Will 50 Mbps be enough for you or do you need to connect a more expensive tariff with 100 Mbps? We figure out who needs what Internet speed for the home.
But first, a couple of important points that you just need to know.
- Do not confuse bytes and bits. The speed of Internet access is measured in bits per second – these are bytes that are not familiar to us at all. There are 8 bits in 1 byte. That is, a 30 MB file at a speed of 30 Mbps will download not 1 s, but 8 s!
- Don’t count on top speed. The value that the provider indicates in the tariff is not your real speed. The real one will depend on many factors. For example, the load on the provider’s network at the current moment and the type of your connection (wired or Wi-Fi) … Therefore, it is possible that two users with different tariffs will have the same speed. You can check the real speed of your internet right now with the help of a speedtest service.
- The speed depends not only on the provider. If you download a file from some resource, it can limit the speed itself. And no more expensive and faster tariffs, in this case, will help to cope with the task faster.
What should be the internet speed?
It all depends on how many devices you connect to your home network and how you use those devices. Here is a table in which we recommend speeds for specific tasks.
| Task type | Recommended speed, Mbps |
| Basic tasks: checking mail, watching news (no long videos), using social networks | 2 |
| Simple tasks: video calling, online gaming, watching videos up to 720p | 5 |
| Medium tasks: Frequent downloading of large files, watching videos in Full-HD resolution | 10 |
| Challenging tasks: streaming in Full HD, watching 4K content | 30 |
Please note that here we took into account the use of a single device. If there are several, just sum the speeds. For example, if your wife is watching a movie online in UHD quality, your son is streaming in the next room, and you want to talk on Skype, count on 60-70 Mbps.
