How much broadband do i need?

“How much broadband do I need?” Sound familiar? Don’t worry – you’re in the right place to find answers. First, we’ll break down what Mbps means, and how many you’ll need. Then, we’ll discuss what internet speeds are most useful when doing different online activities, and how much data you need for each, so you can be sure to get the right broadband for your needs.

• What is Mbps?
• How many Mbps do I need?
• So, what’s a good broadband speed for what you need?
• What broadband speed do I need to stream movies?
• What about streaming music? What broadband speed do I need for Spotify, and Apple Music?
• What broadband speed do I need for gaming?
• What’s the minimum internet speed for video calling?
• What broadband speed do I need for smart home security?
• How much download speed do I need?
• What upload speed do I need?
• Do I need superfast broadband speeds?
• Do I really need 900Mbps internet?
• How much broadband do I currently have?
• What is data and what is data usage?
• What’s the difference between a megabit and a megabyte?
• How much internet am I using?
• How much data do I actually need?

What is Mbps?

‘Mbps’ is an abbreviation for Megabits per Second. It’s the number you’ll usually see when you’re comparing broadband deals because it describes speed (how quickly data can move from the internet to your device).

A higher Mbps means your connection can move more data each second, which usually means:

• faster downloads 
• smoother streaming 
• less buffering 
• better performance when multiple people are online

How many Mbps do I need?

It depends on what you’re using the internet for (and how many people are using it at the same time). But here’s a quick way to make Mbps feel more “real”:

8Mbps is equal to approximately 1MB, so it takes around 1 second to download 1MB at 8Mbps. 

A song, for example, that is 5MB in size, will take around 5 seconds to download at a speed of 8Mbps, but will take 40 seconds if your broadband speed is 1Mbps.

However, few people today get broadband speeds of just 8Mbps – average internet speeds in the UK now well exceed 200Mbps.

What’s the difference between a megabit (Mbps) and a megabyte (MBps)?

People often (understandably – they look almost identical!) confuse Mbps and MBps – however despite appearances, they do measure different things.

• Mbps (megabits per second) = speed (how fast data moves)
• MBps (megabytes per second) = download rate (how much data you’re getting each second) 

The key detail is the capital letter: 

• b = bit 

• B = byte 

• And 1 byte = 8 bits, so 1 MB = 8 Mb.

A Megabit (Mb) is a unit of measurement for the speed of data transfer – or to most of us – your broadband speed, i.e. 15Mbps.

This means that if you’re downloading a 5MB song, it will take 5 seconds to download at a speed of 8Mbps.

So, what’s a good broadband speed for what you need?

Will you be using the internet for browsing the web, using your email and scrolling through social media? Or will you be streaming 4K movies every night while your kids or housemates play online games to their hearts’ content? The answers to these questions will help you understand how much internet your household needs. 

While 40 – 100Mbps is considered a good average broadband connection, there’s much more to it. How you use the internet and how many devices are connected will determine how fast your internet needs to be. 

What broadband speed do I need to stream movies?

Bear in mind that the minimums below are just guidelines, and are based on just one person using the internet for streaming.

What about streaming music? what broadband speed do I need for Spotify, and Apple Music?

Streaming music requires very little internet – as little as 0.5Mbps. That said, if you want a guaranteed smooth and loss-free listen, a speed of above 2Mbps is recommended.

If you’re a Spotify user and you appreciate the best quality audio experience, you’ll need at least 2Mbps. For Apple Music, less than 1Mbps should be fine.

What broadband speed do I need for gaming?

This is another online activity that many people think needs the highest speed they can get. However, things such as latency affect game play much more as it is a ‘real-time’ function.

This means satellite internet isn’t a great option for gamers. If you’re a serious gamer, talk to our customer service team when you order about purchasing a static IP address! Remember that faster speeds mean a better gaming experience. . Check out our gaming broadband packages here.

What’s the minimum internet speed for video calling?

The minimum internet speed for video calling is as little as 3Mbps to avoid connectivity issues. But it’s important to remember that latency is a bigger factor as it is a real-time activity. For a clear and interruption-free call, 10Mbps is a good speed to have.

If you require the use of video calling to work from home, it could be worth choosing the faster internet speed so that you’re not held back on those conversations by a buffering broadband connection.

What broadband speed do I need for smart home security?

A smart home security system requires a stable internet connection to function properly. For basic security cameras operating at 720p, you’ll need 1 – 2Mbps per camera, while for full HD cameras, each will take 2 – 4Mbps. If you’re going the Full Monty with 4K security cameras, they’ll each take up 15 – 25Mbps.

So, if you have multiple smart devices like this, a broadband speed of at least 50 – 100Mbps is recommended to keep everything running smoothly.

How much download speed do I need?

Downloading is a bit different as it directly correlates to speed. So, essentially, the faster the speed, the faster the download. To put it into context, a download speed of 5Mbps will download you an album of 10 songs in 1min 20secs, and a speed of 16Mbps will download you the same album in just 25 seconds.

What upload speed do I need?

Uploading works the same way – higher speeds mean faster uploads. For example, with an upload speed of 5Mbps, a 10MB file will take around 16 seconds to upload, whereas with 20Mbps, the same file will be uploaded in just 4 seconds. If you’re video calling, live streaming, or sharing large files, you’ll need a higher average upload speed to keep things smooth and uninterrupted.

Do I need superfast broadband speeds?

It can be a minefield, we know! There are lots of things to consider, more than just what broadband speeds online services require. In theory it’s great that iPlayer only needs 2Mbps to stream. But it’s also important to be realistic.

For example, if you’ve got a household that’s jam-packed with multiple devices that connect to the internet (think about phones, tablets, computers, smart TVs, smart watches etc. etc.), 2Mbps is not going to cover everything and your iPlayer streaming just won’t work properly.

It’s also worth considering how much your household relies on the internet. If you and your family are regularly downloading films or large files, are often all dotted about the house streaming tv catch-up services, or playing online games, it is definitely worth spending the extra for both faster speeds and a greater data allowance.

Do I really need 900Mbps internet?

900Mbps might sound like overkill, but for some households, it can be invaluable. If you have a large family, a shared student house, or run a business from home, ultrafast speeds ensure seamless connectivity across multiple devices (ah, the joy). With 900Mbps, you can:

• Stream 4K movies on multiple screens at once
• Play online games with minimal lag
• Download large files in seconds
• Run smart home devices without buffering
• Hold video calls without connection issues

So if you’re wondering how much internet speed is needed for a really high-usage household – the ultrafast 900Mbps will suit you well. However, such a speedy fibre connection is not needed for most households.

How much broadband do I currently have?

Not sure what speed you’re currently getting? You can check your broadband speed using our free Broadband Speed Test tool.

If your speed is lower than expected, consider factors like your WiFi setup, device capabilities, and potential interference from other electronics. If you need a faster connection, explore our fibre broadband options to get the speed that matches your needs.

What is data and what is data usage?

In short, everything that you do on the internet uses an amount of data. A good way to look at it is to think of data as currency. If, for example, you have a 10GB data allowance, then you have 10GB of data to ‘spend’.

It’s worth noting that your data allowance is usually given to you in GB (Gigabytes), and can be anything from a 1GB package right up to an unlimited broadband package (all Airband broadband packages are unlimited).

As a general rule you’ll find that most home broadband packages now offer unlimited data (though you should still check before signing anything!), while 4G or 5G mobile data is usually limited (although those limits are now much more generous than they were, even just a few years ago!)

What’s the difference between a megabit and a megabyte?

A Megabit (Mb) is a unit of measurement for the speed of data transfer – or to most of us – your broadband speed, i.e. 15Mbps.

Not to be confused with Megabit, a Megabyte (MB) is another unit of measurement that refers to the amount of data being transferred. This is commonly known as your Data Allowance and as mentioned, is usually provided in Gigabytes (approx. 1000MB = 1GB).

To put both speed and amount into context, 8Mbps is equal to around 1MB. So if you’re downloading a song that’s size is 5MB, it will take 5 seconds to download at a speed of 8Mbps.

How much internet am I using?

How much internet you’re using will depend on what you usually get up to online. We’ve put together a table that will give you an idea of how much data is used for some of the most common web activities:

How much data do I actually need?

This is a tricky question to answer, as it depends on your data usage. However, if you were to ask “How much GB of internet does the average household use?” then – according to Ofcom data – the average broadband usage per UK household was 535 GB a month in 2023. US company OpenVault estimated that, by the end of 2024, the average household would use at least 700GB every month. 

That said, as you can now tell, everyone’s usage varies greatly. However, the below should give you a rough guideline of general usage amounts:

Low Usage: 2-40GB per month

Low Usage would typically encompass basic web browsing and emails. Basic web browsing could be made up of online shopping, banking, social networking and news reading.

If we work off the grid above, a family of two adults and two teenagers who browse the internet for an hour per person per night would use approximately 2.2GB per month in data, and this of course isn’t taking into account weekends, holiday periods, watching TV/Films online, listening to music etc.

Medium Usage: 40-500GB per month

In this instance, Medium Usage would generally include your typical web browsing, but also TV, Music and Film Streaming.

Streaming is dependent on the quality of definition that you choose to stream TV programmes or films in, so for example, if your household streams two 1 hour programmes from BBC iPlayer per week, that could equate to 9.5GB of data per month.

High Usage: 500GB – Unlimited per month

High Usage would include the likes of all of the above, plus online gaming and/or film downloading.

The online gaming data use in the grid is an approximation, as games vary greatly in the amount of data that they use, so whilst some games could use 20MB per hour, some games can use anything up to 1GB per hour. So, if a gamer in your household spends on average 3 hours per evening online gaming, that’s around 7.2GB per month (using our estimate).

The downloading of films also sucks up a lot of your data, and let’s be honest, if you’re going to the effort of downloading a movie, most of us would choose to download one in High Definition. So, one film in HD per week could use up to 20GB of data per month. For these high-usage households, we recommend an unlimited fibre broadband package.

See if you can get superfast broadband today

So, although most people think that a faster broadband speed is always better, that may not necessarily be the case – it all depends on what you ordinarily use the internet for, after all, no one wants to pay through the nose for an ultrafast connection that they are not even using.

Now you’re more in the loop about what internet speeds you need, you can choose the right broadband package. Alternatively, enter your postcode into our broadband coverage checker to see if we can get to you.