Whether you’re streaming the latest episode of Luke Cage, playing a game of Overwatch or reading up on the latest news, you’ll need a good Internet connection to say the least. Stable, reliable – and fast.
But at some point, many families give in to the marketing and buy too much – more than they need. On the other hand, they aren’t sure how much more value they’ll get out of a simple single-stage upgrade – and it’s a jump in cost they’re not initially willing to make.
It’s important for your household to know how much of a plan you actually need – so you can make the best financial decision for your home.
Here’s what you need to know:
Upload Speeds are Important
Download speeds are constantly touted, and for good reasons – they’re the biggest number that typical residential broadband plans can give you. But quality upload speeds, such as those at Safelink Internet, matter too. You don’t need as much upload speed as you do download speed, but you do need a decent bit, especially if you’re uploading a lot of videos to YouTube or making Skype calls with family throughout the country.
As for download speeds, these are typically the best gauge for finding out what plan works best for you. Here’s a little rudimentary chart to help you figure out what you should be able to work with for a modern household, as per Engadget:
Under 5 Mbps: Basic web surfing.
5-10 Mbps: Online gaming and streaming for a few connected devices at standard resolution.
10+ Mbps: Enough speed to stream at HD quality, and download files while playing online with others.
Anything more than that is icing on the cake for a significantly larger data consumption, such as in a larger household, or if you have several UHD streams going on at once. You can also like them on Facebook for more information.