FAQ

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Contract Free Internet

Month to month billing with no strings attached.

Never Throttled

No unexpected slowdowns as a punishment for usage.

Unlimited Usage

All Internet plans include unlimited bandwidth.

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Built off the backbone of System Lifeline's business grade internet service.

Frequently Asked Questions

We'll answer all your internet questions. Big or small.

DSL Internet (Digital Subscriber Line) is a dedicated line that delivers internet to your home through a phone line. DSL technology is older than cable, so speeds are limited, but service and connection is more reliable.

Cable Internet delivers internet to your home through a shared community line. Cable technology is slightly less reliable than DSL, but is still the most popular choice for home internet due to faster speeds.

Bandwidth determines how much data can be accessed through your internet line in a given amount of time. Everything you do on the internet requires a transfer of data, known as downloading and uploading. When choosing your speed package, you’ll want to consider the amount of bandwidth you use at any given time.

As an example, streaming Netflix in HD on a single device requires about 5Mbps, whereas streaming Netflix in 4K requires about 15Mbps per device. If you live in a household with multiple devices streaming at the same time, you’ll require access to higher speeds in order to avoid buffering or resolution loss.

The same concept applies to gaming and video game consoles. Speed requirements vary depending on the game you’re playing, but typically games like Call of Duty or Fortnite require roughly 3Mbps to 6Mbps. Video game consoles like Xbox and PS5 recommend a minimum of 10Mbps to 25Mbps, depending on the task.

In order to supply your household with enough bandwidth, you’ll want to take into consideration the amount of bandwidth required at peak times.

Ready to get confused? Yay, confusion!

Transferring data on the internet is done in bits, but when that same data is stored, it’s stored in bytes.

1 byte of data is equal to 8 bits.

This means that when you’re downloading at 10MB/s, you’re actually using 80Mbps on your internet line. All of our internet packages will reflect speeds in Mbps to give you a better idea of what speeds will be required.

You’ve probably seen the terms “speed” and “latency” when reading about internet connection, but what do they actually mean and what’s their actual impact?

Latency, or ping, refers to the time it takes data to do a round trip between the sender and the receiver. A low latency implies that there's little to no delay in transferring data, whereas a high latency implies that there’s a delay in transferring data.

Essentially, low latency is smooth and enjoyable, whereas high latency causes lag, slow loading times, and choppy video playback.

Speed refers to the amount of data being sent.

The link between latency and speed can be seen in throttling, or when high speed internet lines are artificially slowed down by high latency, causing your device to wait longer periods between sending and receiving data. We do not throttle any of our internet packages at SimplyNet.

When choosing an internet package you’ll want to take your reason for use into account. If you’re gaming online, speed and latency are a top priority. Many multiplayer games take place in real-time, which is very latency sensitive. You will require a low latency to have an enjoyable experience.

Other real-time experiences like FaceTime, Zoom, or even voice calls can tolerate large amounts of latency before it becomes noticeably slow and choppy.

If you’re primarily using the internet for streaming and browsing, high latency isn’t a big issue as streaming services pre-load their content (buffering) several minutes in advance. This gives the transfer of data some breathing room, allowing moments of high latency to go unnoticed.

When it comes to choosing DSL or Cable when considering latency, they’re both pretty much on par, however, latency will vary widely on cable due to the shared nature of the connection, whereas DSL is a dedicated line.

Technically speaking, internet speed isn’t affected by your router. The speed you pay for is the speed you have access to. However, old or inexpensive routers might act as bottlenecks that limit your speed potential.

For example, if you’re paying for Gigabit internet (1000Mbps), but you’re using a router that only supports 100Mbps, then you’d be missing out on the potential bandwidth available to you.

If you’re using an older router, it’s also possible that it could become easily overloaded with demanding network traffic, leading to throttling and bottlenecks.

For best results, you want a modern router that supports speeds equal to or higher than what your internet plan offers. A Gigabit router, for example, should give you full speeds at anything Gigabit or below.

SimplyNet will make sure that the router we provide to you is fast enough for your internet service, so you know you’ll always get the speeds that you pay for.

WiFi connections use radio waves to detect and connect to all your devices. 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz refer to the number of waves that are output over a period of time.

2.4Ghz produces less waves but has a broader reach, which results in a slower speed but with a more accessible range. 2.4Ghz is also more widely used by cordless phones, bluetooth devices, and microwave ovens, making it a more saturated frequency.

5Ghz on the other hand is almost always faster and less saturated, but suffers range limitations due to the higher frequency waves having trouble passing through walls and floors.

In many cases 5Ghz is a better choice due to speed and frequency saturation. However, when 5Ghz stability is an issue, 2.4Ghz is recommended. Both will do the job, but 5Ghz is preferred in many households.

Connecting to your router over Wi-Fi is almost always slower than wired connections. It’s also important to remember that your connection speeds may be limited by the capability of your devices. Your router might support the latest and fastest Wi-Fi standard, but your smartphone might not. For fastest speeds, connect your devices directly to your router via ethernet cable wherever possible.
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