How Fidium Fiber Makes Bandwidth Sharing a Breeze
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It’s Tuesday night. You’re streaming the latest episode of NCIS: Origins, your son is playing his nightly game of Madden, your husband is on a fantasy football Zoom call with his buddies, and suddenly—everything buffers. Cue the household meltdown about who’s “hogging all the WiFi." Bandwidth sharing is hard when there isn’t enough to accomodate everyone’s online activities.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. The average household has 21 connected devices, and bandwidth battles have become as common as disputes over the TV remote [1].
Fear not, Fidium Fiber is here to ensure these WiFi wars come to a peaceful end. With high-speed fiber internet, your household can stream, game, work, and browse simultaneously without the drama.
Understanding how bandwidth works
Your internet connection has a finite capacity. When one person streams Netflix, it works perfectly. Add a gamer, a remote worker on Zoom, and someone uploading photos to the cloud—now you’re fighting for the same limited bandwidth.
Traditional cable internet makes this worse. Cable providers run shared lines through neighborhoods, so your speeds plummet when everyone comes home from work and school. Your evening entertainment becomes a frustrating lottery of who gets online first.
The fallout? A buffering battle breaks out amongst your family.
Symmetrical speeds are key
How Fidium Fiber fixes this problem
Unlike cable, Fidium Fiber delivers symmetrical speeds using dedicated fiber-optic lines directly to your home. What does symmetrical mean? Your upload speeds match your download speeds—crucial when multiple family members are video conferencing, gaming online, or backing up files to the cloud simultaneously.
Fidium’s fiber network offers plans ranging from 100 Mbps to 2 Gbps. To put that in perspective, a 1 Gig connection can theoretically handle 40 simultaneous HD video streams. [4] That’s more than enough bandwidth for even the most connected households.
But speed alone doesn’t solve every problem. Smart bandwidth management matters too.
Smart bandwidth management for large families
Upgrade your router
Your internet is only as fast as your weakest link. If you’re running Fidium’s gigabit speeds through a five-year-old router, you’re creating a bottleneck.
Modern WiFi 6 routers can handle more devices simultaneously while maintaining speed and reducing latency. They use technologies like MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple Input, Multiple Output) to communicate with multiple devices at once rather than cycling through them sequentially.
For larger homes over 2,000 square feet, consider a mesh network system. These create a blanket of WiFi coverage using multiple nodes throughout your home, eliminating dead zones and ensuring consistent speeds in every room.
Use Quality of Service (QoS) Settings
Most modern routers include QoS settings that let you prioritize certain types of traffic. Heading into an important work call? Prioritize video conferencing. Kids doing homework? Prioritize educational platforms over gaming or streaming.
QoS is like a traffic cop, directing the most important data packets first. This ensures critical activities don’t suffer when someone starts streaming 4K content.
Hardwire high-bandwidth devices
WiFi is convenient, but Ethernet cables deliver faster, more stable connections. For devices that don’t move—smart TVs, gaming consoles, desktop computers—use Ethernet cables to connect directly to your router.
This frees up wireless bandwidth for mobile devices like phones, tablets, and laptops that genuinely need WiFi. As a bonus, wired connections typically experience lower latency, which gamers and remote workers will appreciate.
Schedule bandwidth-heavy activities
Not every solution requires technology. Simple communication works wonders.
Large downloads or system updates? Run them overnight or during off-peak hours when fewer family members are online. This prevents one person’s 50GB game download from disrupting everyone else’s evening.
Set up a guest network
If you frequently have visitors, create a separate guest network. This keeps their devices isolated from your main network, protecting both your bandwidth and your security. Most modern routers make this easy with a simple toggle in the settings.
Choose your speed
How much speed does your household need?
The FCC defines broadband as 100 Mbps download and 25 Mbps upload [2]. Here’s a realistic breakdown based on household size and usage:
Small household (1-2 people, light usage): 100-300 Mbps allows basic streaming, browsing, and occasional video calls to work fine.
Medium household (3-4 people, moderate usage): 300-500 Mbps allows multiple simultaneous streams, regular video conferencing, and casual gaming.
Large household (5+ people, heavy usage): 500 Mbps-1 Gig+ allows multiple gamers, remote workers, 4K streaming, and smart home devices.
Multi-generational or work-from-home households: 1-2 Gig is best when your home doubles as an office for multiple people, or you’re supporting teenagers’ gaming, parents’ work calls, streaming, and smart home devices.
With Fidium’s fiber internet, these speeds remain consistent throughout the day. No evening slowdowns. No neighborhood congestion.
Why is fiber internet superior for bandwidth sharing?
- Lower latency: Fiber reduces lag time, crucial for video calls and online gaming.
- Consistency: Fiber doesn’t slow down during peak hours because you’re not sharing bandwidth with neighbors.
- Future-proof: As our devices and applications demand more bandwidth—think 8K streaming, VR applications, and cloud gaming—fiber can scale to meet those needs.
- Better upload speeds: Those symmetrical speeds mean seamless video conferencing, fast cloud backups, and smooth game streaming. Cable internet’s asymmetrical speeds create upload bottlenecks that fiber eliminates.
WiFi mistakes that waste bandwidth
Even with fast fiber internet, a poor setup undermines performance. Here are the common mistakes, and how to avoid them:
Placing your router in a closet or corner: WiFi signals travel outward in all directions. Central, elevated placement maximizes coverage.
Ignoring firmware updates: Router manufacturers release updates that improve performance and security. Enable automatic updates.
Using outdated security protocols: WPA2 or WPA3 encryption is essential. Older WEP security is easily hacked, allowing neighbors to steal your bandwidth.
Keeping every device connected: Smart plugs, cameras, and other IoT devices consume bandwidth even when idle. Disconnect devices you don’t actively use.
Is Fidium fiber available in my area?
Ready to end the bandwidth battles in your household? Fidium Fiber’s expanding network brings gigabit fiber internet to communities across the Northeast and beyond.
With symmetrical speeds up to 2 Gig, no data caps, and consistent performance that doesn’t slow down during peak hours, Fidium solves the internet speed sharing problems that plague large families and busy households.
Enter your zip code here to check Fidium Fiber availability in your area or call 1-877-627-0362 and discover which plan fits your household’s needs. Stop arguing over WiFi and start enjoying the internet experience everyone deserves.
Frequently asked questions
How many devices can connect to Fidium Fiber at once?
Fidium’s fiber network can handle dozens of connected devices simultaneously without performance degradation. The exact number depends on your chosen speed tier and how you’re using those devices.
Will upgrading to fiber internet solve all my WiFi problems?
Fiber internet provides the bandwidth foundation you need, but your home network setup matters too. Combine Fidium’s fiber speeds with a quality WiFi 6 router, proper router placement, and basic bandwidth management for optimal results.
What’s the difference between bandwidth and speed?
Speed refers to how fast data travels to and from your devices, measured in Mbps or Gbps. Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be transferred at once. Higher bandwidth means more devices can use the internet simultaneously without slowing each other down. Fidium’s fiber internet provides both high speeds and ample bandwidth for multiple users.
Sources
[1] Consumeraffairs.com. “Average Number of Smart Devices in a Home"
[2] Docs.fcc.gob. “DOC 401205A1"