How Fast Is Your Internet Connection...Really?
The speed of your broadband (always-on, high-capacity, wide-bandwidth) internet connection has never been more critical. It's the pipe that connects your computers, tablets, handhelds, entertainment systems, and home automation tools to the outside world—and to each other.
Your connection must handle content that is critical for work, play, and keeping in touch. It has to back your modern-day communications, from simple text up to voice calls and video conferencing. And don't forget gaming: Without the internet, your gaming would be just lonely, single-player action.
Internet service providers (ISPs), the companies that bring high-speed broadband connections to your doorstep, have increased speeds in the last few years. The FCC redefined broadband in 2015 to mean an always-on connection with a minimum download speed of 25Mbps and upload speed of 3Mbps (up from 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up).
Some want the FCC to move the definition again, up to 100Mbps. Even the watchdog US Government Accountability Office says the numbers need an update. In the past, senators pushed back on this, happy to see lower speeds qualify as broadband—mostly because it makes the country look bad to have so many households that don't have internet up to the minimum standard.
Competition would help even more. Local ISPs (and unique players like Google and Starlink) have pushed some big-name companies like Comcast to raise speeds while keeping costs affordable. There are entire cities now that claim gigabit internet status—ISPs in those places, frequently municipally owned or a utility company, offer connections of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) or more. That's 1,000 times better than 1Mbps speed, and 40 times what the FCC defines as broadband. Going to
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