What broadband speed do I need?

Ask what broadband speed you need and a number comes back within seconds, usually from somebody selling you one. It is nearly always too big. The honest answer depends on your own house rather than on the package, which is less convenient for everybody involved. So: what broadband speed do I need, and how do you work it out without taking a sales page's word for it?

What broadband speed do I need?

Enough to cover everything running at the same moment, plus a bit of headroom. That is normally a smaller number than the one you are being sold, and occasionally a larger one than the one you are already paying for.

For a floor, the government and Ofcom treat a connection as decent at 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload, the specification behind the broadband universal service obligation, as set out in the House of Commons Library briefing on the scheme. Read that as the level below which a connection is considered inadequate, not as a target. Most households want to be comfortably clear of it.

Count what happens at once, not what you own

The usual mistake is counting devices. A house with fifteen connected things is not using fifteen connections at once; phones in pockets and a smart plug in the hall are doing almost nothing. What matters is simultaneous demand: the television streaming, somebody on a video call, a console downloading a game in the background, a laptop backing up.

Some of that demand is not anybody's decision. Phones and consoles fetch updates on their own, security cameras upload all day whether or not you are watching, and a backup will happily start at the worst possible moment. None of it is heavy on its own. It is heavy when it lands at the same time as everything a person in the house actually asked for.

So take your busiest realistic hour, list what is genuinely running in it, and add the demand of each. Then leave headroom. That last bit is the part everybody skips, and it is the whole difference between a connection you never notice and one you argue about on a Sunday evening.

Where the real numbers come from

Every service publishes its own requirement, and those are the figures to use. Streaming services state a recommended speed per stream and a higher one for their top picture quality. Video-call software publishes a figure for a group call. Console platforms tell you what a download needs.

We deliberately do not print a table of those numbers here. They differ between services, they get revised, and a table on a comparison site is stale the moment one of them changes. Read them off the help pages of the services your household actually uses and the arithmetic is yours rather than borrowed.

Does upload speed matter?

Yes, whenever somebody in the house sends as much as they receive. Video calls, cloud backups, photos syncing, sending large files and uploading video all depend on upload, and it is the number almost nobody is quoted when they buy.

How much upload you get is decided mostly by the type of connection at your address rather than by the price of the package, so it is worth knowing which one you have. Our guide to full fibre, FTTC and cable sets out the difference and how to tell them apart.

What speed is your provider actually promising?

A minimum guaranteed download speed, given to you at the point of sale, and nothing at all about upload. Providers signed up to the broadband speeds code of practice have to publish typical speeds and give you that minimum figure before you commit, and Ofcom sets out what happens if the connection falls short of it.

Where the speed drops below that minimum and the fault sits on the provider's network, they get 30 days to put it right. If they cannot, you have the right to leave without penalty, and that covers the services bundled with the broadband rather than the broadband alone.

Using that right takes a little care. Test with a device plugged into the router rather than over wifi, because a slow room is not the same complaint, and report it properly so the 30 days is running from a date you can both point at. Keep your own record of the results while you wait.

The catch is in the word download. A line can sit above everything it was guaranteed at and still be poor for the upload-heavy things nobody guaranteed, which is why the working-from-home complaint so often gets nowhere.

When paying for more is the right call

Buying less speed is not automatically the cheaper move, and pretending otherwise would be as useless as the sales page. A bigger package is worth it in a full house where several things happen at once, where somebody works from home on video all day, where large files leave the house regularly, or where the household is about to grow.

There is also a pricing quirk worth checking before you downgrade. The gap between one speed tier and the next is often smaller than the gap between one provider and another, so dropping a tier can save less than changing network entirely. The current prices sit on each provider profile rather than in this article, for the same reason we left the streaming figures out.

Where to start

Work out your busiest hour, check what your provider guaranteed you rather than what it advertised, and test a wired device before blaming the line. Then find out which networks reach your address, because the choice is only ever between what is actually built to your street. Start with what is available where you live, then read the profile of whoever covers you.

Frequently asked questions

Is gigabit broadband a waste of money?

Not automatically, but it is more than most households can use at once. It earns its keep where several people are streaming, gaming and uploading at the same time, or where large files move in and out of the house daily. If that is not your week, the money is better spent on a shorter contract or a fixed price.

What speed do I need to work from home?

Upload matters more than download for this, because video calls, cloud backups and file sharing all send data out of the house. Check the figure your video-call software publishes for a call at the quality you use, then leave room for whoever else is at home during your working day.

Can I leave if my broadband is slower than I was promised?

Often yes. Providers signed up to the Ofcom speeds code give you a minimum guaranteed download speed when you buy. If your speed falls below it and the fault is on their network, they get 30 days to fix it, and if they cannot you can exit the contract without penalty, including the services bundled with it.

Will a faster package fix my wifi?

Usually not. A slow room is normally the wifi between the router and the device rather than the line coming into the house, and buying a bigger number does nothing about walls, distance or an old router. Test with a wired device before you upgrade anything.

Is 10 Mbit/s enough for a household?

It is the floor the government calls decent rather than a target to aim at. One person browsing and streaming will manage on it. A house where several things happen at once will not, and that is the point at which the number has to be worked out rather than guessed.