How much bandwidth/internet speed do you need?

[c64z86]

Worried whether you really need that 1.6gbps or even that shiny new 2.5gbps package to enjoy the internet?

Then I would suggest to Google "How much bandwidth do you really need?" then clicking the "High Speed Internet" site calculator, which should be the 1st or 2nd result that pops up! Then answer the questionnaire to calculate how much you need.

You will be surprised.

[GeoffSmith]

Interesting.  An Openreach "engineer" recently mentioned to me that 'most' of the domestic properties he visited only really needed 50mbps. Running the questionnaire gave 40mbps  for my property. As I reliably get 67 on FTTC I find that reassuring, and won't be troubling with FTTP until forced to.

[rbz5416]

@GeoffSmith 

If available, FTTP would be worth taking for the improved reliability, you don't have to go for crazy speeds. Indeed the current FTTC speeds are also available via FTTP & should be the same price.

Having said that I can't help being amused by those desperate to migrate to EE so they can upgrade their lowly 900Mb connection to 1.6Gb...

[Keith_Beddoe]

10Mbs ADSL works fine here, for web, email, and streaming video from Amazon and Netflix. I do not use BT TV.

I also have a 4G MiFi unit as a backup, and if I need occasional faster upload, without affecting the main connection.

Cannot see the point of anything faster than 50Mbs, for most people.

[WSH]

@c64z86  Didn't you post the same article last week?

As I said then, reliablilty, stability and cost are really the issues now.  Like RAM, once you've got enough for the job, you've got enough.  The excess just sits there, redundant.

I agree with @rbz5416 but people will go for it if it's available.  It's like buying a "performance" car in a country with a 70mph national limit.  I've never understood it myself but if you've got the money and the inclination why not?

[countrypaul]

Tend to agree with most of the comments about what is actually needed, it came up with 100Mb/s for us - we have VDSL around 70Mb/s. Not expecting FTTP any time soon as to rural.

We also have a teenager and a soon to be a teenager, so reducing the ear ache could also be a factor to consider for some: "How much longer?", "Is it downloaded yet?", "Can't you make it go any faster?"...

[HHGTTG]

I so much agree with you but perhaps we don't (I don't, certainly) have a house full of people all wanting the Internet simultaneously and there again I don't need fast Internet for work. But does anyone really?
There seems to be this race for stratospheric speeds.

[c64z86]

@WSH 

Yeah but this version is much shorter without me waffling on, and back then I didn't know what links were allowed or not too 😛

Thanks for replying again!

[c64z86]

I can't kudo any of you sorry, no idea why, but I am going to say that I agree with all of you! 👍

Thank you for your replies so far!

[c64z86]

Yep there seems to be this race for speeds, and nobody really knows what they are buying all that speed for.

Let's do some breakdowns:

1 single instance of 4k video or 4k TV streaming needs 30-50mbps.

1080p needs lower than that, a mere 5mbps.

720p needs only 2.5mbps.

Most webpages need 3mbps to load at their fastest.

Even if you had 4 TVs each streaming 4k at the same time, that still only requires around 200mbps.

That is only around 12.5% of 1.6gbps.