One of the most commonly asked questions we get is what internet speed do I need? Just remember whenever you shop around for internet access, you generally run across a plethora of different plans, speeds, bundles, boosters, and extra features. While this can be confusing, most companies explain what option you will need based on what you want to do. Unfortunately, they tend to lie.

See, according to one of the mega service providers , if you get 50 Mbps (Megabits per second), you can do basic things like email, share photos, and socially network with buddies. Want to game online? According to them that requires the 100 Mbps connection. You’ll have to shell out for the 200 Mbps connection if you want to watch video clips or email/upload files. And streaming video or downloading movies? That’s obviously going to require a whopping 300 Mbps. Video Conferencing? Better whip out that Max Turbo speed.

Let’s look at “Video Streaming”, this applies to:

• “Watching TV / Video Clips”
• “Downloading Movies”
• “Streaming Video”
• “Video Conferencing”
• “Online Conferencing“

Video streaming is a very broad term that can mean watching YouTube videos, Netflix/Hulu, Skyping, etc. The bandwidth that each requires can vary greatly, even within different services themselves. Here’s what Netflix has to say, Netflix will work very well on your average broadband connection, if you can watch Youtube you can watch Netflix, but with much better quality. You will get great DVD quality streaming at bandwidth rates as low as 3 megabits per second, for a full-fledged HD experience with surround sound you’ll need about 10 megabits of bandwidth. We do offer specific speed settings for those members that may have bandwidth caps on their broadband subscriptions or for some other reason want to manage the bandwidth used by Netflix. You can find details in the “your account” section under “manage video quality.” This is what it comes down to: Default in the US is “best quality” though using our “adaptive streaming” technology we automatically, constantly and transparently optimize the streaming bitrate to your Internet speed. This minimizes loading and buffering times, delivering the best click and watch experience. ~Netflix~

Now lets examine “General Usage” this would apply to:

• “Emailing”
• “Emailing / Uploading Files”
• “Downloading Music”
• “Downloading Movies”
• Pretty much anything else you do online.

If you’re not streaming any type of video, your internet speed doesn’t change anything except the time it takes to download something. The quality of whatever you download or upload won’t be affected. As far as general browsing is concerned, your average webpage is around 400 kB (50.12 Mb). This can change depending on how many ads are on the page, how many images, etc. But relatively, it doesn’t change very much. Your bottom barrel 25 Mbps would load a webpage in about a second, you’ll notice a difference in speed when you’re downloading files, but it all depends on the size of what you’re downloading.

As you can see, faster speeds equal faster downloads. But you really can download anything at any speed, and once its downloaded, its downloaded.

Emailing doesn’t take up any real bandwidth, and the only time you’ll notice a difference in speed is when, once again, you’re downloading or uploading something.

Other Factors:
There are quite a few factors that affect your overall internet experience besides speed. The main factor to consider is latency, which is how quickly your computer gets a message from a website and vice versa. Your latency would be much higher on a cellular data connection than it would on a normal home connection, simply because the message has to make more stops between your phone and the webpage. This is very important for online video games, often more so than the speed of the connection. We strive to keep this metric as low as possible to insure the best end user experience.

In Conclusion
Essentially, the mega internet service providers are counting on your average consumer not being informed, and just put out some chart that’s not only useless, but flat out lies. All the services they have listed will work on any speed they offer, and it really comes down to preference. If you just browse the web, Facebook a bit, and watch Netflix, you’ll get by fine on 25 Mbps (possibly less) If you’re more of a stickler for video and sound quality, you might want to go up to 50 Mbps. And if you download large files frequently, faster is faster. It all comes down to how long you want to wait.