$42,450,000,000. That’s how much the U.S. government is spending to bring affordable, reliable, high-speed internet to all the places that don’t have it. Politics aside, that’s a heck of a lot of money.
By now, we all know how important it is to have a strong connection — for work, school, fun and life in general. But what happens if you move and realize, “Uh oh, the internet here stinks.”
Here’s a must-do step: Check the internet before you sign that lease or fork over a down payment. There’s a decent chance the prices and speed you’re used to are vastly different in your new potential neighborhood.
Most major U.S. cities have the same carriers, like Verizon, AT&T and CenturyLink. But depending on your location, you could get a drastically different internet speed than another city … at the same price point.
The Markup created a handy map tool to check the internet speeds in 45 major cities. Here’s the lowdown on what they found and how to use the map yourself.
Markup analyzed data from over a million internet plans across 45 U.S. cities from four of the nation’s biggest internet providers: EarthLink, CenturyLink, Verizon and AT&T.
Researchers found the worst internet deals disproportionately popped up in the poorest, most diverse and historically redlined neighborhoods in all but two investigated cities. Oof.
The internet’s Big Four also use “tier flattening,” meaning they charge the same rate for different internet speeds, which can vary drastically. How is that legal?
Eager to take the map for a test drive? Here’s how:
When it comes to home security, camera placement is everything. Tech gadgets can be finicky, so their location can make a difference. For example, here are the best places to put your router for better internet speeds.
Test yours at SpeedTest.net to see. If things are slow, it might be time for a full system reboot to clear glitches and restore your speeds. Here’s the right way to do it:
Drop it like it’s hot(spot); 6G is coming: Researchers just transmitted data at an insane 938 gigabytes per second. That’s over 9,000 times faster than current 5G speeds and fast enough to download over 20 full-length movies in 1 second. When will we see it? It’ll take a few years to get these speeds on your phone.
Do you remember the sound of a dial-up modem? Ah, the robotic cat screeching, followed by the sound of pebbles in a blender, a high-pitched whine of a fax machine and a UFO holding a conversation. Back then, in the 1990s, how long did it take to download a four-minute song? Was it … A.) 3 minutes, B.) 17 minutes, C.) 36 minutes or D.) 74 minutes?
There are more than 115 million households in the U.S. that currently have broadband internet. That is an incredible amount of people who browse, download and work online. And when things don’t go as they should, it seriously impacts productivity.
If internet connections are decent, most people don’t give their Wi-Fi routers a second thought. There’s no reason to worry about a working router, right?
Wrong. An old router can slow down your internet speeds or have trouble handling multiple devices. Slow internet can be extremely frustrating — especially if you’re trying to get work or schoolwork done from home. There are ways to speed up your internet signal, so you can start by trying those tricks.
Internet providers push the priciest plans and do their best to convince you to spend more money. News flash: You may be overpaying. Calculate how much internet you need or use the quick guidelines below:
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic slowing network upgrades and development down, the 5G expansion hasn’t stopped. And soon, you’ll be able to access the latest in wireless networking tech from anywhere in the country.
But why the buzz around 5G, and what makes it worth spending an upgrade cycle for your phone on? For starters, you’ll get internet speeds that are often faster than your Wi-Fi network wherever you go. Tap or click here to see how fast 5G is.
