A guide to bandwidth: Everything you need to know

What is bandwidth? 

Bandwidth is the term given to the total capacity of data that’s transferred from your computer to a network provider. Your bandwidth determines how much information can be sent back and forth over the internet to your device at any given time.

The higher your bandwidth, the more information it’s possible to send at once – increasing the speed at which data is delivered to you, as well as sent from you to another source. Optimising your bandwidth performance ensures a smooth and streamlined experience. This makes it easier to enjoy your time online, whether you’re watching a video, playing a game, or calling a loved one. 

If you’re still trying to understand it, visualise bandwidth capacity as people trying to enter or leave a busy event. When more doors are open, a greater number of people are able to come and go at once. Fewer doors mean fewer entrances and exits. Now imagine instead of doors it’s bandwidth capacity, and, instead of people, it’s data. More bandwidth means more data coming and going at once.

How much bandwidth do you need? 

There’s no wrong or right amount of bandwidth to have. It all depends on what you use the internet for. When thinking about what you want your bandwidth capacity to be, it’s important to consider a number of factors: 

• Download vs upload speed. Most of the time, providers discuss internet speed and bandwidth in terms of download speed. That’s because most users commonly receive data rather than send it elsewhere as part of their time online. However, there are times when your upload bandwidth is more important:

  • Making a video call
  • Uploading large files to cloud servers
  • Uploading videos to social platforms
  • Hosting any kind of streaming event

• The amount of people using your internet connection. Bandwidth works on a connection-by-connection basis, rather than a person-by-person one. That is to say that the total bandwidth of a home isn’t the same for every person using it. Rather it’s one total amount which needs to be shared by every user. This means the more people using the internet, the slower it’ll be. 

• How many smart devices are in the home. Likewise, the amount of devices in use will also play a part. That means any device which has access to the internet, such as smart TVs, phones, laptops, or tablets. If you’re in a busy home this is something which needs to be taken into account when choosing the amount of bandwidth you need. 

• The complexity of what you want to do online. If you have relatively basic online needs, you probably won’t need a high bandwidth capacity. For example, if you just use it to watch YouTube videos, talk to friends, and make the occasional call. If you regularly need to transfer data to and from a cloud storage system or take your online gaming lag rate very seriously, you might need more. 

Once you have a good idea of what you’re going to be using the internet for, it’s handy to know what different kinds of bandwidth requirements are needed for each service or device. While each individual circumstance will be unique, the following requirements are a rough guide for some common internet uses: 

How do you test your bandwidth limit? 

A number of testing tools exist to help users measure their bandwidth limit. These will vary in complexity and accuracy. 

To test your speed you simply need to navigate to a testing URL, then let the tool run diagnostics. Within a matter of moments, you should be provided with a total rate for both upload and download speed. 

In order to work out what the test shows you, you’ll need to understand how bandwidth is calculated. Bandwidth is measured in a number of ways in order to provide a standardised and accurate way to compare and contrast requirements. Currently, the four most common ways for bandwidth to be measured are: 

• Bps (bits per second). This tiny measurement is used on a granular level to work out the speed at which something is transferred or received. 

• Kbps (kilobits per second). Working at a slightly higher rate, kilobits assess how many thousands of bits can be transferred in a second. They’re commonly used to measure lower bandwidth connections. 

• Mbps (megabits per second). A megabit equates to 1,000,000 bits, and is the most commonly used metric to assess the network speed in typical residential buildings. Most internet packages are provided in Mbps for that reason. 

• Gbps (gigabits per second). Taking it one step further, a gigabit measure speeds at a rate of 1,000,000,000 bits per second. Owing to the sheer volume of bits being measured in this way, it’s commonly only used for high-speed network connections, fibre-optics, or enterprise-level internet speed checks. 

Remember that the conversions for these metrics are as follows: 

• 1 kilobit per second (Kbps) = 1000 bits
• 1 megabit per second (Mbps) = 1000 kilobits
• 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) = 1000 megabits

These conversions will allow you to work out exactly how much bandwidth you’re using when compared to the total amount you need to enjoy all your streaming, gaming, music, and other online activities. Once you have this figure, you’ll be able to see if you need additional bandwidth to fully enjoy your time online. 

Top tips for a bandwidth test

Owing to how complex bandwidth can be to accurately measure, there are a series of tips you can implement to make sure you’re charting it properly. These will vary from simple fixes to slightly more complex tricks, so be sure to only do those that you’re comfortable with trying. 

• Find a reliable tool. Whatever tool you end up using, make sure it’s been reviewed and verified by independent, impartial users. When assessing your bandwidth, you’ll want to make sure you have an accurate and reliable understanding of your current usage rates. 
  

• Test during off-peak and peak hours. Testing at different times of the day lets you know what kind of strain different usage scenarios might place on your network. Just as peak times might be misleadingly busy, quieter periods may also give you an inaccurate representation of your bandwidth performance. 
  

• Try to remove any external factors. Try to minimise the amount of additional programmes running when you carry out a test. That means pausing things like downloads, and closing any applications which might be running in the background. 
  

• Look for specific congestion points. If you’re able to, try testing your bandwidth on a number of different devices – or, try to find a breakdown of how much capacity is being used by every device. This will help you work out where any congestion is happening which might slow down the rate at which data is transferred.
  

• Look at both upload and download speeds. It’s important to remember that just because your download capacity is strong, it doesn’t necessarily mean the same is true for your upload bandwidth (and vice versa). Check both when running a test to see if either needs to be adjusted. 

• Find network anomalies. If you want to monitor your bandwidth usage over a long period of time, you can set up network notifications which will ping you whenever they spot an anomaly (such as a spike or drop in bandwidth usage). Aside from better understanding how your capacity is being managed, this could serve as an early red flag for potential security breaches. 

• Document and analyse any results. If you do decide to keep track of your tests, keep a log of them. These can be handy when trying to understand what your regular bandwidth capacity needs are. 

How to get the most from your available bandwidth

If you’re unhappy with the amount of bandwidth you receive, there are steps you can take to increase it. Think about doing some, or even all, of the following to improve the capacity of data streams in your home: 

• Use an ethernet connection. While this won’t always be possible from a practical standpoint, connecting your device directly via an ethernet port will hardwire your internet straight into it. This reduces the chance of additional WiFi systems interfering with your own, as the connection is a direct one between your internet source and device. 

• Reduce the amount of devices connected to the WiFi. Any online device takes up space in your bandwidth capacity. Try disconnecting those which you don’t regularly use from the WiFi in order to free up some of this space. A lot of devices can now be controlled by apps, which often have the ability to remotely disable access to the internet built into them. 

• Disable automatic backups. While automatic backups themselves are a very handy addition to most products’ life cycles, they can inadvertently cause your connection to slow down by some amount. This is because they’re large, and take up a big percentage of your total bandwidth download.

Disabling the automatic aspect of these updates, and then scheduling them for off-peak periods, is the smartest way to ensure your devices are kept updated without impacting your online experience.

• Watch videos at a lower quality. While not something you should necessarily have to compromise on, in extreme cases you can always choose to watch video streams at a lower quality. This requires lower bandwidth download rates. Remember, this should only ever be a temporary measure, not something you adopt as the norm. 

Bandwidth FAQs

We’ve discussed quite a lot in this guide, but you might have more questions about bandwidth and what it means for you. If you’d like to learn more about your data capacity, check out these frequently asked questions.