How much speed do you really need? Finding the best broadband for you

As a broadband provider we tend to get really excited about new technologies that offer faster and faster connections.

That’s one of the reasons why we love talking about full fibre. It’s undoubtedly the type of connection we’ll all need in the future, and the speed and reliability it promises is unmatched.

However, not everyone needs the latest and greatest right now. But just how much speed do you need today?

Really, the most honest (and accurate) answer is to say that it depends on what you’re currently doing and what you’d like to do with your broadband connection.

The very light user

Let’s start with the lightest of internet use.

If you’d rather watch regular TV and listen to the radio than stream any of your entertainment, if web browsing consists of a little online shopping, and if communicating with friends or family means picking up the phone or sending the occasional email, you’re probably a very light user.

In that case, you’d be very unlikely to benefit from the latest 900Mbps full fibre broadband.

In fact, all you’re likely to need right now is a more modest Fibre 1 FTTC connection. That should give you all the speed you need for browsing the web or sending and receiving emails.

The light user

If your broadband use consists of anything more than occasional browsing and online shopping though, you might need something a little faster, but just how fast?

Well, the truth is, if you enjoy a little YouTube or the occasional Netflix stream, you’ll probably be absolutely fine with one of our Fibre 2 packages. In fact, when it comes to video streams, unless you’re streaming in the very highest quality or you’re doing multiple things at once online, despite what you may have heard, an ultrafast connection isn’t really necessary.

Moderate users (and small families)

Just how much are you using your internet connection?

For video streams – especially if nobody else is using your broadband – a superfast connection is usually all you’ll need. And if you’re playing online games, despite popular theories to the contrary, you don’t really need a fast connection to enjoy yourself.

Apart from when it comes to downloads that is.

When you start playing games, you’ll need to think about all those downloads. Getting the game itself for a start will take a hefty download, not to mention all those regular updates that you’ll need to install. The faster your connection, the sooner you’ll get back to playing.

It stands to reason that large game downloads (which are often 50-60GB or more) will take longer on a slower connection, so that’s certainly something to consider.

Heavy users (and larger families)

When it comes to regular 4K video streaming, heavy downloading, daily video conferencing and connecting multiple devices, the faster the connection the better.

That isn’t to say you can’t do all of those things with a superfast connection, but if you’re doing more than one of them at once you’ll want to make sure you have enough bandwidth to cope.

So, when you don’t want to feel restrained by your broadband connection, and especially when there are more than two or three people in your home who are regularly using the internet, we’d recommend one of our ultrafast full fibre connections.

Looking to the future

As we add more and more connected devices to our home networks, as video and audio streams become even higher quality (and therefore larger), as home working and everyday life become more and more entwined with being online, we’ll need more from our broadband.

If you’re a very light user and you only use the internet for basic browsing and online shopping, we won’t recommend an ultrafast connection.

But as our lives move increasingly online, when the time’s right for you to make the upgrade, we’ll be here. You can view our available packages at www.zen.co.uk/broadband