We get you — your internet services are essential to your life, and you can’t waste time worrying about your signal and speed. You trust that each time you log on that you can navigate websites with a smooth, consistent connection.
Your family depends on that signal, for your daughter’s SnapChat and Instagram, your Pinterest and Amazon, and your son’s marathon battle with his buddies on Call of Duty. You need reliable service to keep the family happy, without worrying about cables, dishes, or routers.
You need to have confidence that your internet services provider is the right choice and are providing the best customer service. With this in mind, there are a few issues you should consider when choosing a new internet service provider or working with your existing one. If you know what to look for from the start, your experience with the service will be more positive as you work through issues.
Unfortunately, this is a difficult question to answer because it largely depends on where you are located. Many variables determine the quality of your signal including whether you are in a rural or urban area, which type(s) of internet connectivity a company provides, and how heavily loaded their network is.
The key is to research providers in your specific area. For example, at Anthem Broadband, we specialize in providing high-quality service to rural and even more populated locations that are under-served by the majority of internet providers because of difficult access or a low return on investment. A good provider will have a coverage area map like this so you can see if your location is included. Don’t forget that one of the most important resources available to you are friends and neighbors in your area. They are usually familiar with the options available in your area.
Few things are more frustrating than a sluggish internet connection, whether you are streaming your latest Netflix binge or trying to get work done. Many times, this issue is caused by a device using more bandwidth than usual on your network, maybe without you even realizing it. Sometimes there’s an upload in the background, backing up data to a cloud server or there’s a file transfer taking a while.
As with many technical difficulties, you can begin with shutting everything down and powering all devices on again, including your router. Resetting the router and devices in this way can resolve many issues. To eliminate the device that’s causing the problem, turn your laptops, phones, and computers back on one at a time, testing your internet speed INSERT LINK after each power up. What many people don’t understand is that a speed test verifies the actual speed you are getting at a given device, not at the home connection. The difference is you may have a 15Mbps service plan for the home but there are almost always other devices running in the background using up some of that data. It could be a kid upstairs doing homework, someone streaming a show in the living room, another person surfing the web or even cellphones that automatically connect to the home network when in range and then begin downloading updates. Each of these eat up some available data, and if they are still running at the time a speed test is conducted, the test will only show the remaining available speed.
When deciding on an internet provider, make sure that they have an online bill pay system, which is convenient, fast, and good for the environment.
For Anthem Broadband, this is as easy as visiting the customer portal and selecting “My Account”.