Rural Internet: Can You Avoid Latency?

No matter where you are in the country, latency is an undesirable phenomenon that no Internet user wants to experience. Latency is especially grating if you plan to use the Internet for online gaming, video chatting, and other activities happening in real-time. In rural America, it can feel like even more of a challenge to avoid latency because of the more limited number of companies offering Internet for rural areas.

Since options like fiber optic Internet and other mainstream Internet options are largely unavailable in rural America, rural residents have relied either on outdated types of Internet like dial-up or alternative rural Internet service providers such as satellite and mobile Internet. While satellite Internet is popular because of its ability to reach highly remote areas with high-quality service, it is far from the best option if you are trying to avoid latency.

As you may know, satellite Internet providers send Internet signals from satellites orbiting our planet in outer space. Latency usually results from Internet signals traveling over large distances to reach households on the ground, because of the sizable delay this process creates. In contrast, mobile Internet providers like UbiFi provide unlimited 4G rural Internet through the abundance of cell towers scattered throughout rural America. UbiFi and its fellow mobile Internet companies can provide service with lower latency because of the shorter distance between cell towers and receivers in rural areas. However, this process works best if you are in an area covered by cell towers associated with an Internet company like UbiFi. Be sure to check if you are close enough to a coverage area if you want to eliminate latency by signing up for a mobile Internet provider’s service.