Finding the Best Home Internet for Your Household

However, simply thinking about getting a home internet solution in the first place – deciding on the plan that offers what you need at a price you can afford – requires (first) knowing all your options. And that will depend on where you are.

The best solution today for data transfer is fiber optic, where light strands act as pipes guiding information over thousand of kilometers. If that option isn’t provided in your region, cable or DSL are the best way to stay online with guaranteed speeds.

Fiber

In addition, fibre connections send information as pulses of light, which offers faster data speeds and less congestion than traditional forms of connectivity. Fibre networks also provide symmetrical download and upload speeds that help optimise performance in homes where multiple Wi-Fi devices are used concurrently.

If you’re looking to sign up for more advanced, fibre internet service, for example, you’ll only need a modem or router that can be connected to the fibre network and an internet service provider who has fiber service available serviceable in your area. You can check which providers are available in your area with our availability portal.

Think about how your family uses the internet when choosing a speed tier for your home service. Being able to check email and browse the Internet may work best with a slower connection speed, but households that use streaming services, online gaming or work from home with dedicated Internet connections will not be able to function without a faster speed.

Cable

For any household that tends to use a lot of data at once, cable internet is probably the best option. This type of internet uses copper coaxial cables to provide high-speed internet that can serve multiple devices at once – which is perfect for binging on 4K videos, working from home, video conferencing and more – not to mention the fact that it’s typically cheaper than DSL!

Its speeds are fast and reliable, and cabling reaches to both urban and suburban locations. Moreover, the combination of service with TV lowers the cost, since many bundled packages are available and competitively priced.

Nevertheless, cables also have many disadvantages. As they are based on a shared bandwidth, their speed will fluctuate at peak hours when all of a residential area’s customers are busy using the internet. Furthermore, their speeds are only uncertain at certain weather conditions or due to electromagnetic interference and cannot be prevented even during outages. Limited availability or cost could render the merits of fibre moot, and cable is still a popular consumer choice for people whose homes simply will not support this option.

DSL

Mostly it still holds thick, slowly eroding patches like fibre, 5G and cable technologies have whittled away at the market share of DSL, which remains a viable option for those in rural areas where as yet newer options may not exist. It remains a fixed point.

DSL works by sending on a separate frequency from phone lines, so both digital data and analogue voice calls (analogue signals simply isn’t old-fashioned enough!) can travel down the same channel. So you’ll have more useable channels in that one cable, and so more data for transfer, but distance and line quality can impact effect speed.

With better download speeds than uploading, DSL Internet is suitable for households that need their connection for downloading large files and video calls. However, if you need superfast speeds along with large upload capacities, then go for fibre or cable.

5G

For rural residents caught in the cable and fibre ditch, 5G home internet is an uncomplicated solution; T-Mobile’s new fixed wireless service – which runs on networks that deliver download speeds comparable to fibre and cable – is priced at $50 a month, and with no data caps or overage surcharges, plus free access to premium content with Netflix and Apple TV+ bundled, and 50 per cent off T-Mobile mobile devices for starters. Starry Internet offers up to 1,000 Mbps download speeds; no contract and no extra hardware required.

Verizon 5G internet took top prize in a 2018 survey of my readers on speed, reliability, and customer service, which is available to 40 million homes across the country, and under $50 a month plus as low as $10 a month for equipment rental for those on a basic fibre plan (more than basic DSL plans). ATT Internet Air fixed wireless service offers speeds up to 245Mbps download and 10Mbps upload starting from $60 per month with an optional wireless router.