Many internet users experience a sluggish connection even with “high-speed internet.” They’ve invested in a good Wi-Fi router, perhaps a range extender, and may have even upgraded to a faster internet plan.
So why do they find themselves frequently frustrated by slowdowns and freeze-ups? What about their devices—or internet plan—causes this underwhelming performance? And what, if anything, can people do to reduce or even eliminate these issues?
The most likely culprits behind poor internet performance are bandwidth hogs—devices and online activities that gobble up too much bandwidth and slow down everyone’s internet access.
The good news is Trailblazer Broadband’s advanced fiber network provides exceptionally high upload and download speeds (1 Gbps or 1000 Mbps) and the much-overlooked bandwidth capacity that only fiber internet can offer. Combined, fiber’s high speeds and excellent bandwidth can end internet sluggishness.
We discuss bandwidth in greater detail below and explain why every internet customer needs to understand it.
Then, we turn to the most common bandwidth hogs in most people’s homes—devices and online activities—and then explain how Trailblazer Broadband’s best speed tiers can help resolve any bandwidth issues.
What Is Bandwidth—and Why Is Higher Bandwidth So Important?
Bandwidth can be confusing. Put simply, bandwidth is the amount of information an internet connection can manage per second.
Bandwidth doesn’t measure a particular internet connection’s rate (or speed). Instead, it’s about the volume of online data a connection can “carry” and transfer at any given time.
High bandwidth levels let internet users accomplish activities like streaming TV shows, participating in video calls, playing online games, and posting to social media simultaneously without any slowdowns.
More bandwidth is indispensable for keeping an active online household productive—and happy!
What Exactly Is a Bandwidth Hog?
A bandwidth hog is a colloquial term for a device or online activity that eats up more than its fair share of bandwidth. It hogs too much bandwidth and greedily takes it from other devices or activities. Keep in mind that everyday web browsing typically has little impact on overall bandwidth use.
Some devices are famous bandwidth hogs. So, just by turning on and connecting to a bandwidth hog, a huge amount of available bandwidth on your internet connection will be used.
And certain activities require excess bandwidth to carry out your needs. So when even one (or more) bandwidth hogs are activated, the dreaded slowdowns and freeze-ups can occur, leading to frustration and anger in your home!
Common Household Bandwidth Hogs
Smart TVs
Today’s smart TVs feature enhanced technology that displays amazing picture quality.
High-definition, 4K, and 4K Ultra-HD TVs produce stunning imagery and hog lots of bandwidth in the process. Using your smart TV will devour an enormous slice of your home internet’s bandwidth. If you have limited bandwidth capacity, your smart TV could impact other devices and online activities or even slow down a show you want to watch.
Video Streaming
By far the activity with the most excessive use of bandwidth is streaming video.
Netflix tends to be the top offender, in part due to its popularity and vast library of content. Many people stream shows and movies on other devices like their tablets rather than just their smart TVs. And if you have more than one person in your household—and multiple tablets and phones in use—your bandwidth can easily be hogged just by streaming shows and movies.
And Netflix isn’t the only problem.
Streaming services like TikTok and YouTube also use lots of bandwidth. Posting TikTok videos also compounds the bandwidth problem because it involves sending information from the device to a server, consuming even more bandwidth in the process.
Video Calling
During the Covid-19 pandemic, video conference calling became a daily part of life for many people. Zoom, FaceTime, Skype and other services allowed people to stay connected face-to-face, even across long distances. But video calls are notorious bandwidth hogs.
Voice, text, and video all combine to devour bandwidth—and that’s why you’ve experienced those ridiculous freeze-frame faces during the call!
And remember, with video calling, you are not just receiving data—you are also continuously sending it back to the server (and then to your loved ones’ devices). That accounts for video calling’s massive appetite for bandwidth and why so many video calls end up frustrating people (unless you have fiber internet!).
Online Gaming
Another big-time bandwidth hog is online gaming.
Online gaming is incredibly problematic from a bandwidth perspective because, like video calling, information is shared—from the player back to the server and the server back to the player. It often jams the internet connection for gamers and others in the house.
Higher bandwidth – again with the same speed for uploads as well as downloads – allows this excessive volume of data to transfer with far less latency or other delays. So gamers experiencing lag or freezes will benefit from internet plans and tiers that provide more bandwidth.
What’s the Best Way to Get More Bandwidth?
Well, apart from eliminating bandwidth hogs—the devices and activities you already have and love—your best solution is to upgrade to fiber internet.
DSL, cable, and satellite internet don’t have fiber’s high speeds or bandwidth capacity because fiber’s innovative design and cutting-edge materials allow for data to transfer faster and in much higher volumes.
If you already have Trailblazer Broadband, you have 1 gigabyte per second for upload and download speeds with no data caps and no throttling back of speed. A 1 gigabyte per second tier provides plenty of bandwidth to allow a steady flow of online activity like streaming TV and movies, video calling, online gaming, and social media posting. Just by using fiber internet and upgrading your internet speed, you should easily get all the bandwidth your household needs.
To sum it all up, the more bandwidth an internet connection has, the more information it can send out and get back at any particular moment.
And with fiber’s advanced technology and higher speeds, you’ll have additional bandwidth to disburse throughout your home and among your devices. With fiber’s higher bandwidth capacity, your household can avoid the freeze-ups and slowdowns that still plague so many internet users today.
Keep in mind that internet and WiFi are not the same thing. Speeds are always slower through WiFi than on a wired connection. Older devices and interference around your home from other electronic devices can also slow speeds. Check out Trailblazer’s Internet Troubleshooting Guide for optimization tips.
If you have more questions about how fiber internet and it’s maximum speeds and higher bandwidth can make a difference in your internet connection, feel free to reach out to the helpful experts at Trailblazer Broadband. All Trailblazer customers have access to round-the-clock technical support 365 days a year, and anyone can check out Trailblazer Broadband’s Help and Support pages and Video Library for more information.
We know the wait for fiber internet installation can be tough. Winter adds to the technical challenges of fiber installation. Frozen ground, shorter days with less sunlight, excessive moisture from melting snow and heavy rains drenching the soil—all of these issues and more can make it exceedingly difficult to bury and install fiber. It’s also a riskier time for our crew of technicians.
While permanent fiber installation may sometimes be delayed during winter and early spring, temporary drops can help deliver the high-speed internet you’ve been waiting for—even if you’ll have to wait for better, safer weather and ground conditions for final installation with buried fiber internet lines.
Below we provide answers to common questions about temporary drops and help explain the installation process so you’ll know what to expect.
What exactly is a temporary drop?
A temporary drop, also referred to as a temp drop, is simply an above-ground fiber internet connection line that provides fiber internet service temporarily to your home until weather and ground conditions are feasible and safe enough to bury the fiber line in the ground.
What kinds of conditions necessitate temp drops?
There are two common reasons why Trailblazer Broadband may not be able to bury the fiber and complete installation during the winter and early spring.
#1: The ground is frozen.
During winter and early spring, the colder temperatures can make the ground too hard to dig and bury fiber or to pull it through frozen conduit. And just because the temperatures warm up for a few days doesn’t necessarily mean the conditions are improved enough to complete the installation. In general, the ground must be fully thawed at least one foot deep, which can take weeks of 60-degree-plus temperatures, depending on the soil’s physical and chemical composition.
#2: The ground is too wet.
The winter and spring can bring heavy precipitation, from heavy snows and snow melts to days of rain. When the soil is over-saturated, it is simply not feasible to install fiber optic lines below ground safely and effectively. Additionally, burying fiber when the ground is too wet can upset lawns, flowerbeds, trees, and other vegetation—not to mention upset your neighbors and their lawns, too!
What are the steps to installing a temporary drop?
After determining that the conditions do not support burying fiber, a temp drop is authorized. Our technicians will then connect the fiber vault near the street that supplies your neighborhood with internet service to your home via a fiber line placed above-ground to your home.
So instead of burying the fiber in the ground, the temp drop keeps the fiber line above the ground and connected to your home, temporarily, until the buried installation can occur when the weather and other conditions improve.
According to Kim Smith, Trailblazer Broadband Customer Experience Manager, “We will make every attempt to run along the best path to bring a temp drop to the location, but please keep in mind that in some cases it is not possible to run temporary line if the fiber run to the home is too long or crosses a drive. We will not leave temp lines across your driveway because driving over it can damage the line.” In some cases, fiber drops cross over neighboring property, but as with other utilities, there is a “right-of-way” that permits this if necessary. Finally, wildlife damage to fiber can also be a concern, so if possible Trailblazer will pull the fiber through conduit that is then laid on the ground for burial at another time.
Is the temp drop line safe?
Yes! While we don’t recommend you handle the line, it is not dangerous. Fiber technology consists of tiny glass strings that transmit light. So unlike live electrical wires, there is no risk of electric shock.
However, we suggest that you do your best to avoid the line while tending to yard work or clearing snow. Although the fiber lines are sturdy, snowplows and other equipment and tools can sometimes harm the line, necessitating more technical support—not to mention the inconvenience of losing internet!
When will my temporary drop be buried?
Temp drops for Trailblazer customers will be addressed and buried as soon as conditions allow. In most cases, the team will need to wait for clear ground and warmer temps to be able to obtain locates and have favorable enough conditions to be able to get the work completed. Since the past winter has been colder than average, we have a number of these to complete later in the spring/summer, so there may be a longer-than-normal wait.
Trailblazer Broadband greatly appreciates your patience as we complete this work and as well as completing the buildout to provide you with fast, reliable fiber internet as efficiently and quickly as possible! As always, feel free to reach out us with any questions or concerns.
Trailblazer Broadband is municipally owned and is Estes Park’s only locally supported high-speed broadband service provided over fiber optic lines. The Town of Estes Park provides information only and does not endorse any of the listed companies, the views they express or the products/services they offer. For more information about internet
service, contact Trailblazer Broadband at info@trailblazerbroadband.com or (970)577-3770. More Trailblazer news is available at www.trailblazerbroadband.com and https://www.facebook.com/TrailblazerBroadband/
By the time fiber optic cable reaches your home and your Trailblazer service is connected, a lot of work has been done, and a lot of fiber has been run. The state-of-the-art fiber infrastructure of Trailblazer Broadband requires an expansive network spread from 4 centralized “huts” to 55 strategically located cabinets and then to thousands of terminals across our valley.
Over 160 miles of fiber optic cable have been run since construction started in Sept 2019.
As with electrical lines, main fiber lines may run overhead or be buried underground, depending on your location. When running fiber underground, we typically follow existing easements which is why we may have to “cut through” a sidewalk or parking lot rather than going around it.
Crews utilize the least invasive trenching methods. Trenches will be filled when work is complete, results vary depending on the location and material. In asphalt, trenches are sealed with high-quality replacement product rated for highways and airport runways.
The fiber network buildout not only provides faster, more reliable internet to the community, but also works in conjunction with Estes Park Power and Communications’ SmartGrid project to help the community reach its renewable energy goals.
Trailblazer customers now have access to highly trained technical resources at all times, day or night. In August of 2020 Trailblazer entered into an Inter-Governmental Agreement, or IGA, with the towns of Loveland and Fort Collins to provide round-the-clock technical support to all broadband customers.
All three communities offer fiber-to-the-home broadband internet service and are jointly vested in the Network Operations Center (NOC) and technical support staff located in Fort Collins. The NOC is operational 24 x 7 x 365 to provide technical support to customers in each area, and has been serving Trailblazer customers in Estes Park since September of 2020. Technical Support Representatives (TSRs) have received extensive training in Trailblazer’s fiber network, broadband equipment and installation procedures. The team also has full real-time visibility into the Trailblazer network to provide support and troubleshooting.
“We are extremely proud of our local Customer Support team here in Estes, and the added layer of technical expertise from the Ft. Collins group ensures that Trailblazer customers have someone to reach out to with technical issues at any time of the day or night,” says Kim Smith, Trailblazer Customer Experience Manager. Access to technical support is available through the main support line at 970-577-3770.
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