Computers, laptops, tablets Cell phones Smart appliances: Nest thermostat, smart locks, smartbulbs, etc. Get an idea of what you and others do online.
Recommended minimum speed by online activity 1,2,3. Notice how little speed you need for most of these activities? Two things about that: These are recommended starting points. Love to binge-watch? Add up the Mbps you need per person and device. Recommended internet speed per person or device. Got a home security system? Find an internet plan that works for you. Now that you know how much internet speed you need, check this out next.
Look for internet providers with the speeds you need in your area. Accessed November 10, Catherine McNally, Reviews. Tyler Abbott, Reviews. Written by. She believes the internet is a necessity, not a luxury, and writes reviews and guides to help everyone stay connected. Read More. Related Articles. See if a Ring doorbell cameras are some of the most popular models on the market. But are You might know the Ring Video Doorbell, but have you heard about Ring's new security Feature Comparisons.
Feature Reviews. Stay updated on the latest products and services anytime, anywhere. All rights reserved. Say you need to fill a gallon tank. If your garden hose puts out only 5 gallons of water per minute, you'll be waiting 20 minutes to fill the tank. But a huge firehose that puts out a gallon of water every second will fill the tank in less than two minutes. Bandwidth is like the size of the hose. The larger it is, the more data you can pull down in a given time. Bandwidth is measured in bits per second.
Note that bits are different than bytes, the common measure of file size. One byte equals 8 bits, so 1 megabyte MB equals 8 megabits. If you have a 1 megabit-per-second connection, a 1MB file will take eight seconds to download. On a 1 Mbps connection, an MP3 file, which might measure about 6MB, will take about 48 seconds to download.
A 5 gigabyte, or 5,MB, movie will take about 11 hours. The bandwidth you're allotted is shared among all devices on your connection. How much you need depends on how you use the internet. Tom's Guide contacted broadband experts and some folks who work at internet service providers ISPs to see if you really need to pay extra for faster connectivity. Here's what we found. I know, I know — all the ISPs are telling you to get a faster plan. But you may be paying more than you need to.
After a year of lockdowns, where people have handled everything from work to school right from home, having sufficient bandwidth for the whole family is more important than ever. Another senior engineer, who works at a well-known ISP and spoke to Tom's Guide on condition of anonymity, echoed that point, saying internet speeds ultimately depend on what the customer is doing with his or her internet connection. The person added that the "average family" shouldn't pay for "anything beyond 20 x 5.
Another broadband expert told Tom's Guide that the more bandwidth you have, the better, up to a point. Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, said this will ensure you have enough bandwidth when you really need it — for example, if you have a big file to upload or you're doing sophisticated work on your network.
Gigabit speed offers 1, Mbps, an exponential increase over the 20 to Mbps plans that are generally considered high-speed broadband. See our article What is Gig-Speed Internet? However, "anything over 10 Gbps to a home user is pretty likely overkill," Mitchell said. A gig everywhere should be a goal — not because people will max it out, but because it will ensure everyone can do what they want without worrying about the network being the bottleneck.
As more people shift to streaming for their TV and movie watching needs, bandwidth requirements become a bigger issue. If you want to stream 4K content to get the best picture for your 4K smart TV, you'll need a connection of at least 25 Mbps. Lower resolution content is less demanding, but even streaming p HD video will require a 10 Mbps plan for smooth performance.
And that's all assuming you only stream to one device at a time. If there's more than one TV in your home, or you want to watch in the living room while someone else watches on a laptop in the kitchen, the bandwidth needs grow accordingly.
Smart home devices also bring new demand for bandwidth. It only takes a few devices, like a smart thermostat, a smart speaker and a smart lock, to start having an impact on your home's connectivity speeds, so don't forget to factor those into your thinking when you consider how many devices are in use in your home. Most experts recommend adding an extra 5 Mbps to your plan for every 10 smart devices, though some products, like cameras, will require much more.
Though there's debate over how much internet speed you need, it's clear that ISPs benefit from your desire for faster internet speeds. The Federal Communications Commission defines anything faster than 25 megabits per second as " advanced service. In March, a bipartisan group of senators called on the FCC to raise the bar for broadband by setting minimum speeds at Mbps. At any rate, if you make use of the internet on an everyday basis, you'll want to aim for something a little higher than 25Mbps if you can.
With smart home gadgets growing in prevalence and our media consumption increasingly driven by streaming, it makes sense to opt for something closer to Mbps if plans like those are available in your area and, frustratingly, in a lot places they still aren't.
Network congestion, poor router placement, interference from nearby networks and other factors can all slow things down. To find out whether your internet speed is truly to blame, check out our guide on how to test your connection. These days, with so many people working from home, a lot of us are using more internet than we're used to. However, that isn't the case for everyone, which you'll want to keep in mind as you're shopping for an internet plan. If you work from home, stream lots of high-resolution videos or regularly play games online, you'll likely need more internet speed than someone who casually goes on social media platforms and gets their TV from a cable provider.
Different activities require different internet capabilities -- here's a small chart to help give you an idea:. Another important factor to consider in your search for the ideal internet speed is how many users and devices are on your network in a given day. Your household may only consist of one or two people, but it could be hosting 10 to 15 devices laptops, cellphones, gaming consoles, smart TVs, smart home gadgets, you name it.
If you're using these devices consistently, then you'll want to ensure your internet speed has the bandwidth to cover them all.
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