What internet speed is enough? What home Internet speed do you really need What is 100 Mbps

shrubs 02.10.2021
shrubs

Internet bandwidth or, more simply, Internet speed, represents the maximum number of data received by a personal computer or transmitted to the Network in a certain unit of time.

Most often, you can meet the measurement of data transfer speed in kilobits / second (Kb / s; Kbps) or in megabits (Mb / s; Mbps). File sizes are usually always specified in bytes, KBytes, MBytes, and GBytes.

Since 1 byte is 8 bits, in practice this will mean that if your Internet connection speed is 100 Mbps, then the computer can receive or transmit no more than 12.5 Mb of information per second (100/8=12.5). It’s easier can be explained in this way, if you want to download a video, the volume of which is 1.5 Gb, then it will take you only 2 minutes.

Naturally, the above calculations are made under ideal laboratory conditions. For example, the reality may be quite different:

Here we see three numbers:

  1. Ping - this number means the time for which Network packets are transmitted. The lower the value of this number, the better quality Internet connection (it is desirable that the value be less than 100ms).
  2. Next comes the speed of obtaining information (incoming). It is this figure that Internet providers offer when connecting (it is for this number of "Megabits" that you have to pay your hard-earned dollars / hryvnias / rubles, etc.).
  3. The third number remains, indicating the speed of information transfer (outgoing). It will naturally be less than the speed of receiving data, but providers are usually silent about this (although, in fact, a high outgoing speed is rarely required).

What determines the speed of the Internet connection

  • The speed of the Internet connection depends on the tariff plan that the provider sets.
  • The speed is also affected by the technology of the information transmission channel and the workload of the Network by other users. If the total bandwidth of the channel is limited, then the more users are on the Web and the more they download information, the more the speed drops, because there is less "free space".
  • There is also a dependence on the download speed of the sites you access. For example, if at the time of loading the server can give the user data at a speed of less than 10 Mbps, then even if you have the maximum tariff plan connected, you will not achieve more.

Factors that also affect internet speed:

  • When checking, the speed of the server you are accessing.
  • Setting and speed of the Wi-Fi router, if you are connected through it to the local network.
  • At the time of the scan, all programs and applications running on the computer.
  • Firewalls and antiviruses that run in the background.
  • Settings for your operating system and the computer itself.

How to increase internet speed

If there is malware or unwanted software on your computer, it can slow down your internet connection. Trojans, viruses, worms, etc. that got into the computer can take part of the channel bandwidth for their needs. To neutralize them, you must use anti-virus applications.

If you use Wi-Fi that is not password protected, then other users who are not averse to using free traffic usually connect to it. Be sure to set a password to connect to Wi-Fi.

Reduce the speed and parallel running programs. For example, simultaneous download managers, Internet messengers, automatic OS updates lead to an increase in processor load and therefore the speed of the Internet connection decreases.

These actions, in some cases, help to increase the speed of the Internet:

If you have a high Internet connection, and the speed leaves much to be desired, increase the port bandwidth. To do this is quite simple. Go to "Control Panel", then to "System" and to the "Hardware" section, then click on "Device Manager". Find "Ports (COM or LPT)", then expand their contents and look for "Serial Port (COM 1)".

After that, right-click and open "Properties". After that, a window will open in which you need to go to the "Port Settings" column. Find the "Speed" parameter (bits per second) and click on the number 115200 - then OK! Congratulations! Now you have increased the throughput of the port. Since the speed is set to 9600 bps by default.

To increase the speed, you can also try disabling the QoS packet scheduler: Run the gpedit.msc utility (Start - Run or Search - gpedit.msc). Next: Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Network - QoS Packet Scheduler - Limit Reserved Bandwidth - Enable - set to 0%. Click "Apply" and restart your computer.

Today, the Internet is needed in every home no less than water or electricity. And in every city there are a lot of companies or small firms that can provide people with access to the Internet.

The user can choose any package for using the Internet from a maximum of 100 Mbps to a low speed, for example, 512 kbps. How to choose the right speed and the right Internet provider for yourself?

Of course, the Internet speed should be chosen based on what you do online and how much you are willing to pay per month for Internet access. From my own experience, I want to say that the speed of 15 Mbps is quite suitable for me as a person who works on the network. Working on the Internet, I have 2 browsers turned on, and each has 20-30 tabs open, while problems arise more from the computer side (to work with a large number of tabs, you need a lot of RAM and a powerful processor) than from the Internet speed. The only moment when you have to wait a little is the moment when the browser is first launched, when all the tabs are loaded at the same time, but usually it takes no more than a minute.

1. What do internet speed values ​​mean

Many users confuse Internet speed values ​​​​thinking that 15Mb / s is 15 megabytes per second. In fact, 15Mb / s is 15 megabits per second, which is 8 times less than megabytes, and at the output we will get about 2 megabytes of download speed for files and pages. If you usually download movies for viewing with a size of 1500 Mb, then at a speed of 15 Mbps the movie will be downloaded in 12-13 minutes.

We watch a lot or a little of your Internet speed

  • The speed is 512 kbps 512 / 8 = 64 kbps (this speed is not enough to watch online video);
  • The speed is 4 Mbps 4 / 8 = 0.5 MB / s or 512 kB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 480p);
  • The speed is 6 Mbps 6 / 8 = 0.75 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 720p);
  • The speed is 16 Mbps 16 / 8 = 2 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 2K);
  • The speed is 30 Mbps 30 / 8 = 3.75 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 4K);
  • The speed is 60 Mbps 60 / 8 = 7.5 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in any quality);
  • The speed is 70 Mbps 60 / 8 = 8.75 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in any quality);
  • The speed is 100 Mbps 100 / 8 = 12.5 MB / s (this speed is enough to watch online video in any quality).

Many connecting the Internet are worried about the possibility of watching online video, let's see what kind of traffic movies with different quality need.

2. Internet speed required to watch online video

And here you will find out a lot or a little of your speed for watching online videos with different quality formats.

Broadcast type Video bitrate Audio bitrate (stereo) Traffic Mb/s (megabytes per second)
Ultra HD 4K 25-40 Mbps 384 kbps from 2.6
1440p (2K) 10 Mbps 384 kbps 1,2935
1080p 8000 kbps 384 kbps 1,0435
720p 5000 kbps 384 kbps 0,6685
480p 2500 kbps 128 kbps 0,3285
360p 1000 kbps 128 kbps 0,141

We see that all the most popular formats are reproduced without problems with an Internet speed of 15 Mbps. But to watch video in 2160p (4K) format, you need at least 50-60 Mbps. but there is one BUT. I don’t think that many servers will be able to distribute video of this quality while maintaining such a speed, so if you connect the Internet at 100 Mbps, you won’t be able to watch online video in 4K.

3. Internet speed for online games

When connecting home Internet, every gamer wants to be 100% sure that his Internet speed will be enough to play his favorite game. But as it turns out, online games are not at all demanding on the speed of the Internet. Consider what speed popular online games require:

  1. DOTA 2 - 512 kbps
  2. World of Warcraft - 512 kbps
  3. GTA online - 512 kbps.
  4. World of Tanks (WoT) - 256-512 kbps.
  5. Panzar - 512 kbps
  6. Counter Strike - 256-512 kbps

Important! The quality of your game online is more dependent not on the speed of the Internet, but on the quality of the channel itself. For example, if you (or your provider) receive Internet via satellite, then no matter what package you use, the ping in the game will be much higher than that of a wired channel with a lower speed.

4. Why do you need Internet more than 30 Mbps.

In exceptional cases, I might recommend using a faster connection of 50 Mbps or more. Not many people will be able to provide such a speed in full, the company "Internet to Home" is not the first year on this market and completely inspires confidence, the more important is the stability of the connection, and I want to believe that they are on top here. A high Internet connection speed may be necessary when working with large amounts of data (downloading and uploading them from the network). Perhaps you are a fan of watching movies in excellent quality, or you download large games every day, or upload videos or work files of large volumes to the Internet. To check the connection speed, you can use various online services, and to optimize the work you need to run.

By the way, speeds of 3 Mbps and below usually make surfing the net a little unpleasant, not all online video sites work well, and downloading files is generally not happy.

Be that as it may, there are plenty to choose from in the Internet services market today. Sometimes, in addition to global providers, the Internet is offered by local firms, and often the level of their service is also on top. The cost of services in such firms is, of course, much lower than that of large companies, but as a rule, the coverage of such firms is quite insignificant, usually within a district or two.

In the race for market dominance, ISPs offering wired Internet use different strategies. Many of them follow the usual path: they reduce the cost of tariffs, improve equipment, and provide support for local media resources with free content. But there are also such providers who are trying to win their place under the sun with ambitious chips such as the supply of high-speed Internet - a connection with a speed exceeding 100 Mbps. In some CIS countries (for example, in Kazakhstan), it is still rare to find Internet speeds of more than 150 Mbps offered by providers. But on the websites of Internet providers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, offers in the form of tariff plans with a speed of 200, 300, 500 and even 1000 Mbps are not uncommon. High-speed tariff plans are more expensive than regular ones, which usually promise unlimited traffic and speeds up to 100 Mbps. The cost of high-speed tariffs is higher than conventional tariffs, but the prices are not directly proportional to the multiplicity of speed increase. For a tariff with a speed of 200 Mbps, providers ask for the cost of a speed of 100 Mbps with an average mark-up of 30-40%. And in promotional tariffs, which you urgently need to switch to such and such a date, otherwise the chance will be missed, the markup may be even less. What is the secret of such generosity? Is everything explained by the strategy “it is cheaper in a big package”? Below we consider the pitfalls of high-speed tariffs.

1. Why do you need an Internet speed of more than 100 Mbps?

High Internet speed - more than 100 Mbps - is not relevant in every case. A tariff plan with a speed of 100 Mbps will be enough for comfortable web surfing, online games, watching IP-TV or video on the Internet, including in HD quality. Problems can only arise if you connect such a number of devices via Wi-Fi, at which the router starts to greatly reduce the speed for each of the users of the home network. For an average router, this is usually more than 10 devices (including TVs, refrigerators and other Smart House equipment).

An Internet speed of more than 100 Mbps makes sense only when downloading weighty files to a computer - distributions of operating systems or other software, high-quality video, audio collections, etc. Only with constant downloads of large file sizes, paying for a high-speed Internet connection can be justified. For example, if members of the whole family are actively downloading files from torrent trackers and file storages at the same time in the evenings. But even then we are talking only about those tariff plans, the speed of which, due to technical reasons, can be used on computer and mobile devices in the house. Indeed, in order to unleash the potential of a high-speed tariff plan, it is necessary to have equipment in the house that, in fact, would ensure the disclosure of this potential. And not all even modern technology is sharpened by the possibility of using high speeds of the Internet.

2. Capabilities of hard drives

The potential of a tariff with an Internet speed of more than 200 Mbps may not be revealed if the computer does not have an SSD, but a regular HDD - a hard disk with magnetic platters. When you open sites in a browser window, their data is written to the cache, that is, it is downloaded to the computer's disk. The browser cache consists of several small files, the read and write speed of which on the HDD, as a rule, does not even reach 1 Mb / s (8 Mb / s). Speed ​​from 80 to 170 Mb/s (respectively, from 640 to 1360 Mb/s) HDD can develop only when writing files sequentially, that is, when downloading single large files from the Internet. But this is the maximum figure that can be achieved only in certain areas (at the outer edge of the plate, where there are more tracks, which, accordingly, have more sectors). When writing large files, the average data writing speed may even be less than half of the maximum possible HDD speed.

Not only HDD, but even not every SSD drive will be able to unlock the potential of a tariff with an Internet speed of more than 700 Mbps. If we talk about the 1000 Mbps tariff at all, then even if you have a computer with a productive SSD, it makes sense to pay for such a tariff, if only there is a router in the house, and the Internet is accessed from several devices.

3. Router bandwidth


The "correct" providers in the description of tariff plans on their websites honestly warn that the offered high speeds can only be obtained in conditions of direct connection - when the provider's cable is connected to the Ethernet port of a PC or laptop. The fact is that home routers not only cut the speed by distributing it between devices connected to the network, they are also limited to a bandwidth of 300 Mbps. This is the maximum speed that a budget router can theoretically handle. To use a tariff plan with an Internet speed of 1000 Mbps, you need to purchase a special powerful router that supports the corresponding speed indicator. And such routers are much more expensive than simple models.

It is also necessary to understand that under conditions of operation with a maximum load, the resource of the router will be exhausted faster.

4. Network card

Like a router, a network card can be a high-speed Internet limiter. Older network cards, for example, may only support a maximum data rate of 100 Mbps. In this case, you will have to upgrade the PC and replace the network card with a modern one with a higher bandwidth.

5. WiFi module

With a Wi-Fi module built into a laptop or as part of a PC, the same picture as with a network card. Budget assemblies of laptops can be equipped with Wi-Fi modules with a bandwidth of up to 150 Mbps. And the old network cards with Wi-Fi for PCs connected via the PCI interface are completely limited by the speed of the 802.11a standard - up to 54 Mbps. In this case, the Wi-Fi module will have to be replaced. Or, specifically to work with a high-speed tariff plan, purchase a Wi-Fi module connected to a USB port.

6. Weak processor

A processor to a lesser extent than the above devices can negatively affect the speed of Internet delivery. Nevertheless, this is the "heart" of the computer, and to some extent it will depend on how quickly data will be written to or read from the hard drive. So if we are talking about acquiring a high-speed tariff plan, a weak computer processor will need to be replaced with a more efficient one. And this is quite a considerable financial cost, especially if the processor has to be changed along with the motherboard. If the laptop does not support the replacement of the processor, it will need to be sold and a new one with a more powerful filling will need to be purchased.

7. In summary: is it worth switching to high-speed tariffs?


Internet with speeds above 200 Mbit / s cannot yet be considered as an urgent need of society. If not to ensure an acceptable speed for each of the users of small offices, hostels, cafes, gas stations, and other public places, switching to an expensive tariff plan can be a waste of money. Fast access to sites is also provided within the framework of the tariff at speeds up to 100 Mbps. If we are dealing with a slow server, not a single high-speed tariff will help here. It is easier to contact the site owner with a request to upgrade the equipment. A high-speed tariff will not always be able to ensure the speed of downloading files from the Internet. For example, the high speed of the Internet on the current computer will not solve the issue with the time of downloading a file via a torrent in conditions of low Internet speed at the distributing seed (or its intentional limitation in the settings of the torrent client).

Internet service providers often use the supply of high-speed tariffs as a marketing ploy to attract customers. More precisely, to recapture them from competitors. It is very good if the provider's website, when describing tariffs, specifies specific technical requirements for devices that will participate in the process of providing high Internet speed (in fact, what was mentioned above).

It is important to consider that in the tariff plans, providers prescribe the wording “up to such and such a speed”, for example, “up to 300 Mbps”. The speeds indicated by providers in tariff plans are, as a rule, the maximum indicators achieved under certain conditions. For example, not during peak hours, when the provider's channel is not overloaded. If, nevertheless, you decide to switch to a high-speed tariff plan, you need to check with the provider the real Internet speed, in particular, how much it usually decreases during peak hours.

When choosing a speed (tariff plan), few can understand why a speed of 50 or 100 megabits per second is needed. It is important to understand that even modern sites will not be able to deliver content at such a speed - an online movie will not load faster than 15 or 30 megabits. Thus, the majority, connecting such a tariff, do not use the lion's share of such bandwidth ...

When does it make sense to connect a 100 megabit tariff?

- With a very active use of torrents
- If more than three people use the Internet (via Wi-Fi, for example)
— If you have your own small home server

What conditions must be met to maintain such a speed?

Not every computer will be able to "pull" such a speed. You may try . When assembling the configuration, pay attention to SSD drives - their data processing speed is disproportionately higher than that of conventional HDDs. This will be a plus when downloading from a torrent. In general, the necessary conditions for testing 100-megabit speed at the rate are:

1 gigabit network card.

In order to check which network adapter you have, you need to go to the "Device Manager".

Next, we find the item "Network adapters" and carefully read the name of the device. Its name must contain letters GBE stands for Gigabit Ethernet- so our network card is suitable for this speed:

2. RAM - 3 gigabytes

In order to see how much “RAM” you have on board, just go to the properties of “My Computer” (Just “Computer” in Windows 8/10):

Windows XP

Windows 7/8/10

How to test the speed of 100 megabits / s?

Forget about various "speed tests", "speed meters on websites" and so on. A tariff of 100 megabits can only be adequately tested on a torrent client. To do this, you need to download .torrent files from any popular distributions - usually these are films that have recently been released in cinemas, or old “hackneyed” films. To test, start downloading a few of these movies:

Pay attention to the column S - the number of "seeds", i.e. already downloaded torrent people and sitting on the distribution. The greater their number, the greater the speed. Choose the two most popular torrent and start downloading. We wait until the speed is maximum:

Thus, you can calculate your tariff speed by the download speed. Let's use my example. The speed in torrents is measured in BYTES (as you can see in the screenshot, the letter B is usually made large in combination with kB)

Today, the Internet is needed in every home no less than water or electricity. And in every city there are a lot of companies or small firms that can provide people with access to the Internet.

The user can choose any package for using the Internet from a maximum of 100 Mbps to a low speed, for example, 512 kbps. How to choose the right speed and the right Internet provider for yourself?

Of course, the Internet speed should be chosen based on what you do online and how much you are willing to pay per month for Internet access. From my own experience, I want to say that the speed of 15 Mbps is quite suitable for me as a person who works on the network. Working on the Internet, I have 2 browsers turned on, and each has 20-30 tabs open, while problems arise more from the computer side (to work with a large number of tabs, you need a lot of RAM and a powerful processor) than from the Internet speed. The only moment when you have to wait a bit is the moment the browser is first launched, when all the tabs are loaded at the same time, but usually it takes no more than a minute.

1. What do internet speed values ​​mean

Many users confuse Internet speed values ​​​​thinking that 15Mb / s is 15 megabytes per second. In fact, 15Mb / s is 15 megabits per second, which is 8 times less than megabytes, and at the output we will get about 2 megabytes of download speed for files and pages. If you usually download movies for viewing with a size of 1500 Mb, then at a speed of 15 Mbps the movie will be downloaded in 12-13 minutes.

We watch a lot or a little of your Internet speed

  • The speed is 512 kbps 512 / 8 = 64 kbps(this speed is not enough for watching online video);
  • The speed is 4 Mbps 4 / 8 = 0.5 MB/s or 512 kB/s(this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 480p);
  • The speed is 6 Mbps 6 / 8 = 0.75 Mbps(this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 720p);
  • The speed is 16 Mbps 16 / 8 = 2 Mbps(this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 2K);
  • The speed is 30 Mbps 30 / 8 = 3.75 Mbps(this speed is enough to watch online video in quality up to 4K);
  • The speed is 60 Mbps 60 / 8 = 7.5 Mbps
  • The speed is 70 Mbps 60 / 8 = 8.75 Mbps(this speed is enough to watch online video in any quality);
  • The speed is 100 Mbps 100 / 8 = 12.5 Mbps(this speed is enough to watch online video in any quality).

Many connecting the Internet are worried about the possibility of watching online video, let's see what kind of traffic movies with different quality need.

2. Internet speed required to watch online video

And here you will find out a lot or a little of your speed for watching online videos with different quality formats.

Broadcast type Video bitrate Audio bitrate (stereo) Traffic Mb/s (megabytes per second)
Ultra HD 4K 25-40 Mbps 384 kbps from 2.6
1440p (2K) 10 Mbps 384 kbps 1,2935
1080p 8000 kbps 384 kbps 1,0435
720p 5000 kbps 384 kbps 0,6685
480p 2500 kbps 128 kbps 0,3285
360p 1000 kbps 128 kbps 0,141

We see that all the most popular formats are reproduced without problems with an Internet speed of 15 Mbps. But to watch video in 2160p (4K) format, you need at least 50-60 Mbps. but there is one BUT. I don’t think that many servers will be able to distribute video of this quality while maintaining such a speed, so if you connect the Internet at 100 Mbps, you won’t be able to watch online video in 4K.

3. Internet speed for online games

When connecting home Internet, every gamer wants to be 100% sure that his Internet speed will be enough to play his favorite game. But as it turns out, online games are not at all demanding on the speed of the Internet. Consider what speed popular online games require:

  1. DOTA 2 - 512 kbps
  2. World of Warcraft - 512 kbps
  3. GTA online - 512 kbps.
  4. World of Tanks (WoT) - 256-512 kbps.
  5. Panzar - 512 kbps
  6. Counter Strike - 256-512 kbps

Important! The quality of your game online is more dependent not on the speed of the Internet, but on the quality of the channel itself. For example, if you (or your provider) receive Internet via satellite, then no matter what package you use, the ping in the game will be much higher than that of a wired channel with a lower speed.

4. Why do you need Internet more than 30 Mbps.

In exceptional cases, I might recommend using a faster connection of 50 Mbps or more. Not many providers in Kyiv will be able to provide such a speed in full, Kyivstar is not the first year on this market and it inspires confidence, the more important is the stability of the connection, and I want to believe that they are on top here. A high Internet connection speed may be necessary when working with large amounts of data (downloading and uploading them from the network). Perhaps you are a fan of watching movies in excellent quality, or you download large games every day, or upload videos or work files of large volumes to the Internet. To check the connection speed, you can use various online services, and to optimize the work you need to run.

By the way, speeds of 3 Mbps and below usually make surfing the net a little unpleasant, not all online video sites work well, and downloading files is generally not happy.

Be that as it may, there are plenty to choose from in the Internet services market today. Sometimes, in addition to global providers, the Internet is offered by local firms, and often the level of their service is also on top. I am served by such a small company. The cost of services in such firms is, of course, much lower than that of large companies, but as a rule, the coverage of such firms is quite insignificant, usually within a district or two.

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