How your location can affect your Internet speed

Connection speeds are hugely important to many broadband and Internet users, and with the wide range of activities that we use the Internet for these days more and more people are placing greater emphasis on having faster internet so that they can use their service for the activities that they want to use it for. However, whilst Internet Service Providers may advertise pretty impressive headline speeds it is important for all consumers to remember that there are a number of factors that can affect the actual speeds received compared to the speeds advertised by the ISP.

Many UK consumers have been caught out by looking at the headline speed that is advertised by an ISP and rushing to sign up to the plan because they think that this is the speed that they will actually get. Before you jump in head first and sign up to a plan based on advertised speed you need to consider whether you are actually likely to get anywhere near that speed and what sorts of things may impact on the actual speed that you get.

Will your distance affect your speed?

If you are on cable broadband or are considering cabled broadband services then you will not suffer any reduction in the quality of your signal based on your location. However, if you have or are considering copper cable internet, satellite internet, or mobile internet then your distance from the hob can make a huge difference to the actual speed that you receive. Basically, the further away you are from the hub the more degraded your signal will be and the slower your internet speeds will become.

Basically the hubs from which the signals are transmitted with these various forms of internet connection are telephone exchanges for copper wire broadband, a communications satellite in the case of satellite broadband, and mobile phone towers in the case of mobile internet. The further away you are from these, the more interrupted your signal may become and the lower the quality of your connection and speed.

Switching to fibre based broadband

The greater emphasis that consumers in the UK are now placing on high quality, reliable connections and faster speeds means that they do not want to have to put up with the problems that are caused by distance from the hub. This is why more and more people are now considering the benefits of fibre based broadband services, which offer greater speeds, increased reliability, and better overall quality of service without the need to worry about the problems that can strike with the other types of broadband and internet connections.