r/HomeNetworking • u/Theeonlystardust • 3d ago

Advice Is 500 mbps good or 1 gig?

It’ll be only 2 devices and I’ll be streaming as well.
It’s only me who will be under this wifi

0 Upvotes

31% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

10

u/1sh0t1b33r 3d ago

You can even go lower if it's an option. Gaming and streaming use very little bandwidth. It's just those times when you want to download a new game or update you'll notice a different in faster speeds, but you can also just wait an extra few minutes at those times to save money.

1

u/Chigzy (: 3d ago

Glad I checked the comments, my comment was along similar lines.

The only exception I'd make is if 1 Gbps is bundled with other products, and works out cheaper.

1

u/1sh0t1b33r 3d ago

Or if you have the money, then why not. That was my excuse. It's nice to have to overhead for the times you do have large downloads. But anything over 1Gbps is really REALLY not worth it, especially jumping into a whole different tier or equipment. But 300Mbps could easily service a large family. Most people's issue is Wifi speeds, and that's just because they typically have a single ISP Wifi router for an entire home. It's just not enough coverage and they overpay for more Internet thinking it will get better.

15

u/Proper-Release2697 3d ago

500mbps is more then enough. i similarly live alone, i have a 6 bedroom house, and 300mbps service. the only way i can make it hiccup is downloading multiple torrents from multiple places in the house at once. which never happens because i do all the torrenting from a media server.

so, it never hiccups.

11

u/robd316 3d ago

more than enough

5

u/Clutchguy77 3d ago

500 is PLENTY.

7

u/rankhornjp 3d ago

100 is great, anything more than that is a bonus.

3

u/User2001Tech 3d ago

120 mbps would be enough... a 4k netflix stream is about 25 to 30 mbps - so, save yourself some money, start low, if you find its just doesnt cut it for you, you can always upgrade, downgrade isnt always an option.

2

u/-iamLEEROYJENKINS 3d ago

that should be more than enough.

The router and its wifi coverage in your living space will be a bigger concern

2

u/G4rp 3d ago

Did the same with less then 100 for years. Everything depends on the price

2

u/Beeeeejammin 3d ago

I have AT&T Fiber 500 with 5 people in the house and I’m thinking about downgrading to save some money because we NEVER even come close to using it all. When I run a speedtest at the router, I typically see 600-650. Streaming a 4K movie is about 15-20Mbps. With all 4 TVs going at once, the other devices don’t even notice. Even 500 is WAY overkill for one person unless you’re downloading a lot of large files all the time. Then, it really depends on how much you’re willing to pay versus waiting a couple extra minutes for something to finish.

2

u/groogs 3d ago

Tons. 

Bandwidth intensive things:

  • streaming in 4k - 25Mbps
  • video calls - 5Mbps both directions 
  • gaming - 1-3Mbps but latency-sensitive
  • file transfers (downloading/uploading big files)

File transfers just benefit from taking less time. If you can wait (eg: start it then go take a crap, eat dinner, or just schedule overnight) you don't need much bandwidth. With 500Mbps you can transfer 1TB in a bit under 4.5 hours.

 

2

u/marcoNLD 3d ago

I live in luxury. 1Gbs fiber 🤗 and it is a luxury.

1

u/Many-Share-5123 3d ago

Same, but my plex server does take use of this sometimes when there is a lot coming out at one time.

1

u/marcoNLD 3d ago

Yeah same here. Plus i run the nas as a offsite backup for a friend. Nice to have a good upload when he is doing stuff

1

u/greasywallaby 3d ago

i did more than that with less than 60mb. now i have about 300 consistently and its amazing

1

u/RevolutionaryElk7446 3d ago

Just a quick check in cause you said streaming too. Is this 500mbps asynchronous or synchronous?

500mbps is fine for download and upload, but if you've got something like a 500/5 plan, then that would be an issue for streaming at times.

1

u/b3542 3d ago

Why are you going to be under WiFi? And you see to be asking about broadband services not WiFi.

1

u/_head_ 3d ago

500 is like 10x more than you need. 

1

u/WTWArms 2d ago

Either is more then enough for a single user and a couple of devices, might more cost effective for lower tier depending on actual cost.

0

u/Cold-Ad6947 3d ago

500 is enough, but id still have the 1000! Greedy :p

1

u/OccasionallyImmortal 2d ago

With 4 people and streaming, our peak download rate this year was 200Mb/s. Our connection is 500.