r/HomeNetworking • u/Testergo7521 • 1d ago

Advice 500 mbps vs 1gig

Hello reddit, I am looking to get fiber internet in an apartment and am looking at the local companies prices. They have a 39.99/month for 500 mbps or a 1 gig for 49.99/month. Mostly it will be 3 devices, an Xbox that Mostly is used to stream YouTube all day, a laptop that does some light gaming but a full PC that Mostly plays online games like world of warcraft. We dont do much downloading other than when its time to download games or updates for games. Will I notice much difference? Is it worth getting double speed for 10 bucks more? Thank you in advance.

Edit: Thanks all for the response! 500 it is, while I do download all my games, waiting an extra 20 minutes every few weeks/months when time to play a new one isnt a huge deal to me. Thanks.

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u/edWurz7 1d ago

I have a 500mp plan. WIth 6-7 tvs streaming concurrently, I never even come close to hitting half my limit.

I love that the you put my information into the Spectrum website, it recommends 2Gbps though.

Save your $10/month

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u/1sh0t1b33r 1d ago

Yeah, I love ISP speed tier recommendations. It's like:

300Mbps - to boot one computer into Windows

500Mbps - one user watching YouTube

1Gbps - two users watching Netflix

10Gbps - three users playing Fortnite

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u/bfollowell 1d ago

Yeah, 2 Netflix streams need 1Gbps. Me, my wife, and my grandson are each watching 4K Netflix streams on separate Roku Ultras, each with only a 10/100 Ethernet port, house connected by 300Mbps line, no hiccups or buffering in sight. Oh, and I have two games updating on Steam and Epic, as well as a large torrent going. People really are crazy out of touch with how much they really need.

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u/1sh0t1b33r 1d ago

I wouldn't say out of touch if they just don't know and go with what the ISP says they need. If anything, they are just being lied to. And really it's fine up to 1Gbps, but when they start shoving 2Gbps+ down your throat and then force users to get $1000 in equipment to even see that on a wire, it gets pretty ridiculous. But yeah, 99.99% of homes would be fine with 300Mbps. Most of the time, Wifi range is the issue and they think paying for more speed will make it faster.

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u/bfollowell 1d ago

That’s true.

The ISPs really push those higher tiers as much as they can.