We’re so thankful that back-to-school this year looks a lot different than last year. With students leaving the virtual classroom and heading back in person, you may be wondering what type of Internet plan you should have for your bandwidth needs.
Back to School Bandwidth
During summer, there were probably multiple people in your house throughout the day using WiFi. One may have been streaming TV shows while another was playing video games, and you may have been sending large files from your home office at the same time. Now that the kids will be in school, you probably won’t be using much bandwidth during the day, but that will change when evening comes and it’s time to do homework and play friends on Xbox. However, what truly matters isn’t when you all use the Internet at once, it’s whether or not you’ll have enough bandwidth to handle it when it happens.
How much bandwidth do I need?
Your family’s bandwidth requirements will depend on how they are using the Internet. Streaming educational videos for homework eats up bandwidth, and so does sharing and downloading large files with classmates. But if your child is only searching the web, it won’t require a super high speed. An average family should be able to get by on 20 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload, unless you are doing activities that use up a lot of bandwidth such as:
- Zoom calls to discuss school projects. (Zoom recommends download and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps for sending 1080p HD video). So if your high schooler is on live calls while your middle schooler is posting YouTube videos, they may both experience lagging service.
- Watching movies on multiple devices. Netflix says it takes 5 Mbps to stream HD content, and 25 Mbps for 4K Ultra HD content, but that’s just for one movie on one device. If you’re watching Virgin River and your kids are watching episodes of Fuller House after they finish homework, you could all experience a slowdown if you don’t have enough bandwidth.
- It may take download speeds over 25 Mbps to get the most out of a live Xbox battle, so you may blame your gamer if everyone else’s devices are slow while he’s playing.
Ask Your HTC Representative if Your WiFi is Fast Enough
We know how confusing all these numbers can be, and that’s why we don’t expect you to figure out how much bandwidth your family needs. We can discuss how many devices are in your house, how often they are used, and what they’re being used for to determine the Internet speeds that best suit your needs. Just give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.
Harrisonville Telephone Company is a provider of reliable, cost-effective Internet (for streaming, gaming, surfing, viewing, listening, downloading, and more), television (hundreds of channels, free HD, VOD access and more), and phone (unlimited local and long distance, voicemail, caller ID, etc.). Want to learn more about our great home or business bundles? Visit our website, call us at 939-6112, or fill out our Contact Us page. We look forward to hearing from you.
