Many factors affect the internet service you purchased from Wire 3. Learn how these factors affect your internet speed.
Your service capability speed (internet speed) is the rate we deliver internet traffic to and from your location. Many factors affect your internet service from Wire 3 and influence the speed you may experience on any device connected to your network.
Data and content you send or receive travels many paths before reaching their final destination and returning back to you:
- Through wiring in your location or over your Wi-Fi®
- Between your connected computers and devices and your modem, gateway, or hub
- Through the network interface device (NID) located outside your building to the Wire 3 network
- Through various Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks used by websites to send you content
Remember that the speed to your home location is shared among all the devices connected to your home network – including any devices connected via Wi-Fi. So the number of devices connected and the activity on those devices will impact the speeds you may experience.
Internet speed
Each internet service option has a different service capability speed range. The term speed describes the rate a particular broadband internet access service can transmit data. This capacity is measured by the number of kilobits (Kbps), megabits (Mbps), or gigabits (Gbps) that can be transmitted in one second.
Some applications don’t need higher speeds to work at their best. Examples of these applications include sending short emails without attachments or basic web browsing. Other activities perform better with higher-speed services. This includes transferring large data files or streaming high-definition video.
Lower speeds may not work for some applications, especially those involving real-time or high-bandwidth uses such as streaming video or video conferencing.
Home network
Many factors inside your building affect the rate you send or receive internet data. These include:
- Age of wiring inside your building
- Distance between the gateway or hub and your device
- Age and type of gateway, hub, or router
- Number of devices connected to the gateway or hub
- Type of connection used: wired or Wi-Fi
Connection types
You can access your internet through a wired Ethernet connection or a Wi-Fi® connection.
Wired connections use Ethernet cables plugged into the Ethernet port on your wall or Wi-Fi gateway. These connections provide the best performance, consistently. We recommend using a Cat5e or better Ethernet cable.
To reach speeds above 1Gbps, you must use at least a Cat6 cable plus an Ethernet port rated for multi-Gbps speeds. Some older Ethernet cables, ports, routers, and gateways may not be capable of supporting speeds above 1Gbps to a single device. This includes Ethernet wiring in some older buildings.
Speeds are shared among all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi gateway. So more devices connecting at the same time may result in slower speeds.
Wireless (Wi-Fi) connections let you move throughout your building but aren’t as fast as wired connections. Wi-Fi connection speeds depend on the Wi-Fi technology in your device and in your gateway or hub. You get the best Wi-Fi signal closest to your gateway or hub, with fewer devices running, using the latest Wi-Fi technology. Older devices and older gateways use older Wi-Fi technology, which run at slower speeds. Wi-Fi speeds are shared among all the devices connected to the gateway or hub by Wi-Fi, so more devices connected at the same time may result in slower speeds.
Type and number of devices
Internet devices come in all shapes and sizes. Each device has a maximum internet speed it can reach. But, that speed might not be as fast as your possible internet service level. For example, if your older laptop or tablet only supports 11Mbps and you have 1Gbps internet service, your laptop will never be able to reach the more than 11 Mbps.
When a device connects to your network, it uses a portion of your allotted speed. Several devices sharing your internet connection can affect the speed each device experiences.
TV and internet speed
In some cases, your TV and internet may enter your location using the same terminal. Using both services at the same time consumes more available bandwidth and can affect internet download speeds. For example, in certain speed tiers, watching multiple HD TV shows at the same time as heavy data internet usage, such as downloading an entire HD movie file on your laptop, will lead to reduced internet speeds as compared with such speeds when no other uses are placed on the network.
Other networks and websites you visit
Even though you purchased a specific speed and the Wire 3 network is highly reliable, the websites you interact with may not provide their services at the same speeds. Things to consider as you surf websites:
- Websites may not have the same network speeds as you.
- Website server capacity can impact your Internet speeds.
- Website owners may use other ISPs to deliver content back to you. These network serving arrangements can also impact your internet speeds.
- Visiting sites during their peak hours may also result in slower speeds.