{"id":114882,"date":"2020-07-19T14:49:40","date_gmt":"2020-07-19T18:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rbach.net\/?p=114882"},"modified":"2021-06-19T17:06:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T21:06:35","slug":"can-wfh-be-the-new-normal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rbach.net\/index.php\/can-wfh-be-the-new-normal\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Working From Home the New Normal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\"Is<\/a>It looks likely<\/a> that a second wave<\/a> of COVID-19<\/a><\/strong> is going to extend social distancing and lock-downs. This will make working from home the new normal for many of us. Sixty-two percent<\/strong> of currently employed Americans told<\/a> Gallup<\/a><\/em> they have worked from home during the crisis. The number of people working from home has doubled since mid-March when the pandemic hit the U.S.<\/p>\r\n

\"Working<\/a>Working from home requires some kind of connectivity from the home to the corporate data. The most reliable way to get that connection is using fixed broadband<\/a>. You typically get fixed broadband from your local telco monopoly (ATT, Verizon, Comcast, etc<\/em>). While they promise screaming fast bandwidth of up to 1,000 Mbps (1 Gbps)<\/strong>. Their claims of fast connectivity will cost you up at least $75.00<\/a> a month. And most of us will never get that kind of speed.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Fastest country<\/h3>\r\n

Data from Ookla<\/a>, the parent company of Speedtest.net<\/a>, says the fastest country Singapore. <\/strong>The Speedtest Global Index<\/a> for June 2020 reports that Singapore has an average internet speed of 208.16 Mbps. The overall fixed bandwidth speed in the United States is 143.28 Mbps. <\/strong>\u00a0That speed is only good enough to rank 14th globally<\/strong>. For some context, the microstate of Andorra<\/a> in the Pyrenees mountains gets 161.59 Mbps.<\/p>\r\n

Best connectivity for working from home<\/h3>\r\n

\"Ookla<\/a>In the U.S., New Jersey gets the best<\/strong> fixed broadband connectivity. Ookla says the Garden state gets a median download speed of 99.1 Mbps down (how fast you can transfer data from a server on the Internet to you<\/em>). New Jersey gets an average of 31.60 Mbps up (how fast you can transfer data to a server on the Internet<\/em>). The speed comes with a latency of 13 ms (the delay of information communication<\/em>).\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Michigan ranked 31 in the U.S.<\/h3>\r\n

Fixed bandwidth in Michigan is laughable.<\/strong> The Great Lakes state ranked #31<\/strong> on the Ookla report. Results from speedtest.net say the typical Michigan user has a median download speed of 78.25 Mbps – approximately half of the U.S. average. <\/strong>Michigan only gets an upload speed of 11.36 Mbps with a latency of 20 ms from Comcast Xfinity. Wyoming is the worst<\/strong> state for fixed broadband – they get an average of 43.8 Mbps down and 10.09 Mbps up.<\/p>\r\n

The Ookla report also breaks down the bandwidth for the 100 most populous U.S. cities. Kansas City, Missouri had the fastest<\/strong> median download speed over fixed broadband during Q2 2020 at 132.71 Mbps. Followed by fixed broadband in:<\/p>\r\n