What Broadband Speed Do I Need?

This is a Switch Genius planning model, not an exact measurement or a list of available packages. We estimate one active person for “one at a time”, half the household rounded up (at least two, limited to your household size) for “a few together”, or the whole household for “everyone”.

We allow each active person to do the most demanding activity you selected: browsing 2 Mbps, HD streaming 5 Mbps, 4K streaming 25 Mbps, video calls 5 Mbps, or locally running online games 5 Mbps. We add 2 Mbps for background use and 30% spare capacity, then round up to one of our comparison speeds: 50, 100, 150, 300, 500 or 1,000 Mbps. These are illustrative shopping benchmarks, not provider offers. The conservative allowance avoids asking you to count devices or predict an exact mix.

If you download large files regularly, we suggest at least 150 Mbps for shorter waits, while showing the lower everyday-use estimate separately. That extra speed is for convenience, not a requirement to browse or stream. For upload we allow 5 Mbps per active person if calls are selected, otherwise 1 Mbps for gaming or 0.5 Mbps for other use; add 25%, round up and allow at least 5 Mbps.

For context, Netflix’s guidance (opens in a new tab) lists 5 Mbps for full HD and 15 Mbps for 4K; we allow more for 4K across different services. Zoom’s guidance (opens in a new tab) lists around 3–4 Mbps each way for 1080p calls; we allow 5 Mbps. Guidance checked November 2026. Multiple screens per person, cloud gaming, cameras, large backups and live broadcasting can need more capacity.