What is a good internet speed?
Is your internet speed any good? Here’s a guide that should help put you in the picture.
What internet plan do you have?
Do you know what internet plan you have, out of the available options – UFB, VDSL or ADSL? These plans will limit your internet speed. If you’re not sure, look at your last internet bill which will tell you what you have. (Be aware though, you can upgrade your plan – more on that later.)
ADSL internet
ADSL is the slowest of them all. It was the first readily available and affordable broadband solution.
ADSL comes in multiple different formats (ADSL, ADSL2, ADSL2+). Your format is dependent on your proximity to the telephone exchange. Speeds drastically vary between the three formats. It is possible with ADSL2+ to get speeds of up to 24Mbps download speed, however ADSL on average is somewhere between 7-12Mbps. Upload speed is up to 1.4Mbps.
We’ll explain the difference between the upload and download speeds further on. As a general rule, don’t expect more from ADSL than basic internet browsing. Even at top speeds it will be very slow to do even basic things like loading web pages and opening emails.
VDSL internet
VDSL is up to five times the speed of ADSL for downloads and up to 10 times faster for uploads. The top download speed for VDSL internet is 50Mbps, and the top upload speed is 10Mbps.
VDSL will load pictures, web pages and email faster than ADSL. It will stream video too, though not in super high quality.
UFB (ultra fast broadband, or ‘fibre’)
UFB offers the fastest currently available and affordable speeds. Like ADSL, there are different UFB formats, ranging in download speeds of a minimum of 30Mbps up to 1000Mbps.
So what’s a good internet speed?
A good internet speed will depend upon what you use your internet service for. If you’re only using your internet plan for email and a bit of internet browsing, you’ll get away with VDSL.
The more users you have using the same internet connection, the faster the speed you will need, to cope with the extra users. If you are using your internet for streaming movies, gaming, business use and frequent downloads, you’ll need the speed that fibre offers (UFB).
If you regularly use online-only applications (like G Suite or work a lot in the cloud) you’ll definitely want fibre. So if you don’t have it already, can you get it?
If you think your internet should be performing better, it could be a WiFi coverage issue. Take a look at our WiFi Solutions for Dead Spots and Drop-offs to see how this could be improved.
What internet speed can you get?
Enter your address on our “Address Checker” to find out what internet plans are available in your area.
Download and upload speeds – what’s the difference?
An easy way to remember the difference is, ‘upload’ is pushing things up to the cloud. Examples of uploads are uploading photos to Facebook or uploading files to the cloud. Download is streaming music or videos, downloading files, even reading an internet page.
For sound, independent advice and installation of the best internet connection for your business, contact one of our team today or fill in the form below.
