Got a high speed broadband connection yet internet is slow? Here's why

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The switch from 2G to 3G and now 4G has largely benefited internet users in India. Although it has enhanced the speed of uploading and downloading files, at times many of us face issues when making video calls via supporting apps or playing multiplayer games with users across dynamic geographies.

In this age of digital transformation, network providers are giving better bandwidth, but do you know why there are issues during video calls and while playing games? It is because of something called "latency", which is basically the time taken for "data to travel from one designated place to another".

Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms) and anything below 50ms is considered ideal for surfing, but if it is around 100ms it could get frustrating.

It can be narrowed down to reduced speed during browsing, which is the delay in sending and receiving information or data.

While more bandwidth will allow subscribers to receive more data -- the speed here is immaterial -- a wider bandwidth is more efficient, making internet actually faster rather than technically.

As VoLTE and 5G technologies are launched, subscribers will get internet speeds 100 times faster than 2G networks, but latency will reduce substantially with increased bandwidth.

Impact of reduced latency

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AI) software are not being used to their full potential due to higher latency. A delay in transmitting and receiving signals in a driverless car or an IoT enabled healthcare equipment could prove fatal in cases of high latency.

For these devices to work efficiently, it needs to be connected to a network with the lowest latency level.

Hence, network providers need to improve serve applications with higher network speeds along with lower latency levels.