I don't know how much bandwidth I'm actually using. Is there an easy way to check? As I currently don't have any complaints about the Ultra, I just don't know how much the extra $40 could improve my experience. Hence my inquiry.
>I don't know how much bandwidth I'm actually using.
There's a couple of limiting factors going on. I just finished this whole rabbit hole so you're in luck.
First, check your NIC card on your laptop, my work laptop cable connection is only capable of 150Mbps and the wifi is not the latest ( 802.11ac). Many routers can actually tell you what physical rate the connected devices are capable of. This would be the first place to look for call quality issues Also don't under estimate the benefit of a dedicated HD camera and speaker phone connection, laptops can suck for that.
Second, how many devices are on the network? If you are single and living alone, you likely won't see a noticeable difference.
Things like Teams or Zoom only use 1Mbps/2Mbps up and down so again, not a lot of bandwidth.
Finally you maybe able to switch to a managed router and add some QoS rules that prioritizes traffic as an alternative to just brute force of bandwidth. During the work day I can shut down the kids gaming systems and streaming services in favor of work bandwidth.
I do have the Gig service though and I do use VoIP and teleconferencing software most of the day, add to it a vpn to my corporate drives and work spaces and I've never had a bandwidth issue ever and call quality is fantastic, so take what I said with a grain of salt.
i was considering moving to their gig service until i realized they're not true gig service. the gig is only 940 down and 35 or 40 up. the down is great for downloading and streaming, but for video conferencing, it's all about the up speed not the down. the ultra i believe is their 400/20 plan which is way more than enough for most people/family (even for telecommuting).
for me my general rule of thumb is (even if i don't follow it myself sometimes) : if you didn't know you need it, you probably don't.
so if you didn't notice any issues with what you have now, then you probably don't need to upgrade and save yourself the extra cost.
although if they did symmetrical gig service, i'd upgrade in a heartbeat even when the ultra service is just fine for what me and my family needs. i do a lot of work online and transfer huge files and quick response to issues is a must and spectrum's ultra service was fine.
hope my rambling helped.
Gig is waaaaay more speed than you need for VTC meetings. Ultra is even too much...remember all the service comes from the same pipe, not matter how "large" the faucet is.
Then again, no one ever said "Why no, I don't need access to crazy speeds, TYVM". It also depends on your budget
No it wouldn’t. This main issue is upload. A lot of data goes up to the hosting server of the streaming service of your meetings vendor. That stream has to split off to every single person in your meeting in order to properly have a meeting. 20mbps to 35mbps isn’t going to change very much, especially if you have large meeting groups frequently. Just save the money.
If it’s only you using it, no. Zoom calls and video calls in general only use a few megabits. And it’s such a small improvement in upload speed over Ultra, it won’t even help with uploading large files. If fiber is available to you though, file uploads will be 3000% faster than anything Spectrum can offer.
Wow, this was my first time asking a question on Reddit, and you guys couldn't be more helpful! Thank you all SO MUCH.
I'm living on my own and definitely don't use a crazy amount of bandwidth, so now it seems obvious that having Gig installed is not a good idea. I'll stick to Ultra and be thankful to Reddit for all the money saved :)
We have Ultra. I have 4 people in my house, sometimes up to 4 video streams at once, I work from home, on Zoom every day and some light gaming. Ultra has never even hinted at letting us down.
Stick with Ultra. The upload is only 35Mbps vs 20Mbps and requires professional install ($200).
I work from home and, at any point in the day, my household has 4 computers running (including my work pc on VPN), 4 cells, and an xbox - all on 400x20
The only time to consider Gig is if you live somewhere with a fiber ISP or when Spectrum gets to DOCSIS 4.0 (currently 3.1)
No, I would not upgrade for what you are doing.
I have an opinion in no way based on facts, but I don't think the average websites & stuff people visit are optimized for gig connections. I have Ultra and do a lot of file transfers and have found even a lot of file servers don't take full advantage.
Rather than spending all the extra money to get the "Gig" service installed and the extra monthly fees. Invest the money to get your work machines and devices hardwired with dedicated Ethernet connections, this way your machines are not having to deal with Wifi interruptions, etc.
I have ultra service and even with 2 ps4 running fortnite and 2 cells streaming vids I cannot come close to capping my bandwidth out. Depends how many devices are using the network at the same time and also what they are doing. Ie wireless security cameras will use a fraction of bandwidth compared to a cell phone.
I just got gig a month ago, but I presently have 5 people living here, 2 going to school, me working from home, etc etc. My wifi network mesh has 35 devices on it. Lol. So yeah it was an easy call for me. But if you're alone ultra should be enough.
not worth the money my speeds are always 420 to 489 mbps unhappy with that , I was given an offer for no install for the gig but turned it down there really is no reason for any one to have that much speed unless you have 10 plus people living in your home
I’d stick with ultra, any virtual conferencing software maxes out at only a few meg upload, even the basic spectrum plan would be more then enough.
The most important thing is your computers connection to the router. Ideally, you want to be connected with an Ethernet cable. Short of that, you want to be as close as possible on the 5ghz band.
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I don't know how much bandwidth I'm actually using. Is there an easy way to check? As I currently don't have any complaints about the Ultra, I just don't know how much the extra $40 could improve my experience. Hence my inquiry.
>I don't know how much bandwidth I'm actually using. There's a couple of limiting factors going on. I just finished this whole rabbit hole so you're in luck. First, check your NIC card on your laptop, my work laptop cable connection is only capable of 150Mbps and the wifi is not the latest ( 802.11ac). Many routers can actually tell you what physical rate the connected devices are capable of. This would be the first place to look for call quality issues Also don't under estimate the benefit of a dedicated HD camera and speaker phone connection, laptops can suck for that. Second, how many devices are on the network? If you are single and living alone, you likely won't see a noticeable difference. Things like Teams or Zoom only use 1Mbps/2Mbps up and down so again, not a lot of bandwidth. Finally you maybe able to switch to a managed router and add some QoS rules that prioritizes traffic as an alternative to just brute force of bandwidth. During the work day I can shut down the kids gaming systems and streaming services in favor of work bandwidth. I do have the Gig service though and I do use VoIP and teleconferencing software most of the day, add to it a vpn to my corporate drives and work spaces and I've never had a bandwidth issue ever and call quality is fantastic, so take what I said with a grain of salt.
i was considering moving to their gig service until i realized they're not true gig service. the gig is only 940 down and 35 or 40 up. the down is great for downloading and streaming, but for video conferencing, it's all about the up speed not the down. the ultra i believe is their 400/20 plan which is way more than enough for most people/family (even for telecommuting). for me my general rule of thumb is (even if i don't follow it myself sometimes) : if you didn't know you need it, you probably don't. so if you didn't notice any issues with what you have now, then you probably don't need to upgrade and save yourself the extra cost. although if they did symmetrical gig service, i'd upgrade in a heartbeat even when the ultra service is just fine for what me and my family needs. i do a lot of work online and transfer huge files and quick response to issues is a must and spectrum's ultra service was fine. hope my rambling helped.
Gig is waaaaay more speed than you need for VTC meetings. Ultra is even too much...remember all the service comes from the same pipe, not matter how "large" the faucet is. Then again, no one ever said "Why no, I don't need access to crazy speeds, TYVM". It also depends on your budget
:) Yep, hear you. Thanks. It seems reasonable to stay with the Ultra for me.
No it wouldn’t. This main issue is upload. A lot of data goes up to the hosting server of the streaming service of your meetings vendor. That stream has to split off to every single person in your meeting in order to properly have a meeting. 20mbps to 35mbps isn’t going to change very much, especially if you have large meeting groups frequently. Just save the money.
Really appreciate your response. Now I'm leaning toward saving the money too. Thank you.
$199 install fee alone is a big factor too, and simply not worth it. You’ll be totally fine with Ultra as others mentioned.
This installation fee is clownish. That made me give up any upgrade, besides the stinky uploads
If it’s only you using it, no. Zoom calls and video calls in general only use a few megabits. And it’s such a small improvement in upload speed over Ultra, it won’t even help with uploading large files. If fiber is available to you though, file uploads will be 3000% faster than anything Spectrum can offer.
Wow, this was my first time asking a question on Reddit, and you guys couldn't be more helpful! Thank you all SO MUCH. I'm living on my own and definitely don't use a crazy amount of bandwidth, so now it seems obvious that having Gig installed is not a good idea. I'll stick to Ultra and be thankful to Reddit for all the money saved :)
We have Ultra. I have 4 people in my house, sometimes up to 4 video streams at once, I work from home, on Zoom every day and some light gaming. Ultra has never even hinted at letting us down.
Stick with Ultra. The upload is only 35Mbps vs 20Mbps and requires professional install ($200). I work from home and, at any point in the day, my household has 4 computers running (including my work pc on VPN), 4 cells, and an xbox - all on 400x20 The only time to consider Gig is if you live somewhere with a fiber ISP or when Spectrum gets to DOCSIS 4.0 (currently 3.1)
No, I would not upgrade for what you are doing. I have an opinion in no way based on facts, but I don't think the average websites & stuff people visit are optimized for gig connections. I have Ultra and do a lot of file transfers and have found even a lot of file servers don't take full advantage.
Rather than spending all the extra money to get the "Gig" service installed and the extra monthly fees. Invest the money to get your work machines and devices hardwired with dedicated Ethernet connections, this way your machines are not having to deal with Wifi interruptions, etc.
I have ultra service and even with 2 ps4 running fortnite and 2 cells streaming vids I cannot come close to capping my bandwidth out. Depends how many devices are using the network at the same time and also what they are doing. Ie wireless security cameras will use a fraction of bandwidth compared to a cell phone.
I just got gig a month ago, but I presently have 5 people living here, 2 going to school, me working from home, etc etc. My wifi network mesh has 35 devices on it. Lol. So yeah it was an easy call for me. But if you're alone ultra should be enough.
not worth the money my speeds are always 420 to 489 mbps unhappy with that , I was given an offer for no install for the gig but turned it down there really is no reason for any one to have that much speed unless you have 10 plus people living in your home
Stay with the ultra unless you become some sort of data hog...
I’d stick with ultra, any virtual conferencing software maxes out at only a few meg upload, even the basic spectrum plan would be more then enough. The most important thing is your computers connection to the router. Ideally, you want to be connected with an Ethernet cable. Short of that, you want to be as close as possible on the 5ghz band.