We often take slower
speeds for granted when we’re using the internet. Part of this is due to the
fact that smartphones have become such an important part of our lives. We tend
to think about the internet as analogous to what we see when loading up a site
on our phones. But people can often gain a lot by taking a step back to
consider what the differences are between home internet and a phone’s data
plan.
A phone’s internet connection usually comes through specific cell phone towers
in one’s general vicinity. It’s important to keep in mind that cell towers use
a very different method of transmission from WIFI. Phone transmissions put a
much heavier emphasis online of sight transmission. Despite the name, this
doesn’t mean one needs to actually see a cell tower to receive data from it.
Instead, it refers to the fact that a tower’s data connection travels in a straight
line. And on top of this, it has a harder time passing through large
obstructions than a WIFI signal would.
Basically, a data signal is only optimal when it has an unobstructed path from
cell tower to one’s phone. Any deviance from that optimal stance will degrade
the speed and reliability of a signal. It’s usually still quite usable, but one
should never take the result as an example of perfect high-speed service. And
that ideal is exactly what we should look for in home service.
Our internet connections at home should provide much faster speeds and much
less latency than what we see on our phones. One of the main reasons simply
comes down to differences in transmission. For example, consider the case of
someone in Chelan County. It’s a large enough area that one can expect a major
internet transmission point right at that particular spot. This means that any internet service provider Chelan County WA will act as a powerful connection to the
internet as a whole. Whereas a cell tower tends to start out underpowered.
Likewise, the distance between the local internet point and one’s home will be
fairly small. And the internet’s signal will travel directly on a wired system
of cables. This means that unlike a cell signal, there’s little chance of
overall message degradation.
From the perspective of an end user this means that one can accomplish far more
with a home internet connection. For example, one could run a web server or media
server at home. This also works well with the larger capabilities of desktop
systems compared to mobile devices.
An ideal situation would be to start out with a wired internet connection at
home. This would act as a server for any relevant content that one would like
to access while abroad. The inbound and outgoing speed would be fast enough
that it could help to compensate for deficiencies on the other end. And as a
result, one could use a mobile connection to essentially leapfrog off of the
powerful home connection when accessing anything stored at home.