A Guide to choosing the best internet service provider

If you feel intimidated by finding a reliable Internet Service Provider, you’re not alone. Most internet service providers (ISPs) make understanding this process as confusing as possible.

On top of all that, you will also want to consider contracts and installation. It’s a lot to process but we have done our best to break down the information for you so you can be sure that you are getting and exactly what you need for the best deal possible.

There might be more costs on top of the advertised cost

There’s a lot to consider when choosing an internet package and internet service provider especially when it comes to pricing. Below We have broken down pricing by the fees you will need to look out for when considering what plan fits into your budget.

Offer price vs. standard pricing

New customers almost always get a discounted price with their first install. This means that prices might increase after this ‘trial or discount period’. Your internet package might cost more than you initially paid for.  Unless the internet plan you are considering specifically says “Price fixed for life,” expect that your bill might increase anywhere after 6 to 24 months once you begin your service.

One of the most frustrating parts of promotional pricing is that price increases can happen randomly  even if you’ve committed to a 2 year package.

Therefore, when considering what internet provider offers the best value, make sure you are considering long-term pricing and not just the promotional rates. It is not unusual for the provider with the lowest promotional rates in an area to have the highest standard rates.

Equipment and installation fees

Other important costs to factor in when buying internet are equipment and installation fees. In order to access the internet, you will need a modem device and to access the internet wirelessly, you will need a router.

You will also want to pay attention to installation fees. Professional installation can cost anywhere between Ksh 10,000 and Ksh 20,000 and like with stimanet sometimes you can get the fee waived if the apartment you live in has our internet connection. Always factor in the installation fee when considering how much you will end up paying to get your internet installed.

Contracts

Although an increasing number of internet service providers are now offering monthly instead of longer term contracts, some will stick to contract agreements

Data caps

Another important thing to consider when choosing an internet provider and package are data caps. A data cap or limited internet is when internet providers put a ceiling on the amount of internet a customer is allowed to user over a certain period of time.Most popular telcosin kenya such as Safaricom, airtel and telkom offer data caps.

Understand what speeds you need

In order to ensure you choose the proper internet speed packages, you need to know a little bit about the various internet speed types. These include download speeds, upload speeds and latency. Understanding these three internet speed types will help you determine the speeds you need. You can read more about this subject on this article.

Download speeds

Download speeds are the main concern for most consumers and is the speed that is advertised by internet providers. Download speeds measure the time it takes to download data in order to perform activities, such as watch videos, browse the internet or download files. The faster the internet speeds, the faster one can perform these tasks. The more devices there are connected to the internet at a time, the faster the download speeds will need to be.

Upload speeds

With most providers, your upload speeds will be considerably slower than your download speeds. Most of what people do on the internet is download so fast upload speeds are not nearly as important as fast download speeds. However, if you are someone who routinely live streams or games, makes video calls, sends emails or uploads files, you will want to ensure you have sufficient upload speeds.

Latency

Latency, also known as the ping test, is another way to test the quality of one’s internet connection. While upload and download speeds provide insight into the amount of data that can be transmitted at a time, latency specifically measures how quickly data can be transferred from one location to another. The further your internet signals have to travel, the greater your latency will be. This is why satellite internet tends to have such high latency; internet signals are sent all the way from space, making lag-times particularly long.

Since satellite internet tends to have poor latency, online actions that require quick data transfers and as little lag as possible, such as Zoom, are not realistic options.

Conclusion

Once you understand the various aspects of internet pricing and speeds, you will want to combine this information to determine what plan and provider is best for you. We would recommend a fiber optic provider if it’s available to you due to its faster speeds, lower latency and fewer data caps.