What Internet Speeds Are Right For You?

Whether you’re looking to game or video conference, work and study from home, or simply kick back with some Netflix in the evenings, the speed of your Internet connection is critical to the experience.

There are many different types of Internet connection available, and the first thing to understand is that depending on where you live, you might not have much of a choice in terms of what speeds are available. If you live in a major city, then generally choice will be available to you – especially if you are willing to pay. You’ll be able to access everything from 5G mobile Internet, to a range of fibre services to the home, and more – you’ll be able to tailor your Internet plan to your specific needs.

However, if you live in a regional area, you might only have one option for Internet, and it might not be as fast as you’re hoping for. There are technologies and solutions on the horizon that might cast a wider net and include more regional areas, but for now, you may need to make the most of what you can access.

Now, with that said, what is a good Internet speed?

Video is the benchmark

The most data-intensive application will always be one that uses video. Netflix, for example, recommends that people have at least 5 Mbps in order to stream video content at HD (which, for most modern TVs, is the minimum quality that you’ll want), and 25 Mbps for content in 4K (which, depending on your TV, is what you’ll really want to be doing).

What surprises most people is that almost any other application doesn’t require much bandwidth at all. People often assume that for playing games online, for example, the faster the connection, the better. However, most gaming applications wouldn’t need more than 3 Mbps – half that of lower quality video – to run perfectly well. There are other factors that might affect the quality of the gaming experience, such as latency, but that’s unrelated to the Internet speeds you need.

The most bandwidth-intensive application of gaming is cloud gaming – where you “stream” the game off a server like you would watch a Netflix film. For a service like this (such as Microsoft Cloud Gaming), you’ll need a download speed of at least 20 Mbps (and 5GHz Wi-Fi), which is still less than high-end video.

Now, if you’re going to be downloading a lot of games, there’s a case to be made for a faster connection. Video games can be as much as 100GB in size now, and obviously, the faster the Internet connection, the quicker you’ll be playing, but if you’re willing to wait a few hours from the point of purchase (or download the game overnight while sleeping), then a 20 Mbps connection will be more than sufficient there too.

So, in short, when figuring out which Internet speed you need, prioritise video. If your Internet connection can handle video, it can also do the rest.

More people = greater speeds needed

The second key factor to consider is the number of people that are going to be using the Internet at the same time. In a household, one person might be watching Netflix, while another is using the Internet to research a project, and a third might be trying to conduct a video conference. Each additional application using the Internet at the same time adds to the overall bandwidth required. If two people are using Netflix at the same time you need to double the bandwidth, and so on.

The best way to make this calculation is to look at the peak times that people are using the Internet – when everyone’s at home and connected at the same time – and assume that each of these people want to use video at some point. That’s an indication of when your Internet connection will have the most strain put on it, and from there you can figure out the maximum “peak” bandwidth that you’ll need.

For most families of 3-4 people, it’ll be around 100 Mbps, to ensure that there won’t ever be disruption to anyone’s Internet experience.

Also consider uploads

Often when we look at Internet speeds, we focus on downloads – the speeds that you need to have information sent to you from the Internet. This is because applications like Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, gaming and so on are exclusively one-way traffic – you don’t need to send any information to use these services.

However, increasingly we do use the Internet to interact online. Video conferencing, for example, involves both receiving and sending video footage. Cloud gaming and applications involve a feedback loop – you make inputs and get outputs in return.

For this reason, it’s important to also look at the upload speed. In many cases, Internet plans are sold with what is called asynchronous speeds – you’ll get a bigger download speed than upload (for example, a common Internet plan is to offer 100 Mbps download and 50 Mbps upload). Internet companies do this because traditionally the need for upload bandwidth is lower, so providing synchronous speeds would have been a waste of resources.

The good news is that video conferencing applications don’t require the same bandwidth as, say, Netflix. Microsoft Teams recommends around 1.5 Mbps both download and upload for a good experience. A more intensive application is Twitch – if you’re a game streamer than you’ll need around 6 Mbps to ensure that your audience have a good experience. But that’s about the cap, so run the same calculations for uploads as you do downloads, and make sure that your plan will be able to account for “peak” times when everyone in the house might be using the Internet to interact at the same time.

Find the right ISP

Once you know what kind of Internet speed you need to match your consumption needs, the next step is to find the right ISP to meet those needs. Not all ISPs are equal. As a rule of thumb (though there are always exceptions to the rule), be careful about the cheapest ISPs. They might provide the speeds that you’re looking for, but with strict data caps that limit how much you can use. Or they might cut corners in other areas (for example, a cheaper ISP might not buy enough bandwidth wholesale, and therefore struggle to provide enough bandwidth to its customers during peak times, resulting in a slower connection for everyone.

The best way to ensure a completely interruption-free Internet experience is, therefore, quite simple. It’s a matter of calculating the amount of bandwidth and speeds that you need, and finding the right ISP that you can trust to provide that. 

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