You have probably heard that Reliance Connects is now offering speeds of up to one Gig. Exciting, right? Whether you are streaming videos in 4k or playing multiplayer games online, Gig service with Reliance Connects can do it all. This service is a great fit for the modern family that often has more than a dozen connected devices. Although Gig service is available to nearly everyone, it does not mean everyone can use it. There are certain minimum requirements your home devices need to have to be able to deliver the higher rates of speed. To put it into perspective, the smallest speed package Reliance Connects offers is 50Mbps (Megabits per second). A gigabit is equal to 1,000 megabits. That is 20x faster than our lowest speed! Below we outline what is needed for your devices to be able to handle the higher rates of speed.

Equipment

You will get the most speed with a hardwired connection to a gig-compatible router. The ethernet cable used for that connection needs to be at least Cat5e or Cat6 (not Cat5). Cat5 does not have the higher throughput capability that Cat5e or Cat 6 has (meaning less data can travel through at a time). Reliance Connects offers a router that can be leased that works seamlessly with Gig service. If purchasing your own router, these are the specs you will want to make sure the router has: -Dual-band AC wifi (supports 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands) -400mW power radio(s) -Gigabit ethernet ports (10/100/1000) -4T4R antenna array for 5Ghz band (also called 4×4 MIMO); 2T2R antenna array for 2.4Ghz band (also called 2×2 MIMO) -Dual core CPU @ 1.0Ghz or better Make sure your system also has the latest version of Windows or Mac OS X. At the time this is being written, the latest version of Windows is Windows 10 “1909” which was released November 2019. The latest operating system for Mac is macOS 10.15 also known as “Catalina”. This was released October of 2019. Apple usually only continues to support the two most recent versions of their OS.

Interference

Keep in mind mobile and other wireless devices won’t receive the same speeds that hardwired devices will receive. This is in-part due to interference. For example, if you are in your bedroom upstairs on your wireless laptop and the router is located downstairs, hidden in a cabinet, that Wi-Fi signal will need to travel through a lot of materials to reach your device in your room. The farther a signal travels, the weaker the signal becomes. You can learn more about optimizing your home Wi-Fi signal strength here. Though wireless devices can’t support the full speed of gig service, they are still capable of getting high-rate speeds that are more than enough for any online activity.

Limitations

Although download speeds up to 900 Mbps are possible with a hardwired connection, maximum Wi-Fi speeds could be limited by your device’s age and model. Other factors could include how many Wi-Fi-connected devices are in use, website traffic and content provider server capacity. The speeds listed are a maximum under ideal conditions, your speeds may vary. Here are some examples of what you might expect with Gig service.   If you would like to learn if your home is in a Gig-capable area or have questions, please don’t hesitate to give our office a call at 702.346.5211 or stop by anytime!