Most of what we do online involves downloading data, so cable, DSL, and satellite internet providers have put a lot more effort into boosting download speeds while upload speeds have straggled far behind. In almost all cases, download speeds are a lot faster than upload speeds. Upload and download speeds refer to different types of internet activities you do and how fast you can do them.Ī download is data you receive from the internet, while an upload is data you send to the internet. Internet experts often refer to 1,000Mbps–plus speeds as “gigabit internet.” The fastest internet plans, which run over cable and fiber networks, usually top out at 1Gbps. These are extremely fast speeds, covering 1,000Mbps and up. You’ll see kbps only in reference to the slowest DSL connections and older systems like dial-up.

These are the slowest internet speeds possible, covering everything under 1Mbps. But there’s a pretty wide gulf between 1Mbps (really slow) and 1,000Mbps (way fast). Most internet connections typically fall in the range of 1–1,000Mbps, making Mbps the most common measurement you’ll see advertised by internet service providers (ISP). Websites, emails, videos, and other online things typically travel over an internet connection in large packets of bits-and a megabit equals one million individual bits. Internet speed is commonly measured in terms of megabits per second, or Mbps.Ī “bit” is the smallest unit of data in digital networking, equal to a single 1 or 0 in binary code. Participate in group Zoom meetings while three or four housemates also do any of these activities.Play multiplayer games online with four to ten devices.Stream 4K video on half a dozen devices or more.What you can do with speeds faster than 100Mbps: Participate in group Zoom meetings with HD video switched on.Play multiplayer games online with two or three devices.However, any more roommates than that and you may want to upgrade to 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps or even 1,000 Mbps speeds depending on what you use your internet for. But if you’re living with three others, then 100 Mbps will be right on the money. If you’re living alone, then 25 Mbps may be enough. To make sure your internet speeds are fast enough, consider ordering an internet package that sets aside 25 Mbps for each person living in your household. Also, 100 Mbps speeds will require longer wait times to download large files. A connection speed of 100 Mbps will be fast enough for you to download small files quickly, stream movies in HD, play online games on a handful of devices, and operate a few smart-home devices.īut 100 Mbps won’t be fast enough if you live in a large household and a lot of people are using your Wi-Fi to do high-bandwidth activities at the same time.

What download speed is considered fast