What is broadband speed ?

Broadband Speed is actually the Latency of a broadband link not the Bandwidth as often advertised. Internet Service Providers and the media continually confuse the general public by representing the network bandwidth or connection speed as a measure of broadband speeds. Often to the point that Internet providers advertise each NBN or broadband service tier as the “Speed Tier” or “Internet Plan”.

                 “Bandwidth is not the Broadbands Speed”

What is Broadband Speed ?

Firstly lets determine what speed actually is and what the limiting factors are. For this we need to look a little more closer at what the Internet is, what we are using it for and how that actually works.

When you open your web browser and request a website or url, your device sends out a request to the web server that hosts the particular site and content you are requestion. That request must travel from your device, across your WIFI connection or LAN cable to your switch. It then travels to your Internet Router and then heads out onto the Internet. Now lets say you are requesting content from the US. That request leaves your router, heads to your capital city in Australia, goes to the East coast of Australia and then goes under sea via Optic Fibre to the US. Once it gets to the destination server it says to this server “Hey please send me your home page”. Then the home page of this website traverses the exact same path and delivers it to your device and presents it in your browser.

This whole process takes less than a second and we measure this given amount of time it takes for this data to travel there and back in ms milliseconds. The quicker this data transfer rate is, the quicker the data will be delivered and the faster your Internet connection will be. This measurement is known as the “Latency”.

What is Latency and what can effect Latency?

We now know how we measure the latency by timing how long it takes for a data packet to travel from the source to the destination and back and we represent this a a time in milliseconds (ms). Of course just like any traffic, many factors can alter, effect and increase our latency. Below are some of the key factors that will increase the latency of your Internet connection or even cause the loss of some data if severe (packet loss)

• The distance between you and the service you are requesting
• The various and number of network devices the packet must traverse on this trip
• The medium of the network infrastructure
• The maximum capacity of any leg of the journey
• The number of people using the same network your connection is using
• Any Network issues encountered
• Speed lost to secure any data networks or packets
• Speed loss to other encryption protocols such as VPN’s.

We have created a table representing bare Latency to Australia Capital Cities here. By studying this you will get a general idea of how distance influences the speed of your internet connection and the user experience of online activities.

What is Bandwidth?

Bandwidth, refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transferred over a network path within a given period. It is usually measured in bits per second (bps) or multiples thereof (Kbps, Mbps, Gbps, etc.). The higher the bandwidth the more simultaneous connections you can have to the internet. This still can become an important factor in choosing an broadband connection, especially if you have many users or devices you want to access the internet simultaneously. However it is also important to inspect how much data is actually required by each of these users or devices as most Internet applications have low bandwidth requirements and many such as web browsing only need a small amount of bandwidth, and only every now and then, when you request a new web page.

It describes how much data we can accommodate over a particular medium and/or network infrastructure at any point in time.

How much bandwidth do I need ?

The below table gives provides an idea of how much bandwidth is required for certain devices and activities. Add up any of these services that will be used simultaneously in your environment and ensure the available bandwidth is how much bandwidth you have purchased for your broadband connection. If we surpass this number then we will have data queueing, which will increase our latency which in turn will provide slower speeds.

Internet Application	Required Bandwidth for each application
Smart TVs – Netflix – Prime and other TV Streaming Services	1.5 Mbps up to 5 Mbps for HD and up to 10-15 Mbps for 4K
Web Browsing – Web Pages	less than 1 Mbps
Music Streaming	0.5 Mbps
YouTube and other Standard Definition Web Video	1 Mbps up to 2.5 Mbps for HD (720p)
Online Gaming	3 Mbps and for this also 1 Mbps upload speed
Social Media and Texting	less than 0.5 Mbps
PABX, Zoom and Teams (No Video)	less than 0.5 Mbps
Video Conferencing – Video Calls – Teams, Zoom etc	3Mbps
Remote Desktop Sessions RDP	less than 0.5 Mbps

Bandwidth Versus Latency – My Analogy

As I look out of my window, I see a major arterial road. It has 3 lanes heading north and 3 lanes south. If we take the 3 northern lanes for our example, this is what would be representative of our bandwidth. The speed limit on this particular road is 80Km/h. This represents our latency. Right now it is fairly quiet on the road and all cars are cruising along at 80km/h.

Now if I went downstairs, and closed 2 of the 3 lanes (reduce the bandwidth by 2/3) the cars would still be travelling at 80km/h as traffic is light. Conversely, I could add 3 more North bound lanes, the cars would still be traveling at 80km/h. No faster, since the speed limit is set at 80km/h I can never go faster, no matter how many lanes I add. This is synonymous with a data packet across a physical medium, it is limited by the distance or quality of the medium in that it will take just as long to traverse this a section of the network no matter how large the pipe. So increasing or decreasing the bandwidth has ZERO effect on the network speed of the data.

When does Bandwidth effect speed ?

Now lets take the above example. We still have our 3 North bound lanes. Its Friday afternoon and everyone’s heading out of Sydney for the long weekend. The traffic is now heavy. The cars out the window are now traveling at 40km/h. Half the speed they can actually go. We have congestion. Just like on the road, networks too can have congestion. Congestion appears when we try and pull too much data from the Internet at the one time. We typically see this when multiple TVs and/or streaming devices are on a network watching HD Tv or a colleague is downloading a heap of large files, all at the one time. Now if we add 3 more lanes to the road, speed will increase. Just like your Internet, if you fill up all your usable bandwidth and therefore achieving network congestion it certainly is time to then increase your bandwidth. ?

Latency versus Bandwidth – Differences Summary

So just to clarify, while both bandwidth and latency are crucial aspects of network performance, they address different characteristics:

1. Capacity vs. Speed: Bandwidth is about the capacity of the network to handle data, while latency is about the speed at which the data travels.
2. Data Rate vs. Delay: Increasing the bandwidth can allow more data to be transferred per unit of time, but it does not necessarily reduce the latency. Conversely, reducing latency means data reaches its destination faster, but it doesn’t increase the amount of data that can be sent over the network.
3. Network Design: Bandwidth can often be increased by upgrading network equipment, while latency is more dependent on the physical distance between source and destination and the propagation speed of the network medium.

In summary, while both bandwidth and latency are important for a smooth and efficient network, they serve different purposes. Understanding the difference between them can help in designing and troubleshooting network systems.

Where is the Bandwidth Bottle Neck ?

Too often I see many clients increasing their Internet bandwidth on the NBN, but failing to realise their bandwidth is limited else where.

WIFI Bottlenecks

Technology has created the freedom for many of our devices to be cordless providing better user experiences. In this case all the network traffic still needs to be transferred across your home or office network components. Typicality we use some for of WIFI technology for this task. Many WIFI connections are rated ay only 11MBps. It also needs to be remembered that any advertised WIFI speed is the combination of both in and out data AND is shared amongst all devices.

It is best practice to keep WIFI updated and replaced every few years as new protocols are developed allowing larger bandwidths, more devices and lower latencies, especially as your smart home foot print increases in line with your cloud services.

Check out PIPs WIFI 802.11 Standards, Speeds and Range Cheat Sheet

It is also advisable to cable as many devices as you can in your home, both to increase the bandwidth available to these devices but more importantly to free the WIFI networks for those devices that must use this network. Our Sydney Data Cabling services can provide all in cabling solution for your network.

Ethernet Bottlenecks

Older Ethernet hubs and switches are only capable of transferring 10Mbps. This is the maximum throughput this device can handle at any one time and typically the real figures are much less than those labelled on the front. Just like WIFI this is also the total amount of bandwidth both ways and in a shared environment. Many cheaper devices also advertise they support fast speeds but you may find the transfer speed within the actual device is not the same as the advertised speed on each port or network connection. Have PIP check your switch or hub to ensure it is providing the required network throughput matched to your purchased Internet connection.

In summary, while both bandwidth and latency are important for a smooth and efficient network, they serve different purposes. Understanding the difference between them can help in designing and troubleshooting network systems. High bandwidth does not mean a high-speed internet connection. As long as we have sufficient bandwidth for our needs, have checked our local area network and/or wireless networks and are operating through a tier 1 network provider such as PIP, we have achieved the maximum speed we can to the internet in our location.