
Renting the RG is optional but strongly recommended as there are additional perks afforded to customers who rent the device. However Ethernet is not as susceptible as Wi-Fi to interference ( EMI can still cause issues over Ethernet) and Ethernet is able to achieve true Gigabit speeds.Īll equipment below is provided by Sonic for Sonic Gigabit Fiber customers. Ethernet does have it's draw backs, the most evident of which is the fact your computer is literally tethered to the RG. The 5Ghz radio band is less crowded (fewer devices broadcast on 5Ghz), and therefore usually experiences less interference but is not immune to it.Įthernet is the optimal method of connecting to Sonic Gigabit Fiber internet, specifically with regards to speed and stability. Most devices broadcast wirelessly on the 2.4Ghz radio band, so the majority of the interference exists on that band. Wireless interference is mostly caused by other wireless broadcasts near your RG. Wi-Fi is also susceptible to wireless interference. These kinds of speeds should be sufficient for most tasks however it is good to be aware of the bandwidth limitations of Wi-Fi connectivity. On a phone (iPhone 5s) we were able to achieve about 100Mbps. In our tests, on a high end laptop connected to the PACE 5268AC RG via Wi-Fi, the maximum speed we were able to achieve was about 500Mbps (roughly half a Gigabit). However, with regard to Sonic Gigabit Fiber, Wi-Fi is a bit of a bottleneck. Smart TV's, gaming systems, streaming devices (such as Rokus, Chromecasts, Apple TVs) all connect to the internet wirelessly. Laptops are fast relinquishing Ethernet ports in favor of Wi-Fi. Phones and tablets rely solely on Wi-Fi for connectivity. Wi-Fi is a convenient and, at this point, ubiquitous method of connecting to the internet. On Sonic Gigabit Fiber, if you stream HD video on 10 devices concurrently you'll be using approximately 5% of your available bandwidth. That is a whole lot of bandwidth! To illustrate just how much bandwidth we've made a small list of streaming services and their recommended bandwidth to stream a video (such as The Goonies™) in High Definition.įor the majority of folks, the most bandwidth intensive activity on their network is video streaming. Sonic Gigabit Fiber affords up to 1,000Mbps (1 Gigabit) download speed. The term "Gigabit" is in reference to data transfer rate (also known as bandwidth). What it means is Sonic is able to provide Gigabit speeds to customers on our Fiber Network, reliably and at the great price of $40 per month! What Does "Gigabit" Mean?

This technology enables telecommunications service providers to send voice, data, and video at ever increasing rates. Optical fiber is a highly transparent strand of glass that transmits light signals with low attenuation (loss of signal power) over long distances, providing nearly limitless bandwidth.
