Does Speed Matter?

While Service providers are creating a wide variety of plans and drumming up the proposition of speed, users remain perplexed on which plan makes most sense to them. The vast pool of content besides videos and social media applications available on the internet has further raised doubts in the users mind – what should they look for in a plan? What aspects should they consider while opting for specific packages? Is speed the only criteria or should there be a balance struck between Speed, GBs and Budget? In an era of marketing gimmicks, and plenty of options to choose from, a user must question the service provider on whether it actually needs high speed at a higher price point for what can be an average usage of few hundreds of MBs per month?

Think about it: Would spending a lot of money to own a high end premium car that can speed upto say 200 kmph only to drive it on jam-packed roads on a daily basis, make sense OR would a standard mid range car that gives more miles per litre be a prudent option? We know that the value conscious Indian consumer prefers mileage over peak speeds. Similarly, the ‘luxury’ of speed in internet usage depends on what exactly the user wants to derive from it given that internet usage is different for different users. So, a user surfing and accessing basic internet content might require something totally different in terms of speed compared to, say, a user who wants to stream or download rich media content on a regular basis.  Simply put, for users, it is important to question the utility of the product before paying for it.

For instance, to play an online game, uninterrupted streaming of a cricket match or to watch a video on internet, you would require a connection with just 1 Mbps speed. At 4 Mbps speed, you would probably be streaming or downloading three to four videos at the same time. What it essentially means that beyond a point speed does not matter much. A user should not contemplate much on speed once it allows them to do what they wish.

In addition to this, the high speed of the internet also depends upon the server and client device capability to receive and send packet data and the usage quota provided by an internet service provider. The users should be cognizant of the fact that the high speed broadband may not offer them any value if the internet plan restricts their usage to say lesser GBs per month than what they consume.

Consumers are smart and eventually make the right choices but in case one was looking for a recommended process to choose a Broadband plan then here is one possible and hopefully a simple one:

1. Filter all plans that are within your budget

2. Shortlist those which meet your GB or peak monthly usage requirement, without a speed downgrade or throttling

3. From the shortlist go for that plan which has the highest speed.

Authored By:
Heramb Ranade
Chief Marketing Officer
Tikona Digital Networks Pvt Ltd