If your family regularly accesses the Internet for streaming video or gaming, especially if there are multiple users and devices in your home, you need fast and reliable broadband service. If you are an apartment renter, you may be able to receive basic broadband at a low price as long as you’re willing to sign an agreement to use the same provider as everyone else in the building. Major broadband providers often sign multi-year deals locking their service into large apartment buildings.

While low-cost Internet might initially be perceived as an attractive option, a disadvantage is that performance will vary since all other residents will be sharing the same connection. Especially during peak times, end users will find that download speeds are substantially reduced while upload rates will become practically glacial. While this might not affect the casual Internet user who is content to browse the web and send and receive email, even a small family with multiple devices and bandwidth-intensive video and music streaming habits will find slow connections to be a frustrating experience.