You can find many options to hire fiber optics for your home. You have rates of all kinds, with different prices and also higher or lower speeds. However, before hiring a maximum fiber optic rate, to have a higher speed, it is advisable that you take into account some factors. We are going to talk about this in this article, so that you can decide if you are really interested or not and what you should always watch.
A problem that may arise is that you hire a higher internet rate and you can’t take advantage of it. It can happen if you don’t have adapted devices, for example. Therefore, before contracting the highest fiber optic rate you can, you should review some aspects that we are going to mention.
What to check before increasing the fiber rate
Maybe you have a 300 Mbps fiber optic rate, for example, and you have seen that the same company you have, or even a different one, offers to contract 1 Gbps. You want to have greater speed, since you think you can take advantage of it, and you think about changing to that higher rate. However, you may not be able to actually use it as you expect.
Capacity of your devices
Something you should do is check the capacity of your devices very well. You may be connecting a computer via Ethernet cable, but also via Wi-Fi. In both cases, it needs to be compatible with the speed you are going to hire and to be able to take advantage of it. Otherwise, you would not be able to achieve that capacity.
For example, you should check that your computer has Gigabit network card. Otherwise, you will not be able to reach more than 100 symmetrical Mbps. If you contract 1 Gbps, you would be wasting a large part of that capacity. But you should also see that you have compatible cables with that speed, since it is necessary that they be, at least, CAT 5e.
With respect to Wifi, something like that. It is important to have a wireless card that can operate at high speed. It is not uncommon to find adapters that cannot operate at more than 600 or 800 Mbps. This card must be dual band and also compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 6 protocol.
Router
You should also look at what router you have and its capacity. If you connect by cable, beyond being Gigabit and being in good condition, you should not have any major problems. On the other hand, if you are going to connect via Wi-Fi, then you do need to take into account some essential features to take advantage of that new higher rate.
To achieve 1 Gbps wirelessly, you need to have Wi-Fi 6. Logically it must be double band. You can check the maximum theoretical speed it supports, since if it is lower you will not be able to take advantage of those 1000 Mbps that you could have in optimal circumstances if you contract the maximum fiber optic speed.
Be careful with 10 Gbps
We have focused on what to check if you are going to contract a 1 Gbps fiber optic rate, which is the most common. However, there is already the option of even hire 10 Gbps. It is not the most common, at least currently, but it is possible that in a short time we will see it as something more frequent.
In that case, you will need a very modern network card, with 10 Gbps capacity. The same goes for the router. In fact, in many cases you will not be able to take advantage of this speed, since the devices are not adapted. You would not be able to reach those 10 Gbps and you would have to change routers, as well as network adapters.
Therefore, keep everything we have explained in mind if you are going to contract a higher fiber optic rate. If it is 1 Gbps, you should have no problems, since today most routers have Gigabit Ethernet ports, as well as good wireless capacity. Yes, you could have more difficulties if you use older devices. Now, with 10 Gbps you do have to be more careful and make sure you use compatible devices.
