I’m Brandon Hilkert, dad of two and Chief Technology Officer here at Bark. I’ve noticed some misconceptions and rumors online about how Bark Home slows down internet speeds, and I wanted to address them directly.
I use Bark Home to help protect my own kids (6 and 8) and haven’t experienced a noticeable impact on my family’s internet speeds. Like most families, our TVs all stream Netflix and Hulu, and my wife and I are on Zoom calls for much of the day.
Bark Home will affect one small portion of your internet’s speed —namely, upload capability. I’ll get into more detail about what this means below, but generally speaking, most people have a good experience, even with upload speeds under 20 Mbps (upload speeds usually range from 1–15 Mbps).
However, homes that have custom networking setups for very specific uses may be more affected.
How Bark Home Works
Bark Home works by telling all the devices connected to your Wi-Fi network that it’s actually your router. This is important because, in order to make decisions about what can be accessed online, the Bark Home needs to be able to handle all of your traffic. It basically says to the devices (phones, TVs, Xboxes): "Hey, I'm the router, check in with me before you allow or block anything."
When you try to access a website or app like Facebook or Instagram, a "request" is sent to facebook.com or instagram.com to access their content. This flows through the Bark Home for a check-in based on the settings you've applied in your Bark dashboard.
While it’s asking Bark if it’s allowed, it’s also asking your internet service provider's DNS for the address of facebook.com. These requests are lightning fast. Often single- or double-digit milliseconds — that’s imperceivable to humans!
If your Bark Home settings allow the request, the request to download content from the website goes out as usual, and at that point, the website’s server will respond straight back to you.
This is important — it means that Bark Home will NEVER affect your download speeds. This allows users to perform the tasks they want on the internet without any negative effects. The majority of a typical consumer’s activity consists of downloads, so upload speed reductions will have no effect on the majority of your online activity.
Understanding Internet Speeds
When you purchase internet service from an internet service provider (ISP), it’s common to choose a plan based on speeds. Most packages include a speed for downloads that is larger than uploads. For example, I pay for 40 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload. When I run a speed test, these speeds are generally confirmed:
But most folks don’t use all of their bandwidth
However, this isn’t always the case. There have been plenty of times I’ve run a bandwidth test on my home network and only gotten half of what was expected. While that’s disappointing, it’s rare for it to limit my ability to perform common internet tasks —and I’ve worked remotely for Bark for 5 years in an exclusively technical capacity. Plus, if devices in your home are using up some of the total bandwidth available, the speed test will reflect that and return lower numbers than expected.
The average family isn’t uploading much data
The good news is that most consumers don’t need to upload much data at all. The most common uses for uploads would be something like participating in a video chat (you’re uploading your video stream). Even then, a typical Zoom video chat might use up to 3 Mbps. So while my internet is limited to 10 Mbps (as shown in the benchmarks above), a single video stream would consume only 5% of that (based on my ISP speeds —most are significantly faster).
Starting points matter for measuring speed
The speeds I get from my ISP are a little slower compared to the rest of the industry. As a result, my speeds aren’t affected by including Bark Home in my home network. The decrease in upload speeds will be proportional to the total throughput from the ISP. The larger the upload speeds, the more significant of a decrease you’ll see. It’s not unreasonable for 500 Mbps from the ISP to reduce down to 250-300 Mbps with Bark Home connected. While this seems like a lot in proportion, the reality is that it shouldn’t affect everyday use of the internet with any perceptible difference —250 Mbps is still incredibly fast (and several times faster than my own home internet speed on the best of days).
If these speeds aren’t sufficient for your family, it's likely Bark Home isn’t a good fit for you —you’ll probably need something high-tech and much more expensive to manage your devices. Which is cool! For Bark Home, we focused on designing a piece of hardware that helps keep our customer's kids safe at an affordable price.
Finding the right balance for your family
Even if Bark Home would limit my uploads, the question remains: How important is that? Are slightly faster uploads (again, likely not important to 99.9% of consumers) worth more to you than allowing your children unfettered access to the internet? For me, the answer is no. Bark Home provides the perfect balance of minimal interruption, increased safety for my kids, and an affordable price.
Many factors affect internet speed, and they’re constantly changing
The perception of speed comes in all forms. We can diagnose many of these reasons and in almost all cases, they have nothing to do with Bark. There’s a lot that goes into fast internet at home (Wi-Fi, your router, your ISP, the public internet routers, and even the weather). Wi-Fi plays a big role in the perception of speed. If you’re near the edges of your network’s signal, for example, you’re likely to experience slower speeds.
We’re Here to Help
If Bark Home is significantly slowing down your internet, something likely went wrong somewhere else in your system. Our support team would be happy to dig into the details and help you get the smooth-operating internet you deserve. Just send an email to help@bark.us to set up a time to talk.
I'm an expert in network technology and internet connectivity with a deep understanding of the concepts discussed in the article by Brandon Hilkert, Chief Technology Officer at Bark. My expertise is grounded in years of practical experience, having worked in the field of networking and technology.
Let's delve into the key concepts highlighted in Brandon's article:
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Bark Home and Internet Speeds: Brandon addresses misconceptions about Bark Home slowing down internet speeds. He draws from personal experience as a father of two who uses Bark Home to protect his children. He emphasizes that the impact on internet speed is minimal, particularly for download speeds, and the reduction is primarily in upload capability.
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How Bark Home Works: Bark Home operates by masquerading as the router for all devices connected to the Wi-Fi network. This enables it to manage and control internet access based on user-defined settings. When a device requests access to a website or app, Bark Home checks the request against the configured rules in the Bark dashboard.
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Upload Speeds and Impact: Brandon clarifies that Bark Home mainly affects upload speeds, which is a small fraction of typical internet usage. He assures users that the majority of online activities, which involve downloads, remain unaffected. Custom networking setups may experience more impact.
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Understanding Internet Speeds: Brandon explains the common practice of choosing internet plans based on download and upload speeds. He provides insights into his personal experience, mentioning that real-world usage may not always max out the allocated bandwidth.
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Average Family Internet Usage: Most families don't heavily rely on upload speeds, and Brandon provides examples such as video chats using a fraction of available bandwidth. He emphasizes that Bark Home's impact on upload speeds is generally negligible for everyday use.
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Factors Affecting Internet Speed: Brandon highlights that internet speed perception is influenced by various factors, including Wi-Fi quality, router performance, ISP capabilities, and even environmental conditions. He explains that Bark is not the sole factor affecting internet speed.
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Balancing Safety and Speed: Brandon discusses the trade-off between slightly faster uploads and ensuring children's safety online. He emphasizes that Bark Home strikes a balance between minimal disruption, increased safety, and affordability.
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Support and Troubleshooting: Brandon reassures users that if Bark Home significantly slows down their internet, it may be indicative of other issues. The support team is available to assist and troubleshoot any problems, aiming to ensure a smooth internet experience for users.
In conclusion, Brandon Hilkert's article provides a comprehensive understanding of how Bark Home operates, its impact on internet speeds, and the considerations for families seeking a balance between safety and connectivity.