Introduction

Internet Speed Misconceptions

When Internet Speeds are advertised on TV, they usually advertise the Download speed. As a consumer watching 4K videos, download speed is your main concern, but as a content producer you need to also have fast Upload speeds. Unfortunately, not all Internet Service Providers offer fast upload speeds and low latency.

Internet Types

Fast Upload Speed and Low Latency are essential to streaming in high definition. For this reason, Fiber Optic Internet is preferred along with a wired connection to your router (instead of WiFi).

• Fiber Optic Internet: If this is available in your area, get this! You should be able to multi-stream in 4K with a 500/500mbps plan
• 5G Internet: If you are near a 5G tower, this is often a faster option than Cable. Make sure your 5G plan does not have limits.
• Starlink: If you are far from the city, Starlink often provides the fast enough Internet to stream in 720P or even 1080P
• Cable: They usually advertise fast Download speeds but hide the fact that the Upload speed is 10 to 20 mbps which is too slow to multi-stream in 1080P

If you want to improve reliability or improve your speeds when faster options are not available, consider getting a router that can combine two different Internet providers. Personally, I have Fiber Optic Internet and if an outage ever occured my router automatically starts using the 5G backup connection so I am never offline.

Test Your Speeds

There are many speed testing websites out there, this one is embedded for your convenience:

You want a minimum of 100 mbps Download, 200 mbps Upload, and latency below 15 ms. Ideally you would want a 500mbps Download/Upload with latency below 5ms. A high jitter may mean your connection is not consistent.

Common ISPs

Fiber Optic

• Frontier Fiber Optic
• Verizon FiOS (Not the 5G Service)
• ATT Fiber (Not Cable or DSL)

5G HotSpots

• T-Mobile 5G Home Internet
• Metro by T-Mobile 5G Internet
• Verizon 5G Home Internet

Satellite

• Starlink

Cable

• Spectrum (Be sure to ask if faster upload speeds are available at an additional cost)
• Xfinity (Be sure to ask if faster upload speeds are available at an additional cost)

Common Equipment

Routers

The Router provided by your Internet Service Provider is often limted in features and performance. Getting a router that supports two Internet services at once can help keep you online in the event of an outage of one of the providers.