A guide to understanding the key factors that affect your Maverix internet experience.
At Maverix, we deliver high-speed, low-latency fiber internet designed for seamless streaming, gaming, video calls, and more. While raw speed often gets the most attention, it’s just one part of what makes for a great online experience. Equally important are latency and jitter—two terms that can make a big difference in how smooth and responsive your connection feels.
In this guide, we’ll break down what these terms mean, how they impact your day-to-day internet usage, and how Maverix fiber internet helps deliver an exceptional experience across the board.
Speed: How Fast Your Data Moves
When people talk about internet quality, speed is usually the first thing that comes to mind. Simply put, speed measures how much data can move between your devices and the internet over a period of time. It's typically measured in megabits per second (Mbps) or gigabits per second (Gbps).
Types of Speed:
Download speed: How quickly you can receive data from the internet. This affects things like loading websites, streaming movies, and downloading files.
Upload speed: How quickly you can send data to the internet. This is important for video calls, sending large email attachments, uploading videos, and gaming.
At Maverix, we offer symmetrical speeds, meaning your upload speed is just as fast as your download speed. This balance is key for modern internet use, where uploading is just as important as downloading—especially for remote work, online learning, content creation, and cloud-based applications.
How Much Speed Do You Need?
Browsing, email, social media: 25 Mbps+
Streaming HD video: 50 Mbps+
Streaming 4K video or online gaming: 100 Mbps+
Multiple devices streaming/working/gaming simultaneously: 500 Mbps+ to 1 Gbps or higher
Maverix offers plans starting at 1 Gbps and scaling to 10 Gbps, with future plans for 50 Gbps, ensuring your home or business is future-proofed for whatever comes next.
Latency: The Time It Takes to Send and Receive Data
Latency refers to the time it takes for data to travel from your device to a remote server and back again. It’s measured in milliseconds (ms) and often called ping.
How Latency Affects You:
In web browsing or streaming, latency has less impact because data is sent in larger chunks and buffered.
In real-time activities, like video calls, online gaming, or VoIP, latency matters a lot. Higher latency can cause lag, delays, or choppy experiences.
Low Latency = Instant Response
Maverix’s fiber network delivers ultra-low latency, often less than 10 ms under normal conditions. This results in:
Smooth online gaming with instant reactions
Clear, lag-free video calls
Faster load times on web pages and cloud apps
Typical Latency Benchmarks:
0–20 ms: Excellent for gaming, video calls, and VoIP.
20–50 ms: Good, minimal impact on most activities.
50–100 ms: Noticeable delays, less ideal for real-time applications.
100 ms+: Significant lag, impacting calls, games, and responsiveness.
Jitter: The Stability of Your Connection
Jitter is a measure of the variability in latency over time. Even if latency is low, high jitter can cause problems by making the timing of data packets unpredictable.
How Jitter Affects You:
VoIP/Voice calls: Jitter causes delays, echoes, or dropped words.
Video conferencing: High jitter can lead to freezes or audio sync issues.
Gaming: Jitter can cause inconsistent ping, making it hard to maintain smooth gameplay.
Streaming: Usually less affected, since buffering helps smooth out delivery.
Maverix fiber internet minimizes jitter through a dedicated, high-capacity fiber network, offering consistent, reliable connectivity.
What’s an Acceptable Jitter Level?
0–30 ms: Excellent, ideal for real-time services.
30–50 ms: Acceptable for most activities, but issues may appear on calls.
50 ms+: Problems likely in real-time communication.
Why Fiber Makes a Difference
Not all internet connections are created equal. Maverix fiber internet provides key advantages over traditional cable or DSL:
Symmetrical speeds: Upload and download are equally fast.
Lower latency: Fiber signals travel directly without interference.
Minimal jitter: Fiber connections are consistent and stable.
Higher capacity: Supports more devices without slowing down.
Cable networks, by contrast, are often shared among neighbors, which can lead to congestion, higher latency, and inconsistent performance—especially during peak hours. Maverix’s fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure provides a dedicated line to each customer, ensuring fast, consistent service no matter the time of day.
How to Test Speed, Latency, and Jitter
You can check your connection performance using tools like:
Maverix Speed Test (coming soon!)
Speedtest by Ookla
PingPlotter (for more advanced latency/jitter testing)
When running a test:
Connect directly to your fiber router with an Ethernet cable for the most accurate results.
Disconnect other devices to avoid splitting bandwidth.
Run tests at different times to compare performance.
Need Help? We’re Here.
If you’re experiencing issues with speed, latency, or jitter, Maverix Support is ready to assist. We’ll help troubleshoot and ensure your connection runs at peak performance.
Visit our Maverix Help Center, or contact Support by chat, phone, or email.
