How much bandwidth do you need? Some popular applications and their need for speed!
Whether it is online gaming or video streaming, a good internet connection is key to enjoying a smooth, uninterrupted experience. But did you know that these activities require a lot of network bandwidth?
According to Statista, internet videos consumed approximately 240 exabytes of data per month in 2022, followed by web browsing, online gaming, and file sharing. But what exactly is bandwidth, what does it mean to your web surfing, and how does it change depending on your favorite activity or application?
Let us take a look.
Basics of Bandwidth and Its Role
Bandwidth can be thought of as a slide; the wider the slide, the more people can be accommodated without slowing down the experience. Every internet application or activity requires a specific amount of bandwidth. If the requirement is met, the activity is completed quickly. Otherwise, people pile up one behind the other. This is called buffering. And we know that buffering takes an inconveniently long time. You probably already know this. Buffering on YouTube is perhaps the most well-known example.
In simple words, bandwidth is the measure of the maximum amount of data that can be transferred over the network in a defined interval. It’s usually measured in bits per second (bps). So, if your internet plan is limited to 100 Mbps, you cannot transmit or use data at a speed beyond this.
The role of bandwidth is critical because it governs or regulates data transmission capacity and internet speed. Everyday applications have different bandwidth requirements, and the end-user experience depends on which internet plan you have subscribed to for your everyday applications.
Four Applications of Daily Use and Their Bandwidth Requirements
OTT Platforms
From SVOD (subscription video on demand) to live TV, US households are consuming content at a faster rate, with nearly 200 million OTT users in 2021, according to a report. Cut to 2023, Netflix announced that they had around 75.57 million subscribers from the US and Canada alone by the second quarter.
Such high content consumption necessitates a large amount of bandwidth in order to provide a better user experience. The ideal bandwidth for a smooth browsing and viewing experience should be between 672 kbps to 61.5 Mbps.
Ideally, if you want to watch a 1080p high-definition video, you should have at least 25 Mbps of internet bandwidth. If your home Wi-Fi does not provide this speed, now is the time to upgrade your plan. Multiple users can also reduce the speed because the data is being transmitted to various devices. If you have the ideal plan for streaming OTT but are still experiencing slow speeds, you can try disconnecting the other devices from the Wi-Fi for a better experience.
Gaming Apps
In 2022, there were over 212 million gamers in the United States. The global gaming market is projected to become a $268.8 billion industry by 2025, with North America leading the way. Gaming apps are classified into dozens of genres and subgenres, with an average of 800,000 games to choose from. The online gaming community has grown tremendously since COVID, as streaming apps allow people to communicate with one another without leaving their homes. This has turned out to be the perfect way out from solitary confinement.
Online games are graphically rich, but they do not require a large amount of bandwidth to provide an unparalleled experience. For online gaming apps, one only needs a stable internet connection with low latency and a download speed of 15-25 Mbps and an upload speed of 5 Mbps. Online gaming does not require high bandwidth, but it does require a stable connection, and it can be easily accomplished by disconnecting your Internet from all other devices.
Smart Home Apps
The American household has become smart. Today, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri assist people in performing simple tasks such as playing music and turning on/off the television. Then you have everything from smart doorbells to appliances. All of these activities necessitate a steady internet connection.
Other smart home applications that can be accessed via your phone provide the ability to turn the appliances ON or OFF, such as an air conditioner or a washing machine, as well as monitor security devices. These smart home apps require a bandwidth of 1-5 Mbps, with some requiring as low as a few Kbps — for example, the smart lighting apps.
Video Conferencing / WFH Setups
Today, working from home has become common across industries. Many organizations have either gone completely remote or are leveraging hybrid models. The work-from-home model has been a huge success in America, with over 92 million people reporting that they have such flexibility at work.
However, working from home requires good internet because work files, remote machine access, and constant video/audio meetings need a stable connection. And let’s not forget about VPN (virtual private network), which requires a very stable internet connection for the work-from-home setup to thrive. A VPN requires somewhere between 25 and 40 Mbps of bandwidth to transmit data smoothly.
Other critical connectivity apps, such as Slack, Zoom, and Webex, require bandwidth (upload and download) ranging from 200 Kbps to 8 Mbps. Because other appliances and users are connected to the internet at home, it is best to choose an internet plan that supports double the required bandwidth, ensuring smooth working.
There are many ways to increase internet speed, some of which are as follows:
- Reduce the number of network-connected devices
- Optimize your devices for limited internet usage
- Optimize your browsers for faster browsing by clearing cache, blocking ads, and so on
- Do not enable automatic software updates for your phone or computer
Conclusion
For seamless browsing, downloading, and uploading experiences, it is essential to comprehend and take note of internet bandwidth usage, its role, and its unwavering importance. At the end of the day, your applications can run efficiently with the right plan without having to limit internet usage. All you need to do is evaluate how much bandwidth is enough for your everyday internet usage and choose the best plan based on that.