What internet speed do I need? You are most likely to ask yourself this question whenever it is time to renew your internet plan, if not whenever you pay your bill. With ever-increasing demands from streaming, playing online games and browsing the internet/checking your emails – not to forget work and college – knowing which plan is true for you and your household is not the simplest question to answer.
Here’s a way to know if you’re paying an excessive amount, or if you’re really getting the service you would like.
Internet connectivity is something of a moving target. The amount of connected devices and users in our homes is seemingly growing at a fast pace, and those devices keep increasing in number. Sometimes, you enjoy fast speeds on your laptop, phone or tablet, and other times, you wonder why your connection is so slow. Maybe your game stalls when somebody else within the house starts streaming music, or your movie keeps buffering on Netflix.
In short, Internet speeds within the 100–200 Mbps range are considered ideal for many household chores since they handle common uses like streaming and video calls for 2–3 users, watching videos etc. However, there are a variety of things that ought to be considered — especially to be used in cases like home offices and gaming, where upload capacity for files and response time for user’s actions is extremely important.
Along with upload speeds, latency, and your location, another factor to think about is your WiFi network. The typical WiFi speed you experience around your home will generally be a bit slow thanks to wireless interference and the internet connection fades as you progress beyond the router. With that being said and highlighted, it’s important to settle on a speed slightly faster than what you would like to account for network slowdowns.
How Much Speed Do I Actually Need?
Here are some general download speed requirements recommended for everyday online activities:
- Checking emails or browsing the internet: 1-5 Mbps minimum
- Streaming HD content: 5 Mbps minimum
- Streaming 4K content and playing online games: 25 Mbps minimum
- Downloading large capacity files: 10+ Mbps minimum
These speeds are required per device in your home network. So depending upon the activities you’ll do on the web, the number of devices you’ll connect directly to, you can do a multiple on the speeds given above to figure out your bandwidth requirements.
