What Download Speed Should I Expect From X Fi Gigabit Router

What Is Gig-Speed Internet?

Gig speed. No, information technology's non roady slang for how speedily a rock prove can be set up; it's the next big affair in domicile internet. Gigabit-speed internet, also called ultra-high-speed internet, is leaps and premises better than traditional cable cyberspace, and it may even exist cheaper, depending on which services are bachelor about you.

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Read on to learn why you lot should find out if gigabit-speed internet is bachelor in your town.

What is gig-speed internet?

Gig-speed internet is shorthand for broadband service with up to gigabit-per-second download speeds. It'due south been around for simply a few years, and in merely a handful of cities, but it's the time to come of internet connectivity in the domicile.

The biggest bottleneck in home connectivity is presently the net connection, and as nosotros add more uses for it — like Netflix streaming, gaming and myriad of the best smart home devices — we'll demand faster connections with more data.

It's also likely that as gigabit speeds become mainstream, the price of connectivity volition come up down as well. In areas where gigabit speeds have been introduced, prices driblet for internet access across the board, even for lower-tier plans.

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Who offers Gigabit internet, and what does information technology price?

While ultra-high-speed internet is condign more widely available across the U.S., the rollout is however in its early days. If y'all live in a major metropolis, chances are skilful that some people in your area take gigabit speeds available to them, but it's still pretty much a neighborhood-by-neighborhood matter. All major internet service providers offer some course of gigabit service, though the locations where it's available vary greatly from one company to the side by side.

Gigabit Cyberspace services compared

Smaller cities and towns aren't completely out of luck, however. Many communities have proactively invested in local cobweb networks, providing ready-made infrastructure for whatever service provider that wants to offer ultra-loftier-speed net. Check your local options when considering internet providers, as many smaller companies are using the shift to gigabit every bit an opportunity to compete against the big boys, offer blazing speeds in places where the major companies aren't.

Pricing is also varied, but the overall trend is clear: Internet providers are charging prices similar to those for broadband, only delivering gigabit speeds. While this may change over time, correct now, you tin go the fastest internet around for the price of a good cablevision internet subscription.

At present, comport in mind that this is internet service pricing we're talking nearly, and that comes with a lot of caveats. Finding actual pricing data is hard, and many of these prices are introductory rates that apply for the first year or two with a long-term understanding. You may be able to get a amend deal when bundling your internet with Goggle box service, or you may be charged an additional monthly fee for the unique hardware that gigabit speeds require. Equally always, y'all'll want to look into what options are bachelor in your area, and you lot volition definitely desire to research pricing.

How does Gigabit internet work?

While gigabit cyberspace is still rolling out beyond different parts of the U.South., internet service providers are offer gigabit speeds using two technologies.

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The offset is over fiber-optic networks. The data capacity of fiber-optic lines and the lack of interference (a mutual issue on standard copper lines) makes the light-driven data technology perfect for delivering baking gigabit speeds. Until recently, gigabit speeds were offered only by providers with fiber infrastructure, like Verizon Fios (opens in new tab) and Google Fiber.

But a second player has entered the game, in the course of the DOCSIS three.1 standard, which enables gigabit speeds over the aforementioned coaxial cables used for standard cablevision net. But it's not quite the same, since the new format boasts i-Gbps download speeds but only 35-Mbps upload speeds.

How does gigabit compare to current broadband speeds?

Compared to standard cablevision-based broadband packages, which offer download speeds of 20 to 100 Mbps, gigabit speeds are an exponential increase. We're talking ane,000 Mbps, or 1 1000000 bits per 2d.

The other major do good of gigabit (in most current implementations) is that download speeds are matched with like upload speeds. Traditionally, you'll get a much smaller pipe for uploading, which is role of the reason you can lookout man a v-infinitesimal YouTube video in roughly 5 minutes, but uploading the same amount of footage can take over an hour.

Faster upload speeds are also a boon for activities such every bit streaming your gameplay with services like Twitch.

What tin can I practise with gigabit speeds?

All that data — a meg bits per second — ways that you tin can practice everything yous already do online, but a lot more than of it, and faster. All of your usual web browsing and streaming will be supported, only with higher speeds and less congestion on your home network. That said, there are several specific uses that benefit dramatically from the new fatty pipe of data that gigabit connectivity offers.

Streaming video: All that bandwidth ways lag-free Netflix, even when y'all're watching dissimilar shows on different devices at once. But the existent improvement is that 4K streaming which uses four to v times as much data every bit a 1080p stream,volition be just every bit fast, without the interminable loading and buffer times you lot may experience on standard broadband.
Online gaming: Anyone who has e'er lost a friction match due to a laggy connection will appreciate the switch to gigabit speeds. With matching up/down speeds, you'll never again need to worry about slow ping rates and spotty connections.
Immersive media: Ultra Hd streaming is only the tip of the iceberg, as faster upload and download speeds brand more than immersive media, like 360-degree video and VR, more than attainable. As higher data capacity goes mainstream, yous tin can look new media formats to accept advantage of this, only every bit streaming video exploded when broadband became mainstream.
Data backup: Traditionally, backing upwards data has been centered around local storage, similar external hard drives, especially for information-heavy uses like videos. With the movement to gigabit speeds, await more cloud adequacy and backups that yous tin can access anywhere, anytime. See our guide to the best cloud backup services.
Multiple users: Finally, the biggest reason to switch to gigabit speed isn't to satisfy one prolific data hog, but rather several users. A family of four can max out a broadband connection quite easily with piffling more than a picture marathon and a round of Grand Theft Automobile online, but gigabit speeds hope to support far more data simultaneously, making information technology possible to stream music in the kitchen, 4K video in the living room and a game in the kids' rooms without a hiccup.

Can my current modem handle gigabit speeds?

The short answer is mayhap. Without equipment to support either high-speed fiber-optic or the DOCSIS 3.ane standard for gigabit over coax, you might be out of luck with your current networking gear. The proficient news is that existing fiber and cable internet users may exist able to upgrade but past swapping out their old router for a newer gigabit-capable one.

The products found on our best cablevision modems folio primarily utilize the older DOCsis three.0 standard, but there are still great options out at that place, like the Netgear CM1000 (opens in new tab), the Motorola MB8600 (opens in new tab) or the Arris Surfboard SB8200 (opens in new tab), which are all approved for employ with cablevision-base internet from providers like Cox, Spectrum and Comcast Xfinity.

Fiber-based services, like Google Cobweb and Verizon Fios, really require a dissimilar modem-like slice of networking hardware, called an optical network terminal, that converts fiber-optic signal to electronic ethernet. Without the right hardware, there is no way to get gigabit speeds.

The stickier issue is that similar upgrades demand to exist fabricated throughout an internet provider's infrastructure. As long as some areas are beingness serviced with sometime equipment, there volition be parts of the country where gigabit speeds just aren't available. Forth those same lines, if you're still using dial-upwardly or DSL, you're fresh out of luck.

Tin can my Wi-Fi router handle Gigabit speeds?

The all-time Wi-Fi routers can, in some instances, handle gigabit speeds — 802.11ac Wi-Fi, running on the 5-GHz band, with a MU-MIMO router using two or more antennae, you lot tin can get speeds up to and slightly faster than 1Gbps. And the newer 802.11ax (too called Wi-Fi 6) standard is constitute in many on new routers that can handle gigabit speeds with ease.

More: The All-time Wi-Fi Routers Bachelor Right At present

Older wireless standards, like 802.11g and n, cannot offer the same sort of throughput. If yous oasis't upgraded your router to 802.11ac or the newer Wi-Fi 6, yous'll definitely want to practise so when switching to gigabit internet, or your onetime router volition exist a major bottleneck that kills all the benefits of your zippy new gigabit speeds.

Can my computer or phone handle gigabit speeds?

Maybe, but peradventure non. About modernistic ethernet connections are capable of treatment gigabit speeds, and you'll find those on enough of laptops and nearly all desktops today. If y'all want the all-time speeds possible on your PC, ethernet is the manner to get. The bad news is that ethernet ports are getting harder to find on laptops. And phones have no options for wired connectivity; Wi-Fi is all you've got.

If you're up to speed with the latest Wi-Fi standards, you can go a full gigabit connexion to your telephone or laptop, but information technology's highly unlikely that you'll ever hitting that full capacity during normal use. But does it matter? In practical terms, whatever device that can connect to the cyberspace volition piece of work with gigabit internet, since it dictates only the speeds coming to and from your home. And all of your connected devices benefit in some way, because a gigabit connection is similar a multilane throughway, with plenty of information for every device to utilise at in one case.

Credit: Tom's Guide

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Brian Westover is currently Atomic number 82 Annotator, PCs and Hardware at PCMag. Until recently, yet, he was Senior Editor at Tom's Guide, where he led the site's TV coverage for several years, reviewing scores of sets and writing virtually everything from 8K to HDR to HDMI 2.1. He besides put his calculating knowledge to good use by reviewing many PCs and Mac devices, and too led our router and habitation networking coverage. Prior to joining Tom'south Guide, he wrote for TopTenReviews and PCMag.