What is the right internet speed for my needs?
What is the right internet speed for
my needs?
After having discussed the different types of internet
connections you can get in your home, we want to follow-up with this next blog
post about choosing the right internet speed for your needs.
There are 4 major factors to consider when it comes to
choosing your speeds.
1.
The number of internet users in your household
2.
The number of devices that will be connected to
the internet in your household
3.
The activities you plan to do on the internet
4.
Consider the price you are willing to pay for
your connection/speed
1. The number of internet users in your household is very
important. If for example, 4 people in your household are streaming or
downloading at the same time, there will be lot of bandwidth usage at the same
time. To make sure everyone has enough bandwidth for their needs you might need
a faster speed plan.
if they are heavy users they probably need at least 100mbps
download to divide it between the 4 users. But if you live by yourself and use
the internet for streaming video content/music and browsing you will be fine
with speeds up 15mbps.
2. Sometimes if you even live in small household you have to
consider all the devices that you have connected or will connect to your
internet network. If you like the internet of things and have almost every item
constantly sending internet signals back and forth in your network such as
monitoring devices, smart home appliances you probably need a connection that
provides you with enough speed and bandwidth as well. In this case a mere 15
Mbps would not suffice.
3. If you are someone who needs to broadcast or upload very
large amounts of data on the internet you probably want a plan that has high upload
and download speeds. If you only do some light browsing and stream content in
HD then you are fine with plans that speeds around 25Mbps in download.
4. One factor you have to consider is the price you are
willing to pay for higher speeds of internet. Rule of thumb is that when speeds
get faster, plans get more expensive. Furthermore, you need to check what
internet connections and speeds are available at your home. If there is only
one provider available you can bet the prices of internet plans will be very
high because of the lack of competition.
Below I have compiled a very general breakdown of the speeds
you might need for common activities on the internet
·
To stream videos in SD on Netflix, at least 3
Mbps is recommended.
·
To stream videos in HD on Netflix, at least 5
Mbps is recommended.
·
To stream videos in HDR or 4K on Netflix, at
least 25 Mbps is recommended.
·
To stream videos in SD, at least 3 Mbps is
recommended.
·
To stream video on one internet device in HD, at
least 7 Mbps is recommended.
·
To stream video in HD on multiple internet
devices, at least 13 Mbps is recommended.
·
Emails and basic computer programs: 3-4 Mbps is
recommended
·
Skype group video calls: 10+ Mbps is recommended
·
Large file transfers: 40+ Mbps is recommended
You need minimum speeds of 4-8 Mbps to game online, but for
a consistently good gaming experience, 10-25 Mbps tend to be best. As you
search for the best internet for gaming, keep in mind that download speed isn’t
the only factor in a good gaming experience. Speed is important because it’s
how quickly your game system transfers information from a gaming server.
However, ping time and latency also matter.
I hope by giving you all the above information you can take
the different factors into consideration when deciding on the internet speed
you will need in your home. According to speedtest.net the average home
internet speed in Canada is 76.23Mbps download and 25.07Mbps upload.
In our experience we find that speed in general good enough
for household of 4 people where the parents stream some HD video content
moderately, and the kids play online videogames from time to time.
With all that said, CanNet has a great promotion for 75Mbps
high-speed unlimited internet for only $29.98/m for people in Ontario. Sign up
now at: https://www.cannettel.com/promotion/75mny