Tom’s Tech Tip: Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Is It Time to Upgrade Your Internet?
Vickie and I are lucky. At the office we have Internet connection speeds that would make the Pentagon jealous. Email is delivered before we send it and web pages miraculously appear at the click of a mouse. At home though, things are a little different. Our Internet connectivity is more “real world” and we actually have to wait almost a second or two for a document to download. It’s not disturbing but we do notice a difference.
Recently I had the opportunity to work “free range” at a local Starbucks and realized that the store had a faster wireless Internet speed than I did at home. Talk about disheartening – a room full of slackers in yoga clothes all surfing YouTube.com at speeds I couldn’t even imagine. While I don’t endorse unsecured local networks I do endorse higher speed Internet connections and therein lies the rub.
As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant you’ll be downloading medical records and uploading legal nurse consulting work product from and to your attorney-clients. Downloading is easy because most Internet connections are asynchronous. That means that your download speeds will be different than your upload speeds. This is because the forces that control the Internet (phone, cable and satellite companies) understand that consumers are more into consumption than creation. In other words consumers want to download more than they upload. But that general classification ignores professional legal nurse consultants who will need to do more than watch funny cat videos.
If you haven’t done so, it’s time to run an Internet speed test to find out the actual (or average) speed of your Internet connectivity or bandwidth. The easiest way to do this is to go to this link and click on “Start Test.” After a few minutes you’ll know exactly what your download and upload speeds are. A good average download speed is 35-45 MBPS and an average asynchronous upload speed around 5 MBPS. If you’re at or above either of those benchmarks you’re in good shape. The types and quantities of documents you’ll be working with (up and down) will easily fit within those speeds. But, and it’s a big but, the more people you have in your household the more these speeds will be downgraded.
Think of Internet speeds as water through a pipe. Only so much water can flow through that pipe and every additional user siphons off a little bit of the stream. That means that you may not really have the full amount of your bandwidth but only a portion.
When you’re working on your legal nurse consultant jobs in your home office and no one else is around you’ll have incredible results. But when everyone’s at home and “doing their homework,” that’s a perfect time to run that Internet speed test and see what you’re actually getting “under load.” If you’re far below my standards it’s time to call your local company and negotiate an upgrade. After all, if you’re still running at AOL download speeds you’re more of a cave-person than you can afford to be.
We currently have an offer of AT&T fiber in our neighborhood but I haven’t beaten them down to a price point I’m willing to spend but I’m sure that they’ll cave eventually, especially since all that other stuff (cable TV, phone, etc.) is bundled in.
So, my advice to all Certified Legal Nurse Consultants is to test your Internet speed at different times throughout the work day. If you’re not getting great results it’s time to upgrade. You’ll appreciate it as every second counts.
Keep on Techin’,
Tom
P.S.Comment and share how fast or slow your Internet speeds are.
One thought on “Tom’s Tech Tip: Certified Legal Nurse Consultants Is It Time to Upgrade Your Internet?”
Excellent advice, Tom. Our server is laying new cable as I type this. My test was 31 and 5. I can’t wait until the new lines are installed. The original lines for everything went underground well over 20 years ago or more. AT&T’s lines, for example, deteriorated so badly that last December 27, their lines initiated their own robo 911 calls to the local cops from the house next to us, 4 times in a 24-hour period. The power company is also upgrading. About time for that. They are at least 5-7 years behind their replacement schedule. (Who’s kidding?) Their power surges cost me 2 older but perfectly functional computers and a printer over the last 14 years – with surge protectors in place. We now own a huge gas generator that I am told should prevent that. One other thing: if you have paid for the faster Internet performance, are not getting it, be sure to call and complain to the service provider. They are probably paid to deny it is slow. But, within minutes after the call, the Internet speed will increase…like magic.
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
Keep on Techin’,
Excellent advice, Tom. Our server is laying new cable as I type this. My test was 31 and 5. I can’t wait until the new lines are installed. The original lines for everything went underground well over 20 years ago or more. AT&T’s lines, for example, deteriorated so badly that last December 27, their lines initiated their own robo 911 calls to the local cops from the house next to us, 4 times in a 24-hour period. The power company is also upgrading. About time for that. They are at least 5-7 years behind their replacement schedule. (Who’s kidding?) Their power surges cost me 2 older but perfectly functional computers and a printer over the last 14 years – with surge protectors in place. We now own a huge gas generator that I am told should prevent that. One other thing: if you have paid for the faster Internet performance, are not getting it, be sure to call and complain to the service provider. They are probably paid to deny it is slow. But, within minutes after the call, the Internet speed will increase…like magic.