
In general, x86 processors are fastest, followed by ARM and then MIPS. And sometimes the ports support gigabit but the router’s CPU can’t keep up. Not every consumer-grade router can support gigabit speeds over the ports in the back. Read the fine print when choosing a router. Are both the ports and the CPU in your router gigabit-ready? Also don’t run your data cabling parallel to power lines - interference from the power lines can cause interference in the ethernet cabling. Cat 5e supports up to up to 1,000 Mbps while Cat 6 supports ten times that. Plus, if you’re going to spend the money on new cables, it’s worth future-proofing your investment. Cat 5e can do it but you’ll get less crosstalk using Cat 6. To achieve the fastest speeds possible, the most important thing you can do is use Cat 6 ethernet wiring to connect your devices to your modem and/or router. If there was no overhead, you might be able to achieve a Speedtest result of 997 Mbps, but you’re more likely to top out at 940 Mbps. Though perfect circumstances might allow you to send 1 billion bits of information per second, some of those bits are overhead (including preamble, inter-frame gaps and TCP) and your actual data throughput will be a little smaller. Data overhead makes 1 Gbps a theoretical number. Gigabit is great for ensuring that multiple users are having a consistent internet experience, but don’t expect to be downloading games from Steam at gigabit speeds. If you’re downloading games and/or streaming movies, your performance is impacted by both the quality of the network those applications are using and how fast those services allow content to be downloaded. This also applies to peer-to-peer connections. If your ISP’s central office doesn’t have the bandwidth to support all the gigabit connections in your area, everyone will see slower speeds during peak usage times. Understand the network located upstream of you.Īnd the quality of that network matters. Asymmetrical service can lead to bufferbloat.
#ATT ROUTER CONFIG SAYS ETHERNET STATUS 1000MBPS DOWNLOAD#
That is, are the advertised download and upload speeds the same? This varies by ISP, but asymmetrical service is more likely over coaxial connections - symmetrical gigabit service requires the robustness of a fiber optic connection. Is the available service plan symmetrical?

Having fiber doesn’t mean you’ll automatically have gigabit the service still needs to be available in your area and you’ll likely pay more for it.ģ. Finally, phone lines, used for DSL, absolutely won’t cut it at all. However, new coaxial technologies, namely DOCSIS 3.1, have the potential to provide gigabit speeds, but not symmetrically (see the next point). You’ll get the best speeds with fiber because you won’t have to deal with the noise or interference that occurs over copper lines. What kind of infrastructure is your service delivered over? Some forward-thinking governments in places like Longmont, CO Grant County, WA and New Westminster, BC have even created their own fiber networks. Also check with phone companies and smaller ISPs to see if they offer gigabit. Google Fiber is one option in some cities. While internet service providers (ISPs), municipalities and companies like Google have been making headlines with gigabit (the ability to download 1 billion bits of information in one second), service is still rare (and expensive).Īsk around to see if gigabit is available in your area. Is gigabit-level service available in your area? Some of these will help you maximize your potential internet speeds even if gigabit is not available in your area.įactors you can’t control 1. We’re here to offer a few tips to help you achieve the Speedtest results you dream of. Before you get too attached to the idea of downloading 1 billion bits of data per second, know that getting gigabit service and adjusting your set-up to achieve top speeds is harder than you might think.

Fourteen times faster than the 70 Mbps the US averaged for download speed in March, gigabit-speed fixed broadband is still rare, but it’s making appearances in locations over the globe.
