‘What’s my speed going to be?’ is everyone’s question today when it comes to internet connections.  What most providers give you in their packages is the maximum speed. It’s the speed that you will hopefully get, if everything else remains the same – that is, in perfect conditions. They don’t however, so your speed could vary between almost at that top speed to way, way below till you feel like screaming. So what does one do? Grin and bear it? Or keep changing providers? Or call and scream, email angrily, vent till you’re blue in the face?

First of all, let’s take a look at what broadband speeds are all about, then go on to see how you can pick a good speed package and how you can change things to get better speeds. Broadband speeds are much, much faster than dial up speeds so the first time you’re on broadband, it seems like heaven. Add to that the fact that it frees your phone line and that’s even better! The web pages load much quicker, your emails get downloaded faster and your uploads happen in hardly any time. Such bliss after those long waits that dial up subjected you to. Then you get used to the faster speeds, you see others getting speeds that are faster than yours, you compare notes and suddenly, you’re not satisfied with the speeds you are getting.

If you want to know what speeds you are getting right now, take an online speed test. Do this a couple of times a day so you have a fairly good idea of the average speed you get on an everyday basis.

Now, an explanation of what these speeds are all about. A fast connection depends on how many bytes you can download every second and it is measured in Mbps – that is, megabytes per second and Kbps – Kilobytes per second. To see the difference, when you were on a dial up connection, you typically had a speed of 56 Kbps but with broadband, the speeds could go up to around ten times faster – that is 512Kbps in the very standard package.

You also need to know that speed isn’t everything – there are other factors you need to take into account like reliability when you are looking at an internet connection package. What you should look at is the speed you need. That would depend on what you use the internet for. Higher speeds mean you pay more for them so don’t look at them if the kind of work you do on the Internet doesn’t warrant it.

Take a look at the kind of user you are and then make your decision about speeds.

The email checker

You might not even switch on your computer every day – just when necessary, a few times a week to check for any email that might have come in and a bit of cursory surfing. So it really doesn’t matter if the downloads do not happen at lightning speed. The basic, standard package is all you will need. That would come at speeds of 512 Kbps and if you do need something faster later, there’s always the option of upgrading later.

The everyday surfer

You connect to the Internet every day and you check your mails, surf, put up your pictures or files on the net, maybe even download some music or videos, watch Youtube, listen to music and chat with friends. You feel the need to step into the virtual world everyday but you are not a heavy user and your whole life or work does not revolve around cyberspace. You really don’t need those super fast connections for which you will have to pay more. All you need is a decent 2Mbps to 4Mbps speed.

The heavy-duty cyber addict

Now you’re the kind who thrives on speed and you need the kind of speed that zips you through the cyber-highway. A lot of your waking hours is spent in front of your monitor and you want the speed so you don’t mind paying for it. You also need to check out which provider gives you speeds that touch the maximum or are close to it for most of the day. Slowing down on a crowded Internet highway is not for you. Speeds of 8 Mbps is what you need – or anything over 4 Mbps at the least depending on what you use the Internet for. Downloading a lot of movies or music, video streaming, uploading huge files or gaming need the speeds to be super fast to be enjoyable.

So take a look at your Internet usage and be practical about what kind of a user you are and what speeds should suit your requirements. Then go look at the various providers and the packages they offer.