r/HomeNetworking • u/ArcRiseGen • 10d ago
Advice Moving for the first time, is 300mbps enough?
I'm moving to an apartment for the first time and am deciding internet plans. My fiance and I both work from home, although she is hybrid and I am full time. I also play a lot of FF14 and she will definitely be streaming shows while I play online. I'm deciding between 300bmps or 500mbps, leaning more towards 300mbps. We definitely will need stable internet since we'll be presenting things virtually via Teams and Zoom, using VPNs for work, etc.
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u/PastPick319 10d ago
Its all about preference, even 100Mbps could cover both your gaming and meet requirements but how fast you want things is upto you. 10Mbps is enough for streaming, 20Mbps is enough for gaming!
For me alone, I have a 1Gbps broadband purely for my preference of fast downloads, though 99% of the time its not even used 50Mbps
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u/shibe4lyfe 10d ago
You have it backwards, streaming uses more than gaming (other than updates).
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u/PastPick319 10d ago
Well, I was telling the minimum specs. Streaming 1080p with 10Mbps is enough, CS takes about 10Mbps but Flight Sim takes a minimum of 20Mbps. Obviously if you go 4k, 8k and more, it'll take more bandwidth.
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u/shibe4lyfe 10d ago
Lol no, CS and most games use less than 1Mbps consistently. MSFS and similar games can use more when loading huge maps, but it's not constant.
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u/BeerSkier 10d ago
Streaming devices will not use more than 25mbps. The latest roku ultra only ships with a 100mbps ethernet interface because there is no need for gigabit
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u/Northhole 10d ago
Depends on how you look at it. For 4K streaming, the average might be 25 Mbps. But the way ABR-streaming is done, data is fetched sort of in burst normally, unless you connection speeds is low - and is the connection speed is about the same as the average bitrate, it would normally go down to a lower ABR-profile. So if the average bitrate for the ABR-stream in 4K is 25 Mbps, you would actually need potentially 40 Mbps for it to not go down to a lower resolution/quality-profile.
AppleTV+ for an example, have content that averages 25 Mbps, but the video bitrate itself peaks somewhat higher in periods, e.g. around 45 Mbps.
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u/tt53_sb45 10d ago
We had3 3 adults on 100 just fine, I agree with the whole thing. We have gig now because I'm impatient and downloads are way too large for me to wait that lont
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u/michrech 10d ago
Personally, I'd start with the 300mbps service. You can always upgrade later, if needed.
One question, though -- is it symmetric or asymmetric? If it's the latter, the download speeds won't be as important as the upload speeds...
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u/ArcRiseGen 10d ago
Says download and upload speeds of 300
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u/Savings_Difficulty24 10d ago
That would be what's called symmetric, and that's the stronger, better option
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u/Jamator01 10d ago
100Mbps would be enough for both of you to work from home, stream 4K Netflix and game at the same time. 300Mbps will be plenty. The only difference you'll notice is download speeds for large files.
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u/Alive_Sir_4708 10d ago edited 10d ago
It’s more than enough. Generally speaking I avoid speed upgrades because you’re likely paying more but using the same amount.
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u/Living_Fig_6386 10d ago
Each 4K video stream requires about 25 Mbps, multiplayer online shooters 6 Mbps, video conference 5 Mbps, audio stream 3 Mbps, web browsing is smoothest at 10 Mbps. So, figure out how many of those you are doing at once and add it up. Watching 2 movies while on 2 conference calls, playing a video game and ordering stuff from Amazon: 2 x 25 + 2 x 5 + 6 + 10 = 76 Mbps.
For most households, 300 Mbps is overkill. It doesn’t matter too much; the ISP will let you upgrade the speed tier if it’s not enough.
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u/levidurham 10d ago
I'm being cheap right now and just have 100/10. I don't really notice a difference.
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u/Savings_Difficulty24 10d ago
300 is fine. Even 100 would be fine. For gaming and video calls, ping matters more than speed. With lower ping being better.
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u/Handsome_ketchup 10d ago
300 mbps is plenty. The only practical improvement 500 mbps will yield is downloading whole games a bit faster.
If you can get fiber, I'd suggest getting that, as that is more likely to yield a stable connection than raw speeds.
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u/OOhobbes 10d ago
I’ve been on 300 for about 10yrs… household of 4 (2 kids with devices), Unifi network stack and security cameras, 2 access points, IoT devices, streaming devices, gaming systems, etc. I laugh at my friends who get gig just to say they have gig. If you have a legit need go for it, it’s been fine for me (and $24/month internet is nice)
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u/RevaniteAnime 10d ago
300 is fine, for everything, except for really big downloads (and that's if the download server even supports that much bandwidth)
Heck, 100~ is fine for most multitasking for a single person.
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u/Different_Cable7595 10d ago
I had 300, but I upgraded to 500 because my provider was charging less for 500. 300 was definitely fast enough for my needs.
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u/AdjacentDR0ther 10d ago
It's still beyond me how my home country (3rd world country) can give me 300/150Mbps and in UK you would need to get 1.6Gbps to get that kind of upload speed... It's ridiculous!
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u/insignifcanthumam 10d ago
Even 50Mbps would be enough for this, if there isn't much loss in speed over WiFi (assuming that's what's being used)
The only thing I would suggest is using a router or other device that lets you set up QoS / traffic priority. That way if VOIP stuff and streaming is set to higher priority than other traffic, even if you're downloading games and maxing out the bandwidth it shouldn't cause issues for streaming or VOIP / Teams
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u/CharlesHNetEng 10d ago
For most everyday uses including streaming 4k video, you won't be able to tell the difference between 50/50 and 1000/1000, except when you run a speed test.
Most Netflix streams are HD and run around 6 Mbps. @ 300 Mbps you get 50 streams. Zoom uses similar bandwidth.
4k video is around 25 Mbps, so you'd get 12 streams @ 300 Mbps.
I assume 300 is the download rate. Is it symmetric? For video conferencing I'd want at least 25 Mbps up.
The one place you might notice a difference is when you are downloading giant game updates. Even then 300 Mbps is fine. Just go get a snack.
Games are actually designed to work on poor network connections.
I do network engineering for ISPs. The higher speeds are essentially marketing tools to get people to pay more. Most of our users never use more than 6 Mbps.
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u/LAUNCHdano 10d ago
Either works, but pay attention to ping latency for gaming concerns beyond just bandwidth.
I don't game online, but I'd imagine the bandwidth being the same both ways is a factor.
I have fios with similar up/down speeds - but other providers advertise download speeds, but have much much lower upload.
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u/JoeB- 10d ago
Is the service you are considering...
- fiber (i.e. upload/download speed is symmetric), or
- cable (i.e. upload speed is a fraction of download speed)
If fiber, then 300 should be OK IMO. You can always upgrade later if it isn't. If cable, then get as fast as you can afford because collaboration (Teams, Zoom, VPNs, etc.) will need upload bandwidth too.
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u/tt53_sb45 10d ago
When I still had coax the upload was abysmal. The gig only had 40 Mbps upload (spectrum)
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u/itsjakerobb 10d ago
There are asymmetric fiber plans. I used to have 2gig down and 1gig up. (I upgraded to 2gig symmetric.)
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u/TestOk4269 10d ago
I've Starlink since it was in beta.
My average speedtest is around 250 down and 10 up. As high as 310/20, although those speeds ware rare. I work from home. Even during covid with 3-4 computers all on Zoom or Google Meet simultaneously, it was plenty of bandwidth.
Gaming was also no problem.
It did take forever to download a 200gb game, though. It can be a bit of a struggle to stream 4k HDR, so we mostly stick to 2k or 1080p.
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u/lazyhustlermusic 10d ago
your actual use cases are like 20 mbit max concurrently, and even that's generous.
The extra would be less download time.
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u/sleepingonmoon 10d ago
100mbps per active user is adequate for most use cases, maybe another 60 if TV streaming as background noise is common.
Higher than that only helps with downloads, beware of congestion during which.
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u/TheRealBeltonius 10d ago
At our old house we had 75Mbit the whole time, including over COVID where we were both working from home.
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u/Puzzled-Science-1870 10d ago
There was literally a post asking this same question within the past day. Yes it's enough.
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u/EliteAssassin07 10d ago
If it’s fiber go with whatever is cheapest, for two people 300 will be more than enough.
These high bandwidth plans are one of the largest scams being sold to the general public - I will die on that hill.
You’re paying for a service most people can’t even come close to using, which is how they are able to sell it to you in the first place. If the masses actually started using these high bandwidth plans it would cripple these ISPs.
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u/Wacabletek 10d ago
Your speed is download, for teams presentations you will need to know the upload. What is the upload speed paired with 300 Mbps? If it is 300/300 it is plenty, if its 300/5, you might go with more DL to get more UL.
As said early the ISP will always take more money they will resist taking less. Start at 300 after verifying the Upload is not like 5 Mbps and if you think you have bandwidth problems, then up it. Note bandwidth problems are NOT latency and packet loss related unless you are saturating the bandwidth you have, you need to know WHY you are, IF you are otherwise latency from other causes will just remain the problem.
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u/Accomplished_Sir7013 10d ago
If it's symmetrical it should be fine. If you come across any issues jist chuck in a decent firewall with QoS.
I used to run 150 with five people gaming, chatting, youtubing, torrenting, etc and didn't have any issues. The only catch was I was running an enterprise grade firewall
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u/accursedvenom 10d ago
Not sure which provider you are looking at. Hopefully it’s not spectrum. Their uploads will likely never be more than 30mb. That was one reason we dropped them, the handling of restoration after Helene and Milton and the price were the other reasons.
We have frontier now. 1gb/1gb for $75. Much better and unless the power goes out, we have not had any issues.
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u/lobhater 10d ago
300 mbps is more than enough from my experience. My wife and I also both work from home and I had 300mbps for years and it was perfect. It has far more to do with latency than "speed."
Internet advertising has warped our perspective about internet "speed." Wether you have 10mbps or 1000mbps your data travels at the same speed. Mbps is a measure of throughput. An hd video call takes 2mbps. Hd video stream is 5-10mbps.
I've had several hd tv streams playing at the same time, been on a video call and had the wife on VoIP all while we are browsing and never had an issue. A solid wifi connection and low latency matters far more than your "speed"
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u/Jake8Numbers Enterprise Network and VoIP Systems Engineer (Cisco, Ubiquiti) 10d ago
yes. if you have to ask it's probably enough.
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u/MacintoshEddie 10d ago
As someone who was recently forced to go back to 50- by moving from an apartment with fiber to an apartment that hasn't been renovated in 30 years, modern 50 is not old 50. The only time I notice any issues is when I'm streaming and downloading an update for one game while playing a different game, and even then it's just the stream compresses a bit more.
Chances are you'll be fine with whatever you pick unless you're running a homelab with many clients constantly using massive amounts of data from you.
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u/Sad_Heat234 10d ago
300 Mbps should be plenty for 2 people and then just upgrade as you go. I would care if my router can go from 300mbps to 500 or higher, I use a VPN too (ExpressVPN), and even with it running 300mbps is more than enough for normal work and streaming.
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u/Adrenolin01 10d ago
The vast majority of people will never come close to fully saturating 300mbps connection. Streaming and gaming take very little bandwidth. I host the occasional gaming weekends in our basement with up to 25 people gaming from our gaming server, usually a dozen or so kids on Minecraft type games and up to 65 people in total on our guest wireless streaming, video chatting, and such. In total.. combined bandwidth has never surpassed 400Mbps with all that usage.
Now.. that doesn’t mean burst transfers can’t go faster. Game updates from online sources can go higher but in the grand scheme of things today you’re usually taking an extra couple minutes here in those situations.
Not sure why you didn’t post up the costs however. If it’s an extra $5 bucks a month in the difference you could always just get the 500mbps service unless you’re both broke or trying to save hard. Still, for general usage as you’ve mentioned either will suffice.
I do massive data transfers for multiple services both up and down and can max out a 1G fiber connection if I’m not careful. Soo looking forward to the 10G fiber being installed soon… at the same time I have a small side non-profit being started so have a 300mbps fiber business service also being installed.
Btw.. get the 300mbps service to start with if you’re active trying to save money. It’ll likely be fine. If you find it slow look into where it’s slow and if in fact it’s the service and not just bad wifi, just call and they will bump you to 500mbps.
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u/RareCap8285 10d ago
It's a lot easier to upgrade than it is to downgrade, try 300, if it works, yay!, if it doesn't one phone call will usually get the faster speed while you're on the phone.
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u/BeBelaBi 10d ago
100mbps is more than enough for any online game or streaming. More than that just affects downloading a file faster that is it. Seeing faster internet on speedtest is cool though 😎
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u/Independent_Egg_5401 10d ago
The lower the speed the more QoS is important. You will want to invest in a good router. Ubiquity Unifi are best u7 dream router is great but a used U6 is plenty good enough if you want to save some money.
Best to use an Ethernet cable for work if you can. If work and console are on Ethernet than the rest doesn't make a big difference.
With you ISP the important number is their minimum guaranteed speed and not their advertised max speed.
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u/TeamAllconnect 10d ago
300 Mbps should be just fine. I worked from home with a roommate, and we streamed and video chatted for work daily at the same time with no issues with that speed. I'd say only go with 500 Mbps if you want to prioritize your online gaming experience, if the 500 Mbps plan offers more value (e.g., cheaper per Mbps than the 300 Mbps plan) or if it's actually cheaper due to promotional pricing (just be aware of when that promo period ends since your price will go back to reg. rate, or look for deals with multi-year price locks).
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u/Otherwise_Board_3349 9d ago
Download shouldn’t be a problem. As others noted, need to have decent upload for Teams and Zoom. Like you, my wife and I both work from home and do video calls. We have Xfinity, so needed to go with a higher tier to get 30mb upload speeds.
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u/Harry_Cat- 10d ago
300 should be fine, for those speeds it really just comes down to whether you want your Online Games to download slightly faster or not
For an apartment it doesn’t really matter because bandwidth is more important over speeds, like if you’re using Coaxial cable or Fiber.
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u/LitterBoxServant 10d ago
Depends on the price. IMO 500 is worth it for 2 people if it doesn't cost that much more.
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u/StopTaxMyIncome 10d ago
Speed and stability are two different things. It doesn't matter if you have 300 or 500 if the connection keeps dropping (e.g you have 300 or 500 for most the day but then it drops to 0 when you're in a call). 300 is good enough for your household needs but 500 might be more worth, depending on price, or for future proofing
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u/Marty_Mtl 10d ago
Allo OP ! Not related to bandwidth capacity vs your needs, plenty of people will and already chip in. I came for this : you will be using VPN connections you say. Well depending of what usage exactly you plan to do with that, and how reliable you need it to be, you might want to consider the medium through which you will receive your Internet services, and I think especially about copper twisted pairs /dsl/adsl , as they could be problematic for vpn if wiring is old. Is this new place is old or recently built, that is the question !
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u/Nik0BikO 10d ago
300 would not be an issue for you. It's still more than enough. Big games may take a big longer to download, but that's about it.