17/01/2023
The Speed Myth
Is it worth getting the fastest broadband possible? That depends. There is a maximum speed for different things. For example, email uses up to around 1Mbps. Streaming high quality music uses up to around 2Mbps. HD video uses just under 5Mbps. Even 4K video is only 25Mbps. So if you have 60 Mbps, you can stream 30 streams of Spotify or play 1 4K movie and half a dozen HD movies at the same time.
Will your web pages load faster? No. Will your music sound better? No. Will games be better? No. If you are trying to download big files and the site you are downloading from supports the high bandwidth, this may make a difference. Providing you are above the speeds required for the service you are accessing, having faster broadband will make little difference, despite the marketing hype.
So do you need 1Gbps broadband? No, not at home, unless you have a couple of dozen people living with you.
