Why Buying Gigabit Broadband Doesn’t Always Deliver 1Gbps

The problem here is that if you attempt to run a web-based broadband speedtest when there’s additional (hidden) network load being placed on that line, then you’re likely to get a slower result than expected. We say “hidden” because unfortunately many broadband routers don’t make it easy to see how much total live traffic is passing over your local network to the ISP.

The simplest way around this is to isolate all of the connected devices (i.e. switch them off and disable WiFi), except a single laptop or desktop computer and then run the test on that (ideally after checking that no updates are running in the background).

5. Web-Based Broadband Speedtests Are Unreliable

Most broadband speedtests were designed to cope with much slower connections and, as connection technologies have improved, some of those services have adapted better to the demands of the gigabit era than offers. Suffice to say that even if you’re setup to test properly then some testers will struggle to deliver a reliable result at levels of 1Gbps or faster.

All sorts of reasons can exist for this, such as the location of the server being used to conduct the test (if you have the option then try a few different ones and you’ll see what we mean), the type of test being conducted (single vs multi-thread tests can produce different results) and the test server itself simply being too congested with load to give an accurate result. But problems with accuracy aren’t always centred on under-reporting performance.

For example, a number of people on 1Gbps FTTP lines who have tried Netflix’s tester – fast.com – have boasted about getting results of 1.2Gbps or 1.3Gbps, which is despite the fact that such speeds may not even be possible on the setup they’re using (e.g. no.3 above and speed profile caps imposed by the ISP). Suffice to say, accurately testing gigabit speeds can be very tricky and don’t even get us started on multi-Gigabit lines.

6. Few Internet Services or Servers Can Harness 1Gbps.

Some people tend to assume, mistakenly, that once they get a 1Gbps broadband line then everything else online will automatically be able to harness all of that speed. In reality every online service will manage traffic in different ways to ensure a fair Quality of Service (QoS) and very few will actually be able to make full use of such speed.

Websites are a simple but useful example of this because, in order to balance performance between many users, the web servers often implement a degree of Traffic Management control over their bandwidth by capping the maximum amount that any single connection to the site can consume at once. This is partly why going from a 30Mbps to 1000Mbps line won’t make a whole heap of difference to website loading (plus websites are usually too small to tax a 1Gbps line in the first place).

Similarly, when you’re downloading the latest video game updates or software patches, the servers for those services will often manage their traffic to you in a similar way to ensure fair use (i.e. sharing capacity). Obviously big updates can raise the global demand and cause slow speeds for all, which will occur no matter how fast your line might be capable of going. Once again, this is the fault of internet servers and not your ISP.

On top of that the content you are consuming could have an upper performance limit. For example, a 4K video stream might require an average download rate of 25-30Mbps, so even watching several of those at the same time isn’t going to remotely tax a 1Gbps broadband line.

Likewise anybody using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) should remember that they need to pass your traffic requests through their own servers, which can significantly slow down your speeds.

In short, even if you live in a busy family environment with multiple demanding (high traffic) users at the same time, then the chances are that you may in reality only ever be able to use just a small part of the available broadband speed.

7. Ethernet (LAN) Cable as the Bottleneck

Most people tend to assume that one network cable is much the same as another, but that is a mistake. In fact when you connect a computer to your broadband router via a wired LAN cable then it’s often wise to check for the little writing near each end, which should tell you what “Category” (i.e. standard) the cable is. This is important because older categories may physically limit the speed of your wired link to the router.

Generally speaking, anything older than Category 5 (CAT5) Ethernet cable will NOT be able to handle speeds of even 100Mbps and it’s all too easy to plug-in an old LAN cable, often without realising that you may have seriously limited your network performance. As a rough guide..

Ethernet LAN Cable Categories

CAT 1 = 1Mbps

CAT 2 = 4Mbps

CAT 3 = 10Mbps

CAT 4 = 16Mbps

CAT 5 = 100Mbps (under 100 metres)

CAT 5E = 1Gbps (under 100 metres)

CAT 6 = 1Gbps (under 100 metres) or 10Gbps (under 55 metres)

CAT 6A = 10Gbps (under 100 metres)

CAT 7 / 7a = 10Gbps

CAT 8 = 40Gbps (under 30 metres)

In short, on a 1Gbps line you really want to ensure that the LAN cable being used is at least CAT5E, but preferably CAT6A. Yours truly ran 6A under the floorboards of our house some years ago and it’s still working well today (moving files around the LAN at multi-Gigabit speeds is no trouble). But we’d skip CAT7 completely as it lacks conformity with prior cable standards and has proven to be unpopular.

8. Upload Speeds Aren’t Always Symmetric

In an ideal world when you purchase a 1Gbps package then you’d get the same speed for both download and upload (symmetric), but sadly some ISPs continue to conceal the fact that their upstream performance is asymmetric and often significantly slower than downstream. One example of this is Virgin Media, which boasts about their Gig1 package but only gives you an upload speed of around 52Mbps.

Admittedly upload speeds are less important than downloads to ordinary domestic users, but nevertheless if you’re buying 1Gbps then you’d perhaps rightly be expecting more than a 52Mbps upload. Sadly, the same also happens on some full fibre (FTTP) ISPs and as such it’s always worth checking around sites like ISPreview.co.uk (see out ‘ISP Listings and Comparison‘ database) to see the upstream performance before you buy.

9. Network Faults

We probably don’t even need to mention this one, but suffice to say that your ISP or their suppliers may – from time to time – suffer network, routing or other faults that can result in significantly slower speeds until the issue is fixed. As such it’s wise to keep an eye on your connection, conduct the occasional speedtest, and make sure that any such issues are immediately notified to your ISP.

10. Underpowered Router CPU / Ethernet Power Saving / Computer

Finally, we should consider that some gigabit providers today still make the mistake of bundling some extremely cheap routers with their packages. Often such devices may make big claims about their features and performance, but in the real-world they may end up under-delivering because the processor (CPU) could struggle to handle all of the load you place on the device (especially in a multi-user environment).

More often than not you’ll notice this more via an increase in device connectivity problems (via wifi or otherwise) than a clear loss of usable service speed, but nevertheless it’s something to be mindful of. One way to reduce this problem is to plug a separate Mesh WiFi system into your router.

Similarly, we also want to sound a warning about Ethernet (LAN) power saving modes. You may see this setting on some routers, but in our experience it can cause Gigabit LAN ports to run at much slower speeds (often reducing them to 100Mbps) and so, unless saving a truly tiny amount of power is a really big deal for you, then we’d recommend disabling power saving modes on your wired connection(s).

One other thing to add here is that sometimes the end-user’s main device (computer, tablet, Smartphone etc.) may also be hobbled by the use of an older storage drive (HDD – Hard Disk Drive) that is simply not fast enough to keep up with a 1Gbps line (i.e. unable to write the data at that speed), which is not really an issue for modern kit. One good example is when you try to download a file directly to an older USB2.0 flash drive, which are much slower.

Conclusion

Hopefully you’ve found this article useful. The lesson in all this is simple – if you’re lucky enough to have the option then you can choose 1Gbps today and be very.. very happy (while also future proofing yourself). But often the better course may be to pick a “slower” mid-tier, like 300Mbps or 500Mbps, because these will probably be able to give you more performance then you’d currently be able to harness and can save money.

Demands are constantly rising and so there will soon come a day when you can harness 1Gbps to it’s full potential in a greater number of ways, but for now it’s more in the “nice to have” category than “necessary,” due to the real-world limitations that can affect the performance of your internet connectivity.