‘Tis the season for joy, good cheer, and quality family time. The kids are home from school, extended family may be coming to visit, and there are plenty of gingerbread cookies to bake and memories to be made.
Whether you’re celebrating with loved ones far or near, a strong internet connection can help you have fun and stay connected. Don’t believe us? Ask the grandparent watching their first grandchild open presents over Zoom, or a group of cousins bonding while building a shared world in Minecraft.
Here are a few ways great internet can help you have a happier holiday—plus tips to ensure you have the speed you need:
Stress-free family movie nights
Thanks to streaming services, every holiday movie in existence is literally at your fingertips: the perfect recipe for family movie night. But a movie marathon is no fun if your connection starts buffering during the good parts.
Tip: For the best streaming experience, we recommend speeds of 250 Mbps or higher. You’ll have enough speed and bandwidth to watch movies in 4K with zero buffering, so you can relax and enjoy time with your favorite people.
Lag-free video calls
Take it from Kevin McCallister—being away from family during the holidays can be tough. Luckily, we have a nifty little thing that can help: smart phones. When you’re video chatting over a crystal-clear connection, it can feel like your loved one is right there in the room, no matter how many miles apart you may be.
Tip: Slow upload speeds are often the culprit behind frozen or dropped video calls. Test your upload speed to find out if it may be the cause of your dropped video calls.
Avoiding family feuds
Sometimes, the best way to encourage family bonding is by keeping the peace.
Think about it: if the kids are home from school, or you’re hosting out-of-town guests, or this year’s gifts include new smart devices—or all of the above—your internet connection is going to feel the pressure of increased demand. If you don’t have enough bandwidth to accommodate all those extra devices, you’re going to experience lagging, buffering, and freezing…and the arguments that may ensue.
Tip: Wondering how much bandwidth is enough? Here’s an easy way to check: take the internet speed you currently pay for, and divide it by 20 Mbps. That’s about how many devices can use your internet at once before you’ll start to notice connection issues. So if you have 100 Mbps internet, you can accommodate about 5 devices with simultaneous use.
Why this works: When used simultaneously, each smart device takes a piece of the bandwidth pie, and you want to make sure there’s a large enough slice for each. Devices that see heavy internet use (think smart TVs with streaming capability, laptops, smartphones, etc.) need about 20 Mbps to operate. If you have security cameras or other smart home devices (fridges, thermostats, etc.), assume they need about 5 Mbps.
With a strong internet connection, you and your loved ones can still feel connected, whether you’re on the same couch or 2,500 miles apart. And if you think you need faster speeds, Luminate Broadband is here to help. Contact our friendly, hometown staff at 970-870-4320. We’d love to hear from you.
