What broadband speed do you need?

Your fibre broadband needs will vary greatly depending on everything from the size of your household to the tasks you do online. A home with just one person – or a couple – will likely put far fewer demands on their internet connection than a family of four with a parent who works from home and teenagers who are keen gamers. In this post, we’ll help you figure out which broadband speed suits your needs best!

Standard/ADSL broadband (5-16Mbps)

For small households (1-2 people) who don’t work from home and occasionally want to stream TV shows and browse the internet. With standard broadband, you can:

- Browse the web

- Check emails

- Occasionally upload photos to Facebook

- Stream TV shows, one device at a time

NOTE: If you can access fibre broadband, it’s worth seeing how much it would cost to take out a superfast service – it’s often the same, if not cheaper, to take out a fibre service compared with standard (ADSL) broadband.

Superfast broadband (30-80Mbps)

For small to medium-sized households, who often use the internet at the same time and/or work from home. With superfast broadband, you can:

- Regularly download large files

- Upload large files

- Stream content simultaneously on different devices

- Play video games online

- Use video-calling services

Ultrafast broadband (up to 1Gbps/1000Mbps)

For data-hungry households, who frequently use the internet at the same time and want to download and upload files quickly.

Ultrafast broadband allows you to do everything you can with superfast – with the added benefits of it being significantly faster, more reliable, and there being no limit on how many devices are connected at once.

With a 150Mbps ultrafast connection, you could download a movie* in 46 seconds, or in just 9 seconds if your service provides you with download speeds of 1Gbps (1000Mbps). In comparison, a superfast connection of 76Mbps would allow you to download the same movie in just over a minute and a half, or in three minutes if the speeds you get with your superfast fibre connection are slower (38Mbps).

Find out more about ultrafast (full fibre) broadband by visiting our What is full fibre? page.

*Source: Which. Refers to an 858MB movie via On Demand.