Ping measures a round trip in milliseconds, jitter measures how steady it is, packet loss counts the data that never arrives. Three different quantities, three different thresholds, and a physical floor I calculated from Belgium: 4.5 ms to Frankfurt, 87 ms to Virginia. Figures and sources checked in August 2026.
The number your speed test displays rarely measures your subscription: it measures the weakest link between the test server and your screen, and that link is almost always inside your home. Here is why, what each link actually lets through, the method BIPT recommends for building evidence, and the four speeds written into your contract that nobody reads. Verified August 2026.
One dead room, three shelves in the shop: Wi-Fi extender, powerline adapter or mesh kit. The criteria that actually decide, a side-by-side comparison, the Belgian three-phase trap, what Proximus, Telenet, Orange and VOO rent out, and the cases where you should buy nothing at all. Prices checked on 22 August 2026.
Your plan advertises 1 Gbps but your download tops out at 110 MB/s? That is normal, and it is not a scam. The conversion rule, an Mbps-to-MB/s table built on the speed tiers actually sold in Belgium, real download times for a film, a game or a console update, and how much speed you genuinely need. Figures recorded in August 2026.
Upload is the number the ads leave out: 20 Mbps with one provider, 500 Mbps with another, for the same gigabit advertised on download. Here is the real upstream speed offered by Proximus, Telenet, Orange, VOO and Digi, what you actually need for your usage, and how to measure your own. Figures recorded in July 2026.
VDSL runs over the old copper phone line; FTTH fibre brings a glass cable all the way into your living room. In Belgium, copper is living its final years: Proximus stopped selling it in 2024 and is switching it off address by address. Here are the real speed differences, what changes in daily use, and when to make the move. Figures collected in July 2026.
Fiber all the way to your home, or coaxial cable sold as 'fiber' — they are not the same technology. Speed, upload, latency, peak hours, real coverage: what truly separates FTTH from HFC cable in Belgium, and who the gap matters for. Figures recorded in July 2026.
For online gaming, true FTTH fiber beats cable thanks to its very low latency (5-12 ms) and high upload. Which fiber plan to choose for gaming in Belgium in 2026, what ping to aim for, and why latency matters more than raw speed: our clear guide, updated July 2026.
