Bandwidth Calculator
Add up browsing, 4K streaming, gaming, downloads and video calls to work out the internet speed your household actually needs, in Mbps.
How much internet speed does a household need?
Bandwidth requirements add up only for things happening at the same time. A household that streams 4K in the evening and games in the afternoon does not need the sum of both — it needs whichever peak is larger. The calculation above assumes your selected activities do overlap, then scales for additional people at 75% each, since households rarely all peak together.
Most people buy far more than they need
A 4K Netflix stream needs about 25 Mbps. Online gaming needs about 5. A video call needs about 5. A family doing all three at once fits comfortably inside 100 Mbps. Gigabit plans are genuinely useful for large downloads and for many simultaneous heavy users, but they do nothing for latency or gameplay.
For gaming, stability beats speed
Games send tiny amounts of data very frequently. What matters is consistency, not volume — a rock-solid 50 Mbps fibre line gives a better experience than an erratic 500 Mbps connection with packet loss. Check what latency you can expect with the Ping & Latency calculator.
Upload is the number nobody checks
Cable and DSL plans are heavily asymmetric — a 500/20 plan gives just 20 Mbps up. That is fine for browsing but marginal for streaming, video calls and cloud backup running together. If you stream or work from home, upload speed deserves more attention than download.
Your router is often the real limit
Paying for gigabit and connecting over an old Wi-Fi router wastes most of it. Wi-Fi 6 or 6E handles many simultaneous devices far better than Wi-Fi 5, and anything that stays in one place is better off on a cable.
Frequently asked questions
How much internet speed do I need for gaming?
Gaming itself uses only 3-5 Mbps. Any modern connection has enough. What matters is latency and stability, not bandwidth - which is why a 50 Mbps fibre line beats a 500 Mbps congested one.
Is gigabit internet worth it?
Only if you regularly download very large files or have many heavy simultaneous users. For a typical household streaming and gaming, 100-300 Mbps is ample, and the money is better spent on a good router.
How much speed does 4K streaming need?
About 25 Mbps per stream on Netflix or Disney+, and roughly 35 Mbps for higher-bitrate services. Two 4K streams at once need around 50 Mbps.
Why is my Wi-Fi slower than my plan?
Advertised router speeds are theoretical totals across all bands. Real single-device throughput through a wall is often a third of that. Distance, interference and older client devices all reduce it further.