The number of Internet service providers has grown over the last decade. Families now have many different options. There are significant differences between some of the plans currently available. Additionally, technology is changing every year so that certain service metrics do not mean what they once did. Families who are trying to choose the right Internet service for the home will want to look at several areas when considering different plans.
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Speed
One of the first considerations when choosing an Internet service for the family should be speed. Speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps). The most important number is the download speed. This can range from 5 Mbps to numbers as high as 175 Mbps. Speeds below 10 Mbps are good for families that do not use the Internet for more than checking email or reading news. Higher speeds allow for seamless streaming media. Families with multiple computers that are used at the same time will want the highest download speeds possible. High upload speeds are valuable for families that play online games or use video chat.
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Data Limits
Many Internet plans have monthly limits on the amount of data that can be sent and received. Limits below 10 gigabytes per month are mostly good for light Internet usage but will quickly run out if people watch movies, listen to music or make large downloads. A family of four using the Internet every day could easily exceed 30 to 50 gigabytes in a month. Families who are heavy Internet users will want to look for services like those at http://www.bell.ca/Bell Internet since there is an option for unlimited access with no data limits.
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Bundled Services
Another consideration should be whether bundled services are available with the Internet connection. It is now common to find companies that offer phone and television service along with Internet. Plans like those at http://www.bell.ca/Home Phone cost less each month than it would to maintain different services for phone, cable and Internet. An advantage of bundled services is that everything is handled through one bill each month.
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Support
One final thing to look at when choosing an Internet service is the type of support provided. It is best to look for a company that offers live technical support over the phone. This makes it easy to deal with installation and connection issues in the future that affect performance. It is also helpful to choose a service that has chat, forums and knowledge bases online so that non-critical problems can be addressed more casually.