What each activity needs
| Activity | Speed needed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Email, messaging, browsing | Under 2 Mbps | Effectively free on any modern connection |
| Music streaming | Under 1 Mbps | Even at high quality |
| SD video | 3 Mbps | Per stream |
| HD video (1080p) | 5 Mbps | Per stream |
| 4K video | 15 – 25 Mbps | Per stream |
| HD video call | 3 – 4 Mbps | Both directions — upload matters here |
| Online gaming | Under 5 Mbps | Latency matters far more than speed |
| Large game download | As much as available | Occasional, and can run overnight |
The household calculation
Add up the busiest realistic moment in your week rather than the theoretical maximum. A household with two 4K televisions, someone on a video call and a console updating in the background needs somewhere around 70 Mbps. Round up for comfort and you land near 100.
| Household | Comfortable plan |
|---|---|
| One or two people, streaming and browsing | 100 Mbps |
| Family of four, some 4K, one home worker | 300 Mbps |
| Five or more, heavy simultaneous use | 500 Mbps – 1 Gbps |
| Anyone uploading large files regularly | Fiber, whatever the download figure |
The two numbers nobody advertises
Upload speed determines how well you can send: video calls, cloud backup, uploading photos, working on shared documents. Cable plans typically upload at a small fraction of their download speed, and it is the constraint people actually notice when working from home.
Latency — the delay before a response starts — determines how instant the internet feels. A 50 Mbps fiber connection with 5 ms latency feels faster in everyday use than a 500 Mbps satellite connection with 600 ms latency, because most browsing is many small requests rather than one big transfer.
Before you upgrade, check the Wi-Fi
A very large share of "my internet is slow" is actually "my Wi-Fi is slow". Upgrading the plan does nothing about that, which is why people sometimes pay more and notice no difference at all.
- 1 Run a speed test on a device plugged in by ethernet. That is your real connection speed.
- 2 Run the same test over Wi-Fi in the room where it feels slow, and compare.
- 3 If the wired result matches your plan and Wi-Fi does not, the fix is the router or its placement.
- 4 Move the router out of cupboards and corners, toward the centre of the house and higher up.
- 5 For larger homes, a mesh system helps far more than a faster plan does.