Top 5 Criteria for Choosing the Best Internet Service Provider

The internet is something that can no longer be shooed away. People need this and it is important how it has worked its way into the minute activities of our lives like using the GPS online or checking for that one store downtown that buys used furniture. It could be something very irrelevant to the life of a person too like cat videos that people watch just for a good laugh. This is just one way of telling how important the web and the internet are for us.

Therefore, you need to pick the one best for you, just so you do not have to get into the hassle of having the wrong service and incurring more and more charges till you drop.

So, are you trying to find the best services that work for you in a long term?

You need to consider some important criteria to choose the services that do just that for you. 

Why is a reliable internet important?

Scenario 1: 

When taking an Uber, you would want to stay connected with someone at home, especially on long distances. Thus, it helps you stay in touch with friends and family at all times under any circumstances.

Scenario 2: 

You could need to perform certain activities that require the internet connection at all times, like when you did for the WFH (work from home) situations. Now, you need the internet for everything, booking flights, sending emails, using the cloud, and much more.

Scenario 3: 

You are bored? Want to watch something on TV or stream it? Have get-togethers at your home? You need the internet for all such things too, for TV, for streaming, and for always having Netflix when needed but you need the internet for it. Moreover, for cable, you need the provider’s services, like with Mediacom Paquetes which provides you with reliable cable and the internet too, at affordable prices.

Scenario 4: 

Your sister is using Netflix, and your mom is on YouTube, while your dad is browsing live sports, and you are not getting enough juice to run that software for your college project. Sometimes the users may weigh higher than the number of Mbps bought and the package with uploading and downloading speed. You need to check what your provider is promising and delivering. 

Scenario 5: 

Are you tired and frustrated with the internet of where you are? Do you wonder, the problem may be the locations and not the internet provider? It is thus vital to keep a check on who you keep as a provider and their connection in the area. You can expect one provider you asked about and is the best in your friend’s city to work for you too. 

So this brings us to what are those factors that are important to check when choosing the best ISP. Read up ahead to learn that.

The 5 Criteria Checks Should Be:

• Location/ Availability

The most important deciding factor is the location of the ISP from where you are located. This is important because an ISP that does not operate from your area directly may cause issues in the signals and more outages with the time taken to send maintenance. This is usually the case for suburban areas with ISP towers located in-city. The locations also matter because they give you the options to choose different ISP and not just a handful of or in some areas even just two or three options. 

• Usage

You need to check what sort of usage you have at your home or office before considering an ISP. The reason is that you may have higher usage than the speeds offered by your ISP or lesser download and upload speeds. You could also be trapped in a contract and may incur extra costs if this may be the case.

To analyze and discuss your usage with customer services of the providers and double-check with families and peers in the neighbors with similar usage as yours and which provider works best in the area but do not just rely on that, self-search and make a wise choice. This will save you money in the longer term too.

• Speed

The speed must be sufficient to sustain individual and collective customers. This includes a period of high demand and even when most customers sign up for the highest speeds. The delivery of the speed bought by the customer is an optimal way to retain them.

The number when you look at plans is called the bandwidth. The highest bandwidth depends on the provider, most ISP with fiber connections host up to 1000 Mbps of speeds and some DSL are still on the 3 to 6 Mbps of speeds. However, which speed is best for you will depend on your usage.

For simple surfing and emailing optimal speed to work with is 10 Mbps of download and at least 3 Mbps of uploads speeds while for more professional work like using tools and software, gaming, streaming, and much like this, the optimal speed would be through a fiber connection. But can be run at faster speeds on other types of connections such as cable or satellite. 

• Cost

You will need to weigh the pros and cons and check which provider suits you best. You can choose a provider who has a good connection at lower prices or excellent speed quality at higher prices, depending on your usage and what speed you require. For a business with 25 employees, a $1000 a month of fiber connection is optimal but not for a household with kids and family, it will be wildly expensive. To understand your usage and then buy.

• Connection Quality

The connection type and quality make a huge difference and even though fiber is the latest of it, its availability of it is in just some key areas. Satellite internet, on the other hand, is slower or seems slower because the latency is higher due to many travel paths for the signals but some like HughesNet offer lower latency in rural areas and great pricing. However, if you live in the city, it is better to go for the fiber or coaxial cable type of connections being Xfinity and Spectrum.

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Wrapping Up

Last but not least your ISP should be reliable and have good customer support to retain customers in a positive way, not because of the demand for the services or such.

FAQ: Top 5 Criteria for Choosing the Best Internet Service Provider (ISP)