How Much Internet Speed Exercise I Need?

At a glance

Picking a new net plan can be a pain. You want to brand certain you lot accept enough internet speed to avoid buffering and disjointed Zoom meetings, but going with the fastest speed might be a waste material of money.

As a general baseline, you want at least ten Mbps of download speed per person who could exist online at the aforementioned time, but the actual amount of internet speed you need depends on how many devices are connected to the cyberspace and how y'all use the internet.

Hither are the basic considerations for choosing an internet program:

  1. Bandwidth requirements
  2. Common net speed options
  3. Upload speed vs. download speed
  4. Internet types

Keep reading to learn more about internet speed and how much of it you lot should pay for. And if yous're looking for a new internet access provider (Internet service provider) that can give you faster net speeds, check out our listing of ISPs nosotros recommend.

Observe internet prices for your new home

How do I choose an net speed?

This is going to exist a flake of (easy) math. But don't worry—you need to do this merely once to know how much internet speed you need.

What you need to do is figure out the number of devices that will potentially be online at the same time, along with the amount of bandwidth required to keep each connection running smoothly.

Here's a chart to help yous figure out how many Mbps each of your internet connections might need. Or you lot can skip the math and go a personalized net speed recommendation.

Bandwidth requirements for common online activities

Action

Recommended bandwidth per case

Web browsing

three–v Mbps

Email

1–ii Mbps

Music streaming

one–ii Mbps

Checking social media

three–10 Mbps

Video streaming

5–25 Mbps

Video conferencing

5–10 Mbps

Online gaming

5–25 Mbps

Smart abode devices

1-10 Mbps

The amount of bandwidth whatever online action can employ depends on a few factors. Checking social media could mean a brief await on Twitter, or it could be endlessly scrolling through TikTok (which would utilise more bandwidth).

As well, video streaming resolution affects how much cyberspace speed you utilize—standard definition Netflix has a minimum requirement of only 3 Mbps, merely streaming in 4K could easily use up 25 Mbps.

If yous have multiple connections going at the same time, you also desire to brand certain y'all have enough bandwidth for every connexion to run smoothly simultaneously—otherwise your network will slow down when multiple people get online.

For example, if you'd potentially accept a smart TV streaming Netflix, a smartphone scrolling through Instagram, and a laptop looking up the best takeout in your expanse at the same fourth dimension, 20–30 Mbps would work. That's 5–25 Mbps for streaming, 3–x Mbps for Instagram, and three–5 Mbps for web browsing.

Giving yourself a bit of jerk room isn't going to hurt either. In our opinion, it'due south amend to accept a picayune extra bandwidth than to get stuck with a little less than you regularly need.

Check every internet plan in your expanse to find the speeds you lot demand.

This helpful video from Xfinity can help you visualize the bandwidth requirements for dissimilar tasks like checking your email, streaming, and making video calls.

Common internet speeds

Even though every internet provider has its own range of internet plans, there are a few common speed ranges you might find as you shop.

25 Mbps—Skillful for about ii people and up to five devices, depending on what yous exercise with them. With 25 Mbps, you could stream ane show in 4K if there are no other internet connections.

50 Mbps—Good for 2–4 people and 5–vii devices. A speed of 50 Mbps can handle 2–3 video streams plus some extra online activity.

100 Mbps—Good for 4–6 people and up to 10 devices. Most families would be handsomely covered with a 100 Mbps cyberspace connection.

200–500 Mbps—Good for large families with several continued devices where anybody wants to picket a unlike movie or show at the same time.

i,000 Mbps—This is usually the fastest residential cyberspace speed available, and it's good if you lot rely on incredibly fast internet speeds for online gaming, your job, or simply because you want the best of the best.

Internet speeds from our favorite providers

Company

Price range

Download speeds

Larn more than

Xfinity Xfinity

$xix.99–$83.95/mo.* 50–1,200 Mbps

ATT AT&T

$55.00–$80.00/mo.** 25–940 Mbps

Spectrum Spectrum

$49.99–$89.99/mo.*** 200–1,000 Mbps

Cox Cox

$29.99–$109.99/mo.**** 25–ane,000 Mbps

Data equally of three/ten/2022.

*Excludes Xfinity Gigabit Pro and Gigabit X3 plans. For the commencement 12 months with a i-twelvemonth agreement.
**Excludes AT&T Internet 2000 and AT&T Cyberspace 5000 plans. For 12 mos., plus taxes & equip fee. $ten/mo. equip. fee applies. Incl. 1TB data/mo.; overage charges apply. Ltd avail./areas.
***For the first 12 months.
****For the first 12 months with a ane-twelvemonth agreement.

Upload speed and download speed

For nearly of this article, we've been talking about download speeds—the speeds that determine how fast you lot tin receive data from the internet. But upload speed—the speed at which you can send information to the cyberspace—is also of import.

Many internet providers advertise download speeds merely keep upload speeds a lilliputian more hidden because they can be much slower than download speeds. That's fine for nigh because you don't normally ship as much to the internet as yous get from it.

But for people who upload a lot of files, photos, or YouTube videos for work—or households where there are multiple video calls going on at the same time—you'll want to make certain your upload bandwidth can go along up.

Internet providers ordinarily give you ten% of your download speed as your upload speed. So if your net plan says 100 Mbps, your upload speed would exist 10 Mbps.

The exception to these asymmetrical speeds is usually fiber cyberspace, which tends to be more generous with upload bandwidth than other types of internet. With a fiber internet connection, you lot would unremarkably go equally fast upload and download speeds.

How internet type affects speeds

Different types of cyberspace connections can affect your speeds in a few different ways, mainly in speed or distance limitations, network congestion, or high latency. Let'south become through the principal types of internet and how they affect speeds:

Cobweb internet is the fastest blazon of cyberspace currently available. Notably, fiber net connections requite yous much faster upload speeds than other types of net. Examples of fiber cyberspace providers are Google Fiber, Verizon Fios, and CenturyLink Cobweb.

Cablevision internet is besides a fast connection type with elevation speeds up to 1,000 Mbps. Information technology doesn't take symmetric upload speeds, and cable connections can slow downwardly when a lot of people in a neighborhood are on the same network at the same fourth dimension. A few notable cablevision providers are Xfinity, Spectrum, and Cox.

DSL internet tin handle top speeds around 100 Mbps, but it usually performs slower than that because the wires carrying your internet data are older and more prone to interference over long distances. Examples of some DSL net companies are CenturyLink and Frontier.

Satellite internet is normally the slowest type of cyberspace due to its high latency. Think about information technology: all the information you send and receive has to go to space and back. Satellite cyberspace providers are HughesNet and Viasat (and presently to be Starlink).

Often asked questions about internet speed

What is latency?

Latency is the time it takes for whatsoever data—similar a word file, a YouTube video, or an email—to become from its original source to its destination. If your latency is loftier, it ways data is taking longer to transfer from the spider web to your phone or estimator.

Yous can reduce latency by moving closer to your router or finding an optimal location for your router. Sometimes, restarting your router can besides exist helpful. If your router is one-time, y'all might even demand to supervene upon it to solve latency problems.

What type of internet is fastest?

Cobweb internet like Google Fiber and Verizon Fios is the fastest net type on the market. Fiber isn't available in every area though, then you lot might accept to settle for cable internet. Luckily, cable internet is still pretty speedy compared to DSL internet and satellite net.

How do I test my internet speed?

If yous're paying for fast net, but you still get a lot of lag and buffer when you lot game online or stream video, make sure you're getting your money'due south worth using this handy internet speed test.

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Rebecca Armstrong

Written by

Rebecca Armstrong

Rebecca is a natural techie and the friend yous turn to when your Wi-Fi randomly stops working. Since graduating from the Academy of Evansville with a degree in creative writing, Rebecca has leveraged her tech savvy to write hundreds of data-driven tech product and service reviews. In addition to HighSpeedInternet.com, her work has been featured on Top 10 Reviews, MacSources, Windows Primal, Android Key, Best Company, TechnoFAQ and iMore.