Depending on which connection method you decide to use, wired Ethernet cable, or wireless, you should know they will have different speed results for several reasons. Regardless of which way you use to connect to the Internet, it is important to know that there is a percentage of bandwidth overhead utilized by the devices to maintain a connection. GigabitNow has made adjustments to mitigate this overhead, but at higher speeds, it is difficult to eliminate it completely. Due to this your service will never speed test at precisely 2,000 Mbps or 5,000 Mbps.
The connection technology built into devices is always changing, becoming faster with every iteration. Older devices may not be capable of providing faster Internet speeds. Laptops and computers, directly connected to your personal network, may not be capable of connecting to the network at 1 Gigabit and will be unable to deliver the fastest speeds. Many laptops from just a few years ago were manufactured with 100 Mbps Ethernet ports and even less for Wi-Fi. This means that regardless of how fast your Internet is when you plug your laptop into the home gateway, the most you could ever get is under 100 Mbps due to this limitation. It is important to verify what your device is capable of before looking at speed test results. If your personal device is too old, it may not be capable of providing the maximum speed delivered by your GigabitNow Internet connection.
Conducting a speed test using a device directly connected via an Ethernet cable versus over Wi-Fi makes a big difference in your results. Wi-Fi, although incredibly helpful to our daily lives, does not typically deliver the full speed of your Internet connection. Wi-Fi loses a significant amount of speed due to the nature of how wireless devices connect over the air to wireless routers. To complicate testing further, many wireless devices are not capable of delivering the faster speeds GigabitNow delivers and will give an inaccurate result.
Apple and Android mobile phones and tablets have maximum Wi-Fi speeds that they are capable of supporting. If you connect using a smartphone that's more than a year old, you may not get an accurate view of the download and upload speeds you are actually receiving. There are way too many devices to provide a comprehensive list, but the first thing you should do is determine which Wi-Fi standard is supported by your device. If it's three or more years old, it likely supports the 802.11b, 802.11a/g, or 802.11n standard. If it's a new device, it probably supports the 802.11ac or 802.11ax standard. Below is a look at the maximum speed supported by each of these standards.
Another factor that could be slowing down your speed is your router, especially if your router is three or more years old. The Wi-Fi industry is constantly updating its technology for better performance. New routers work better with faster, more reliable connections and offer more features. The provided router for Amerige Heights' new fiber network is state-of-the-art with Wi-Fi 6, the fastest Wi-Fi technology available. If you chose to bring your own router and are having issues with your Wi-Fi please check the specifications of your model. If you would like to switch to the GigabitNow provided router, please call us and we will be happy to assist you. Here's a list of the theoretical designed speeds supported by each of the current Wi-Fi standard.
Wi-Fi 1
802.11b
11 Mbps
Wi-Fi 2/3
802.11a/g
52 Mbps
Wi-Fi 4
802.11n
150 Mbps
Wi-Fi 5
802.11ac
433-866 Mbps
Wi-Fi 6
802.11ax
2+ Gbps
These speeds represent the maximum theoretical speed you can get based on the different Wi-Fi standards. These speeds are not achievable in real-world conditions as Wi-Fi signals are affected by obstacles in your home like large mirrors, and brick, concrete, or steel-reinforced walls. There are also several other devices in your home that can affect the transmission of wireless signals such as baby monitors or cordless phones. Suffice to say there are a number of challenges that can affect your Wi-Fi signal reaching its maximum speed. The default router that GigabitNow provides Amerige Heights residents utilizes the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology available.
GigabitNow delivers a fast, reliable connection from your personal network to our local data center, which is directly integrated into the Internet. We provide a connection to the Internet with no throttling and no bandwidth caps. When you use your connection, you are getting the fastest, most direct connection to the Internet possible. Your speed to a specific website or service can vary greatly due to several factors. You may often encounter slow connections to a specific website or service not because of your Internet connection but because of the website itself. The website or service may be bogged down with a lot of other user's traffic, or it may be located in a geographically distant location causing slower speeds, or it may use hosting equipment that is slower than your GigabitNow connection. An issue you may encounter with a specific website or service may not have anything to do with your Internet connection. Always start with GigabitNow's speed test site to verify your connection is working correctly.
We designed our Internet plans to maximize the speed and quality of your Internet experience. Below are what you should expect to see when you conduct a speed test.
As you have read, speed tests can be influenced by many factors outside GigabitNow's control.
Amerige Heights' new Internet service is on the cutting edge of today's technology and speeds for Internet in the home. As a result, it is inherently difficult to get an accurate speed test result due to a few challenges of legacy technology that has not yet been upgraded to match the capacity of such a new network like Amerige's.
While there are many causes for inaccurate speed test results, the most common being the speed capacity of the device you are using to run the test and whether you are connected via Wi-Fi or wired directly to your router.
Amerige Heights' new network is multi-gig which makes getting an accurate speed test even more difficult. Speed tests measure your current connection's maximum speed by accessing nearby test servers. If either the server itself or the connection between your home and the server are not capable of measuring multi-gig speeds the test you are conducting will not provide accurate results.
Rest assured; technology will catch up with your network eventually! Over time the devices you use in your home will be upgraded and speed tests will advance to become better equipped to measure multi-gig speeds. These advancements will then enable you to measure just how fast your new Internet is moving. Though the speed tests may not be 2 Gig or 5 Gig speeds, please know that your multi-gig connection and the included Core Router are providing more bandwidth and speed than Amerige Heights has ever had before. An important, though often overlooked, advantage to a multi-gig connection is its capability to maximize all your devices throughput. With your multi-gig connection, you'll be able to use more devices at their max capacity because there is more speed to be spread across your devices.
If you are not experiencing the kind of speeds you expect after following the steps listed in this guide, please reach out to GigabitNow support. We are happy to work with you to help mitigate any challenges to ensure you have the best possible experience.