Is your typically speedy internet dwindling to a trickle? A lot of things can drain your internet bandwidth capacity, especially with remote work, remote school, and other various digital home entertainments at an all-time high. A decade or two ago, we might have blamed any poor performance on a slow or unreliable PC, but these days most employees have more than enough computing power. Most of the time, it is the people utilizing the same network that you know and trust displacing your bandwidth. At other times, it could be malware or a network intruder. Now that more and more productivity applications are living in the Cloud or on a server in a remote corporate data center, the network really is the computer, and your bandwidth could dictate how productive your workday will be. In today's Tech Tip Tuesday, we take a closer look at what bandwidth is, how it works, and what that all means in relation to what we, as an end-user, experience in our day-to-day lives!
What is Bandwidth, Exactly?
The term “bandwidth,” depending on the associated frame of reference, can be used to refer to many different things. In the realm of radio transmissions, it will often refer to a broadcast wavelength. In optical applications, it can refer to the width of a specific spectral line or range. For the purposes of our discussion though, we will be using bandwidth to refer to the overall throughput capacity of our Internet connection.
How Bandwidth Works!
Bandwidth is merely our connection’s capacity for data transfer and is not the same thing as our overall connection speed, even though the terms are often used interchangeably. For instance, low bandwidth connections will perform basic tasks, like loading a text-based webpage, quickly, but will struggle to stream a movie or play an online game, or perform multiple instances of such tasks, effectively. A common analogy that is used to help illustrate this point is to think of our Internet connection as a tube that is used to transport grains of sand (our data). If we have a small-diameter tube (low bandwidth) we can move a small amount of sand (data) quickly but will be forced to wait for large quantities of sand (data) to process through. To tie this back to our previous real-world example, text-based media requires relatively few grains of sand, so low bandwidth connections will still process and receive such items quickly. Video files, and other forms of digital entertainment, conversely, require a much larger quantity of sand to be received and processed in order to work. A larger diameter tube (high bandwidth connection) will allow us to move much more sand in the same amount of time. Hopefully, this also helps to clarify how connection speed and bandwidth capacity are two separate characteristics since, in our example, our low bandwidth connection will appear fast (text-based media) and/or slow (videos) depending on what we are attempting to accomplish with it.
Daily Application(s)
It should go without saying at this point, but our overall bandwidth capacity will directly impact any form of online application or task. With how connected the world at large is, that means a direct impact on our personal and professional lives.
There are a few factors to consider ensuring we are getting the most out of our current Internet connections. Here are 3 ways to boost your bandwidth:
- First and foremost, we need to ensure we have the proper type of Internet connection. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer uncapped connections, others are metered/restricted, and some others still fall somewhere in the middle where they are unlimited to a point and then metered after certain thresholds are met.
- In addition to our connection type, we need to ensure our equipment (modem, router, cabling, Network Interface Cards, etc.) is current/compatible as outdated or sub-standard hardware can serve as a bottleneck and degrade our overall service.
- Other factors such as the condition of our networking cables and physical distance from local ISP hubs can also affect service.
If you feel as though your current ISP or network isn’t quite delivery the speeds you expect or would like, give CTTS a shout, our expertise in networking and cybersecurity can help your business achieve all of its technology-related productivity goals, including working from home, network structure, and future strategies. Give us a call today for a free IT Consultation: (512) 388-5559.
By Brandon Kaylor
Desktop Support Technician
Central Texas Technology Solutions