Page 9 - EngineerIT June July 2025
P. 9

CONNECTIVITY


        Speed tests not an accurate          It is all about ensuring that each user/device has a reasonable experience.
        picture                              Here, the limitations of the internet protocol or devices no longer apply,
        Now, back to the speed tests: firstly,   because it’s not one device trying to download a file at 1Gbps, but multiple
        in order to be accurate, the speed   devices that are accessing cloud-based services, downloading, streaming
        test must be done in a manner that   video and gaming online at the same time, and making full use of the
        removes all other variables and this   bandwidth available.
        means using a wired connection
        directly from a laptop to the router.   More to connectivity than just speed
        Users also have to make sure that    What we are starting to see is that a speed test is no longer an accurate
        the device being used for the test is   reflection of what you can do with a high-speed internet connection – to run
        capable – if a laptop has a 100Mbps   a test properly for the modern use case would require you to fire up multiple
        network port, that is the maximum    connections concurrently and test the total capacity of the connection.
        you are going to get. Even the quality
        of the LAN cable, being a CAT 4, 5, 5e,   Most of us grew up in an age where there were severe limitations on local
        6 may influence your performance     networks and this was the main bottleneck; with such low speeds to start off
        test. Ie a CAT 4 cable can only handle   with, every bump up had a noticeable difference such as significantly faster
        16Mbps, a CAT 5 only 100Mbps and     download speeds. It also meant that speed tests had more relevance back
        CAT5e would handle up to 1Gbps.      then. However, as technology has evolved this is no longer the case and
                                             doubling your line speed is not going to result in being able to download a file
        Servers, switches, routers, cables,   in half the time that it used to before.
        firewalls and access points can all
        have a negative impact on speed.     On fibre services the line speed is the maximum throughput download capacity
        As an example, when fibre network    of the line. On wireless connectivity one has a practical achievable speed
        operators were rolling out free speed   based on network load and a theoretical speed that will never be achieved in
        upgrades over the past few years,    practice. We briefly mentioned theoretical and real world speeds in relation
        customers found they were unable     to wireless services, but as we start seeing higher speeds on fibre lines, it is
        to benefit because their routers were   likely that we are also reaching the theoretical speed through that medium as
        incapable of handling over 100Mbps.   communication as well. For example, how can you properly test a 10Gbps line
        Many were unaware of this and        when the devices themselves are not capable of handling such speeds due to
        instead thought the problem lay with   limitations in processing power, memory and other components?
        the fibre network operator or their ISP.
                                             The reality is that we are reaching a stage of bandwidth abundance, where
        The second challenge is that high    service providers can provide users  more bandwidth that what they would
        speed connections, such as a gigabit   actually require. At this stage, speed is no longer everything, and what is
        link, were not designed to deliver   important is to have the capacity in order to ensure a quality experience across
        1Gbps to a single user on a single   all users and devices.
        device (as would be seen on a speed
        test), but rather to connect multiple
        users, devices and applications
        concurrently to the same network.
        Having a gigabit connection is not
        going to ensure that a single user
        has perfect video calls all of the time;
        rather it means that you can have
        multiple users, all taking part in video
        calls at the same time each having
        an optimal experience.

        The combined required throughput
        of a link can be determined by the
        simultaneous use per user or device.
        As example, should 30 concurrent
        users/devices require an effective
        throughput of 10Mbps each, one
        would then need a 300Mbps service.



                                                9 | EngineerIT June/July 2025
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