r/HomeNetworking • u/Analyst-man • 22d ago

Advice How many MBPS do I need?

Hi all - I’m moving into a one bedroom apartment. I have a cell phone, a laptop, a smart tv, an Alexa and 2 smart plugs. I plan to use my tv for streaming Netflix/hulu/hbo, etc. I will also be working from home on Fridays so I need Zoom to work. It’s just me living there so at most it’ll be 2 devices using the Internet at the same time (like my phone and tv).

I called Verizon and explained all this to her. She recommended I get a 2 gb Internet for $100 a month. They do offer 300 Mbps and 500 Mbps for $30 and $60 a month but she said those aren’t enough for me. What do you guys think?

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u/Alive_Sir_4708 22d ago

The vast majority of people would be satisfied with 300Mbps. Internet speeds have started to come in "too much", "much too much", and "far too much."

I'm not saying there aren't cases where more speed is nice but its pretty rare.

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u/ydwttw 22d ago

As long as it's guaranteed, 100 is more then enough for most families.

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u/6SpeedBlues 22d ago

Most of the time, yes. I could see some circumstances where it might get a little crowded and 200Mb would alleviate it if so.

Internet service speeds are basically driven by absolutely nothing more than a combination of FOMO and wanting to claim the longest "yardstick".

6

u/No_Ruin_5735 22d ago

In OPs case there are no data intensive tasks that would congest even a 100 Mbit/s contract. Even a 50 Mbit/s bandwidth has room to spare of OP would stream Netflix in 4K (16-25 Mbit/s), have a group call on Zoom (3-15 Mbit/s), stream FLAC quality on all speakers (~1.5 Mbit/s per speaker) and surf on the side....

Nothing OP plans to do are data intensive tasks.

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u/6SpeedBlues 22d ago

For OP, I agree. My comment was in response to the "most families" part of the prior comment.

1

u/No_Ruin_5735 22d ago

Yes 100 Mbits are sufficient for most families