have been making headlines with gigabit (the ability to download ane billion bits of data in 1 second), service is still rare (and expensive).

Ask around to encounter if gigabit is available in your area. Google Cobweb is one option in some cities. Besides check with phone companies and smaller ISPs to encounter if they offer gigabit. Some forward-thinking governments in places like Longmont, CO; Grant County, WA and New Westminster, BC have fifty-fifty created their own fiber networks.

ii. What kind of infrastructure is your service delivered over?

You'll become the all-time speeds with fiber considering you won't have to deal with the noise or interference that occurs over copper lines. Still, new coaxial technologies, namely DOCSIS 3.1, have the potential to provide gigabit speeds, only not symmetrically (see the next point). Finally, phone lines, used for DSL, absolutely won't cut information technology at all.

Having fiber doesn't mean you'll automatically have gigabit; the service nevertheless needs to be available in your area and you'll likely pay more than for it.

3. Is the available service program symmetrical?

That is, are the advertised download and upload speeds the same? This varies past ISP, but asymmetrical service is more likely over coaxial connections — symmetrical gigabit service requires the robustness of a cobweb optic connectedness. Asymmetrical service can lead to bufferbloat.

iv. Understand the network located upstream of you.

And the quality of that network matters. If your ISP's central office doesn't have the bandwidth to back up all the gigabit connections in your area, anybody will see slower speeds during peak usage times.

This likewise applies to peer-to-peer connections. If you're downloading games and/or streaming movies, your performance is impacted past both the quality of the network those applications are using and how fast those services allow content to be downloaded. Gigabit is keen for ensuring that multiple users are having a consistent internet experience, but don't await to be downloading games from Steam at gigabit speeds.

5. Data overhead makes ane Gbps a theoretical number.

Though perfect circumstances might allow you lot to send 1 billion $.25 of data per second, some of those bits are overhead (including preamble, inter-frame gaps and TCP) and your actual data throughput will exist a petty smaller. If at that place was no overhead, y'all might be able to accomplish a Speedtest consequence of 997 Mbps, only you're more than likely to tiptop out at 940 Mbps. For more details on the math, read this.

What y'all tin control

half dozen. Good quality wiring is essential.

To reach the fastest speeds possible, the well-nigh important thing you tin can exercise is use Cat 6 ethernet wiring to connect your devices to your modem and/or router. Cat 5e can do it but y'all'll get less crosstalk using Cat 6. Plus, if y'all're going to spend the money on new cables, it's worth future-proofing your investment. True cat 5e supports up to up to 1,000 Mbps while True cat half dozen supports ten times that. Too don't run your information cabling parallel to ability lines — interference from the ability lines tin cause interference in the ethernet cabling.

7. Are both the ports and the CPU in your router gigabit-fix?

Read the fine print when choosing a router. Non every consumer-grade router can support gigabit speeds over the ports in the back. And sometimes the ports support gigabit but the router'south CPU can't keep upwards. In general, x86 processors are fastest, followed by ARM and and then MIPS. You still need to bank check this even if your router was provided past your Internet service provider.

Typically you'll notice that recently-released and the more than expensive consumer form routers are up to the job. Here are ii routers we recommend along with affiliate links to make your shopping easy:

  • Ubiquiti Edgerouter. The super advanced user volition bask the pared-downwards customizability of this router. Many of the Ooklers use some version of this router. It doesn't have Wi-Fi built in so be sure to get 1 or more compatible access points.
  • Velop Whole Home Wire Mesh. To ready your entire house at once, try this system. It comes pre-loaded with Speedtest so you can easily examination your connection.

8. Use a hardwired connexion.

While Wi-Fi technology is catching up, yous'll notwithstanding likely see meliorate speeds if you plug that True cat 6 ethernet cable direct into your reckoner.

9. Check your adapter.

Not all laptops have ethernet ports, so y'all'll need an adapter for a hardwired connectedness. Brand certain the adapter y'all're using is gigabit capable. Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 adapters are normally good, but the performance of other adapters varies widely. And don't forget, USB based adapters as well add data overhead.

wifi wave animation

10. If you must use Wi-Fi, choice a clear channel and sit close to your router.

All kinds of things can interfere with your Wi-Fi signal and thereby slow down your connection: fluorescent bulbs, babe monitors or fifty-fifty a inexpensive pair of wireless headphones. This is disquisitional for Wi-Fi performance equally merely one device tin use the channel at a time. In addition, Wi-FI uses CSMA-CA to handle collisions — if it detects a collision on the channel, the Wi-Fi device will halt sending and wait until the channel is clear. Interference counts as collisions, then you volition end upward with a sporadic and halting connection with interference nearby.

If your connectedness is clear, attenuation (point driblet over altitude) is a very real trouble when using Wi-Fi. The 2.4 GHz band handles attenuation ameliorate but is more bailiwick to interference. The 5GHz band is less subject to interference merely has more issues with attenuation. Either way, you're all the same probable only to achieve speeds topping out effectually 600 Mbps.

If you are on the 2.4 GHz ring, make sure to chose from channels 1, 6, or eleven (or xiv if immune past your state) — those are the just non-colliding channels at 20 MHz. At 40 MHz, you volition pretty well swallow the entire 2.4 channel spectrum, thus, information technology will exist even more at risk of interference. For an illustration, click here.

11. Brand sure your computer is using the latest Wi-Fi standards.

The nonprofit Wi-Fi Alliance keeps a close eye on these standards. In 2016 they announced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED air-conditioning standards which include Multi-User Multi-Input Multi-Output (MU-MIMO), 160MHz channels, quad-streams and extended 5GHz channel support. These standards change as engineering improves, so bank check to make sure you're working with the latest certifications. And simply because your router supports these standards doesn't mean your laptop or wireless device does.

spot illustration

12. Decipher the hype behind the marketing.

For case, a wireless router that says it can back up iv gigs doesn't necessarily mean it can support one 4 Gbps connection. It'south more than likely that the device has four radios with 1 Gbps specified maximums (real earth performance is likely to be slower).

xiii. Stay up to date on router firmware, only don't update on 24-hour interval zero.

Vendors regularly release software updates for their routers to amend their stability, functioning and security. It's unremarkably e'er the best option to stay upwardly to date with these firmware patches. With that said, many of the states Ooklaers await anywhere from a week to a calendar month to apply these patches (bold they are not disquisitional security updates) to make certain there are not any regressions or issues.

14. Use our desktop apps to run your Speedtest.

If you're sure your setup is perfect but you're still non seeing the Speedtest event you expect, download our free desktop apps for Windows or MacOS. Many lower performance systems can't reach 1 Gbps via browser tests due to various limitations. Plus our desktop apps give you data on jitter and packet loss.

Advanced options: For the tech savviest

15. Is your network interface card (NIC) upward to the job?

Just existence rated for k-Base-T may non be enough. NICs that use software offload instead of hardware offload are oft found in older, cheaper computers and struggle to support gigabit speeds. Intel offers some of the all-time driver and hardware support on their NICs.

16. Encryption tin be slow if information technology's not done right.

Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) encryption, often enabled by default on Wi-Fi routers, will slow you doooowwwwn. Use Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) instead every bit it's ofttimes hardware accelerated. The standard for WPA2 encryption, AES is both more than secure and faster than TKIP. Some routers have TKIP options for compatibility reasons, though, even if you lot're using WPA2, and so check.

17. Turn off QoS shaping.

Quality of Service (QoS) shaping on a router tin can help yous prevent large downloads from eating up all your bandwidth. But on consumer hardware, you're too bypassing hardware acceleration so all your packets of data have to be inspected by the master CPU. This tin can cut your operation past 10x on a loftier bandwidth connection.

If yous've gone this far and still want more, read how our pb systems engineer set up his non-gigabit connection to accomplish super fast speeds

Is gigabit worth the trouble?

By now you lot're probably thinking, "Getting the fastest net speeds sure is a lot of work." For some people hitting the maximum speed is worth whatever amount of piece of work to get there. Others volition be more than happy with the 300, 400 or 500 Mbps that they see on their gigabit plan with minimal tinkering.

Whether you're gigabit fix or not, these tips volition help you get the best speeds out of your net connection now and in the hereafter. Utilize this handy little list to keep rail of all the steps:

If you answered "yes" to all of the above questions, congratulations! Y'all're at present ready to unlock that superfast Speedtest consequence.

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