Notably, fiber internet connections give you much faster upload speeds than other types of internet. Let’s go through the main types of internet and how they affect speeds:įiber internet is the fastest type of internet currently available. With a fiber internet connection, you would usually get equally fast upload and download speeds.ĭifferent types of internet connections can affect your speeds in a few different ways, mainly in speed or distance limitations, network congestion, or high latency. The exception to these asymmetrical speeds is usually fiber internet, which tends to be more generous with upload bandwidth than other types of internet. So if your internet plan says 100 Mbps, your upload speed would be 10 Mbps. Internet providers usually give you 10% of your download speed as your upload speed. That’s fine for most because you don’t normally send as much to the internet as you get from it.īut 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 sure your upload bandwidth can keep up. Many internet providers advertise download speeds but keep upload speeds a little more hidden because they can be much slower than download speeds. But upload speed-the speed at which you can send data to the internet-is also important. This helpful video from Xfinity can help you visualize the bandwidth requirements for different tasks like checking your email, streaming, and making video calls.įor most of this article, we’ve been talking about download speeds-the speeds that determine how fast you can receive data from the internet. In our opinion, it’s better to have a little extra bandwidth than to get stuck with a little less than you regularly need.Ĭheck every internet plan in your area to find the speeds you need. Giving yourself a bit of wiggle room isn’t going to hurt either.

That’s 5–25 Mbps for streaming, 3–10 Mbps for Instagram, and 3–5 Mbps for web browsing.

If you have multiple connections going at the same time, you also want to make sure you have enough bandwidth for every connection to run smoothly simultaneously-otherwise your network will slow down when multiple people get online.įor example, if you’d potentially have a smart TV streaming Netflix, a smartphone scrolling through Instagram, and a laptop looking up the best takeout in your area at the same time, 20–30 Mbps would work. Likewise, video streaming resolution affects how much internet speed you use-standard definition Netflix has a minimum requirement of only 3 Mbps, but streaming in 4K could easily use up 25 Mbps. Checking social media could mean a brief look on Twitter, or it could be endlessly scrolling through TikTok (which would use more bandwidth). The amount of bandwidth any online activity can use depends on a few factors.

How much download speed do i need