Everyone wants fast home internet, but that quest can be complicated and “internet speed” can be a nebulous concept. Bandwidth and latency are two key factors that affect how we perceive the speed of our internet connection. But they’re not the same thing. Understanding what they are and the difference between them can help you troubleshoot your home internet — whether you’re on cable, fiber, DSL, 5G or satellite.
Here’s the simple breakdown from Mike Conlow, director of network strategy at Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure company: “Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be transmitted at once. Latency measures the time data takes to get from your computer to where it’s going (and often to get an acknowledgment of receipt back to your computer).”
Conlow illustrates the concepts of bandwidth and latency using the metaphor of cars and a highway. Bandwidth is…
