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This is because it has an impact on the speed at which they can complete their online tasks and the number of tasks they can handle at any given time.
When shopping for an internet service provider, you need to be very careful since most of them will try to sell you plans that do not even do what they promise to do. So, how fast does your internet connection need to be?
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Internet Speeds and Shopping for an Internet Service Provider
Internet speed is used to refer to the amount of information and data that can be transferred on the web at a given time and over a single connection.
It plays an important role when it comes to the types of tasks and activities that you can perform on the web and the number of users as well as devices that can be connected at a given time.
When shopping around for fast internet at a great price, you need to look at the current offers for broadband and choose the one that meets your requirements depending on if you want the connection at your home or office.
Slow internet speeds will get you into problems when performing tasks such as publishing HD content, using social media, playing video games, and streaming videos among others.
Speed Requirements for Different Activities and Number of Users
Publishing HD Content
Different platforms have different requirements when it comes to the recommended encoding bitrate. However, most people prefer using HD content compared to others such as SD (Standard Definition).
That notwithstanding, the recommended minimum internet speed when publishing HD content is 5Mbps.
Note that this is the recommended minimum, you might need speeds of up to 25Mbps depending on the platforms you use. This is important in making sure that you upload your content without any issues.
You do not want your viewers to complain about your videos. Depending on what you do, you might end up losing a lot of them. Additionally, you do not want to spend hours uploading content because of slow internet speeds.
You might even need to look for higher speeds if you have many users uploading content at the same time. The more the users, the higher the internet speed you will need.
Using Social Media
Are you a heavy social media user who has an active profile on different social media platforms? Well, depending on how you use the platforms, you need to ensure that your internet speed can handle your tasks without problems.
For instance, you might be a content creator, creating videos, high-quality images, and other types of content that you upload on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.
Having a slow internet speed will make your work difficult. You, therefore, need up to 50Mbps. This will allow for up to three different users and you can even handle other tasks such as browsing, checking emails, and watching videos at standard resolution.
Gaming
Online gaming has grown in popularity in the last couple of years especially due to advancements in technology. Gamers need between 4Mbps to 8Mbps for online gaming. However, if you want consistency in a good gaming experience, you will need to get between 10Mbps to 25Mbps.
That notwithstanding, those looking at internet speeds because of gaming need to note that it is not the only factor they need to consider when choosing their internet plan.
Even though speed plays an important role when it comes to how fast information is transferred from the gaming server to your device, you also need to look at latency and ping time.
Ping time has a huge impact on the online gaming experience. For instance, less than 20 milliseconds of ping time will be amazing for gaming while more than that will give you a moderately good experience.
Working From Home
The COVID-19 pandemic forced companies and schools to adopt models that support working and learning from home. These models are expected to continue even with the world opening up in the post-COVID-19 period.
For instance, companies such as Slack, Twitter, and Facebook are all working on plans to have a percentage of their employees working from home. This means that employees need to make sure that they have a reliable internet connection for them to handle their tasks.
When looking at the right internet speed suitable for working from home, you need to first evaluate the tasks that you will be handling. You also need to invest in useful tech devices to make your life easier when working from home.
Since most people working from home frequently upload and download large files and get into video meetings now and then, at least 25Mbps is recommended.
However, this is good for a single person at a time. If you have other people in the house, then you should consider getting at least 50Mbps to ensure that everything works well without any issues.
Conclusion
When shopping for an internet service provider, it is important to make sure that you know what you will be doing with the internet. This will help you in determining the right internet speed that will not let you down when handling your tasks.
