The internet industry is full of confusing terms, and it seems every advertisement talks about the “G’s.” So, what are they talking about?

Gigabit (ie: GB/Gig/Gbps)

Sprout uses this term when we describe our Gold and Platinum internet speeds. Gigabit is a unit of
measure for data. One piece of data is a bit — a single “bit” of information sent or received over
the internet. We measure bandwidth in bits. A gigabit is 1,000 megabits. For reference, our silver package is 300 megabits of data that can be transferred per second. Sprout’s Gold package, which is 1 gigabit, is equal to 1,000 megabits and our Platinum package equals 2,000 megabits. In this case, the G stands for the speeds you receive over a “hard-wired” connection*.

Generation (ie: 4G/5G)

Most mobile (cellular) carriers also offer data plans for smart devices and even home internet service. They advertise 3G, 4G, or even 5G, but is that more than Sprout’s 2G? For cell phones, G refers to a wireless tower-based technology and is completely different than Sprout’s fiber-to-the-home technology. This G stands for “generation,” as in the 5th generation cellular technology. This “G” does not have anything to do with the capacity or speed of service. Newer is better though. 5G will perform better than 3G, just like the iPhone 15 will perform better than the 10.

*Because Wi-Fi is an internet signal broadcast through the air wirelessly, speeds may vary depending on a device’s distance from the router, physical barriers or interference, the age of the device, or even how many other devices are simultaneously connected to the same signal. All these factors may cause slower speeds than a wired connection.