You Don't Need a Gigabit
Originally published in Spanish in El Nuevo Día, October 28, 2026. [https://www.elnuevodia.com/opinion/punto-de-vista/usted-no-necesita-un-gigabit/]
I have spent 25 years in Puerto Rico's internet industry. Today I have to admit that providers, myself included, have turned speed into our main selling point. “1 Gig.” “2 Gigs.” “The fastest network.” It is a number that is easy to advertise and easy to compare. The problem is that it is not what consumers need.
Almost nobody needs a gigabit at home. Netflix recommends at least 15 Mbps to stream a movie in 4K; with a gigabit, a family could watch more than 60 4K movies at the same time. Some households do take advantage of it, like content creators or families with several heavy users, but they are the exception, not the rule.
What I do hear every day is that “the internet is slow.” And in the vast majority of cases, the problem is not the speed of the plan.
The first culprit is usually inside the house: the Wi-Fi. Think of it as a speaker. Your internet plan is the music: it can be studio quality, but if the speaker is stuck in a closet at the back of the house, you can barely hear it from the carport. Paying for more megs is like turning up the volume: it does not make the sound travel through walls. In 2023, Ookla, the company behind Speedtest, found that home Wi-Fi in the United States delivered on average only 42% of the speed coming in by cable. In Puerto Rico, where most homes are built with concrete block, the challenge is even greater.
And there is a reality no speed test measures: power. According to LUMA's own report to the Energy Bureau, in fiscal year 2026 the average customer went more than 28 hours without electricity. We all remember the island-wide blackout of April 2025. A gigabit without electricity is zero megs. When the power goes out, nobody cares how many megs they pay for; they care about being able to keep working, getting the kids' homework done, staying in touch with family.
That is why I believe our industry has to change the conversation. We have competed to see who advertises the highest number, when what consumers really want is reliability: a connection that works the same at 9 at night as at 10 in the morning, Wi-Fi that reaches every room [link to AeroMesh page], service that stays up when the power fails, and someone who answers when there is a problem. That is harder to advertise than a number, but it is what people actually live with at home.
My advice to consumers is simple. Before paying more, plug a computer into your provider's equipment with a cable and compare it with a Wi-Fi speed test in the farthest room. If the difference is large, the problem is inside the house, not in the plan. And when you evaluate a provider, ask what the ad does not say: How does it perform at peak hours? Will you help me get Wi-Fi to the whole house? What happens when the power goes out?
Speed is easy to sell because it is a number. But what you live with every day is not a number: it is a video call that does not freeze, a movie that does not stop, and an internet connection that keeps working when you need it most. That is the conversation our industry owes consumers.
Gino Villarini is the founder and president of AeroNet.
Wi-Fi struggles to get through concrete block. That is why some rooms never get a good signal.
When the signal reaches the whole house, every video call, class and movie works the same in the living room as in the back bedroom.
Paying for more megs will not fix it. Neither will a stronger router or a generic extender: the signal still gets cut off at the walls.
AeroMesh brings Wi-Fi to every room with equipment installed and managed by AeroNet. Learn more about AeroMesh by calling us at (787) 273-4143.
.avif)
