Understand internet speeds

Many factors affect the internet service you purchased from AT&T. Learn how these factors affect your internet speed.

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Internet service levels and speeds

Your service capability speed (internet speed) is the rate we deliver internet traffic to and from your location. Many factors affect the internet service purchased from AT&T and influence the speed you may experience on any particular device connected to your network.

Data and content you send or receive travels many paths before reaching their final destination and returning back to you:

Through wiring in your location or over your Wi-Fi
Between your connected computers and devices and your modem or gateway
Through the Network Device located outside your building to the AT&T Network
From the AT&T Network to the internet, which has millions of private networks
Through various Internet Service Provider (ISP) networks used by websites to send you content

Remember that the speed to your homelocation is shared among all the devices connected to your home network – including any devices connected via Wi-Fi – so the number of devices connected and the activity on those devices will impact the speeds you may experience.

Internet speed

Each internet service option has a different service capability speed range. The term speed describes the rate a particular broadband internet access service can transmit data. This capacity is measured by the number of kilobits (Kbps), megabits (Mbps), or gigabits (Gbps) that can be transmitted in one second.

Some applications don’t need higher speeds to work at their best. Examples of these applications include sending short emails without attachments or basic web browsing. Other activities perform better with higher-speed services. This includes transferring large data files or streaming high-definition video.

Lower speeds may not work for some applications, especially those involving real-time or high-bandwidth uses such as streaming video or video conferencing.

AT&T speed tiers

AT&T Fiber

AT&T Fiber is an ultra-fast broadband technology. It’s delivered over a fiber optic connection to the premises. Or, it’s delivered to units within certain Multi-Dwelling Units (MDU). All speed tiers are symmetrical.

AT&T Speed Tier	Expected Speeds¹
AT&T Speed Tier	Download	Upload
Internet 5	5	5
Internet 10	10	10
Internet 25	25	25
Internet 50	50	50
Internet 100	100	100
Internet 300	300	300
Internet 500	500	500
Internet 1000	1000	1000
Internet 2000	2000	2000
Internet 5000²	5000	5000

IPBB

Internet Protocol Broadband (IPBB) includes ADSL2+, VDSL2, G.Fast, and Ethernet technologies. These are delivered using fiber optic and copper hybrid equipment. IPBB provides users with faster download speeds compared to traditional DSL service. All speed tiers are asymmetrical, or the download and upload speeds are different.

AT&T Speed Tier	Expected Speeds¹
AT&T Speed Tier	Download	Upload
Internet Basic 768	0.8	0.4
Internet Basic 1.5	1.5	1
Internet Basic 3	3	1
Internet Basic 5	5	1
Internet Basic 6	6	1
Internet 10	10	1
Internet 12	12	1.5
Internet 18	18	1.5
Internet 24	24	3
Internet 25	25	2
Internet 25	25	5
Internet 45	45	6
Internet 50	50	10
Internet 75	75	8
Internet 75	75	20
Internet 100	100	20
Internet 500	500	100

DSL

AT&T Speed Tier	Expected Speeds¹
AT&T Speed Tier	Download	Upload
FastAccess DSL Lite, Fast Access DSL Direct Lite, High Speed Internet Basic	0.768	0.256
FastAccess DSL Ultra, Fast Access DSL Direct Ultra, High Speed Internet Express	1.5	0.256
FastAccess DSL Xtreme, Fast Access DSL Direct Xtreme, High Speed Internet Pro	3	0.384
FastAccess DSL XtremePro, Fast Access DSL Direct XtremePro, High Speed Internet Elite	6	0.512

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Factors that impact internet speed

AT&T broadband network

We deliver internet to your location through copper or fiber wiring, depending on the service you ordered.

DSL and lower broadband services are usually wired using copper.
Most high-speed broadband services (IPBB) deliver internet through a hybrid fiber and copper network.
AT&T Fiber delivers internet directly to your location using a 100% fiber network.

Home network

Many factors inside your building affect the rate you send or receive internet data. These include:

Age of wiring inside your building
Distance between the gateway and your device
Age and type of gateway or router
Number of devices connected to the gateway
Type of connection used

Connection types

You can access your internet through a wired Ethernet connection or a Wi-Fi^® connection.

Wired connections use Ethernet cables plugged into the Ethernet port on your wall or Wi-Fi gateway. These connections provide the best performance, consistently. We recommend using a Cat5e or better Ethernet cable.

To reach speeds above 1Gbps, you must use at least a Cat6e cable plus an Ethernet port rated for multi-Gbps speeds. Some older Ethernet cables, ports, routers, gateways may not be capable of supporting speeds above 1Gbps to a single device. This includes Ethernet wiring in some older buildings.

Speeds are shared among all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi gateway, so more devices connecting at the same time may result in slower speeds.

Wireless (Wi-Fi) connections let you move throughout your building but aren’t as fast as wired connections. Wi-Fi connection speeds depend on the Wi-Fi technology in your device and in your gateway. You get the best Wi-Fi signal closest to your gateway, with fewer devices running, using the latest Wi-Fi technology. Older devices and older gateways use older Wi-Fi technology, which run at slower speeds. Wi-Fi speeds are shared among all the devices connected to the gateway by Wi-Fi, so more devices connected at the same time may result in slower speeds.

Type and number of devices

Internet devices come in all shapes and sizes. Each device has a maximum internet speed it can reach. But, that speed might not be as fast as your possible internet service level. For example, if your older laptop or tablet only supports 11Mbps and you have 1Gbps internet service, your laptop will never be able to reach the more than 11 Mbps.

When a device connects to your network, it uses a portion of your allotted speed. Several devices sharing your internet connection can affect the speed each device experiences.

TV and internet speed

In many cases, your TV and internet may enter your location using the same terminal. Using both services at the same time consumes more available bandwidth and can affect internet download speeds. For example, in certain speed tiers, watching multiple HD TV shows at the same time as heavy data internet usage, such as downloading an entire HD movie file on your laptop, will lead to reduced internet speeds as compared with such speeds when no other uses are placed on the network.

Other networks and websites you visit

Even though you purchased a specific speed and the AT&T network is highly reliable, the websites you interact with may not provide their services at the same speeds. Things to consider as you surf websites:

Websites may not have the same network speeds as you.
Website server capacity can impact your Internet speeds.
Website owners may use other ISPs to deliver content back to you. These network serving arrangements can also impact your Internet speeds.
Visiting sites during their peak hours may also result in slower speeds.

Additional impacts on internet speed performance and speed test results

As noted, many factors can affect service speeds and test results. These include:

Your equipment
Connection type
Network issues
Internet usage

In addition, protocol overheads, such as IP overhead in IP technology, reduce internet speed and speed test results. Overheads means the various control and signaling data (for example, transmission control protocol (TCP)) required to achieve the reliable transmission of internet access data.

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