The Need for Internet Speed: Upload, Download and How COVID-19 Usage Has Affected Our Expectations
The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed almost everything, from the way we work, to the way we socialize, to the way we go about daily tasks like grocery shopping. With the majority of businesses, schools and universities across the country closing their doors and shifting to online interactions, it’s no surprise that the pandemic has had an impact on Internet speed as well. In fact, as people set up home offices, make Zoom calls from their living rooms and continue to work from home, the demand for fast, reliable home internet services has surged.
Oasis Broadband has quickly moved to provide packages to meet this new demand, because we know that you need and deserve reliable home internet now- more than ever. In fact, at Oasis Broadband we are creating new faster upload packages, specifically for these unusual circumstances brought on by COVID-19.
How are we able to meet this surging demand exactly? Good question! The first piece of this answer is understanding the difference between upload and download speeds. Download speeds refer to how many megabits of data it takes to download information, such as text or images, from a server, per second. Whereas upload speeds refer to how many megabits of data per second you can send from your computer or tablet to an internet server. (1)
Once we understand the difference between internet speeds – upload and download, we can take a look at why this matters in the context of COVID-19. Most broadband internet providers focus on having faster download speeds than upload speeds because typical online activities like streaming music, streaming a movie, or online shopping, rely more on download speeds. However there is an exception: fiber networks are symmetrical— meaning they carry as much upload data as download data. This is critical for people working from home due to the pandemic, because tasks such as sending emails, video conferencing or working on cloud-based documents like Google Docs all depend on fast upload speeds.
Because many of Oasis Broadband’s networks are fiber fed and only the last few “hops” from fiber to your living room are wireless, we are typically able to meet upload demands even when they increase dramatically, as they have done with COVID-19. We’re on the path to use fiber with all our networks. Our wireless technology delivery is also much more flexible in its ability to add to upload capacity than the alternatives: DSL and Cable. The combination of these two factors: a fiber-fed network and wireless delivery, makes our cutting-edge technology able to quickly adapt to meet the needs of our customers, including internet speed, even during a global pandemic.
Broadband Internet Is Only A Click Away! If you want to learn more about how we can meet your needs during COVID-19 and beyond, enter your zip code here to find the Oasis Broadband services available for your location.