Author Topic: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?  (Read 1379 times)

mattdc79

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Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« on: November 27, 2019, 08:18:28 AM »
Hi,

I am trying to figure out what internet speed I should pay for from comcast and thought this forum might have good insights. My wife and I both work from home and are on our computers and phones throughout the workday. We also stream music and have a TV that we use to stream netflix.

What internet speed do you think is necessary? We definitely don't want to compromise our ability to work in anyway - we are primarily just sending emails and downloading documents - but also don't want to pay for more speed than we need.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you

WSUCoug1994

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2019, 08:54:21 AM »
I am not sure how many tiers Comcast has but we have the 75mbps package because I do a lot of HD video conferencing and I run an IP phone over a VPN for work.  We also stream all of our entertainment (Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube TV).  It might be too much for our needs but I can't take the risk for my video conferences - so I have been really happy with this level for our family of four.

reeshau

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2019, 09:06:00 AM »
Any of those things isn't particularly taxing.  But understand this is shared bandwidth--if you are in a booming neighborhood full of kids playing Fortnite, there is no speed you can subscribe to that would fully prevent buffering.

Netflix says they need 25 MB for UHD.

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

As a business example, Webex is 5.5 MB for HD video send + receive.

https://help.webex.com/en-us/WBX22158/What-are-the-Minimum-Bandwidth-Requirements-for-Sending-and-Receiving-Video-in-Cisco-Webex-Meetings

Your email and document work will require the minimum connection you can buy.  Likewise, audio streaming will be sub 1 MB.

Think of those things, and what you would do in parallel--then add that up.  In the end, just like when shopping for a PC, there is almost no business function that justifies anything near peak performance available today.  For that, it's all about the gaming.  The only exception would be a graphic / video artist or data scientist.

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2019, 10:49:29 AM »
Back an my old house, we had Comcast 25 MB, and it was fine for streaming during the day, and downright unwatchable weekend evenings. I currently have Comcast 250 MB (10x the previous speed), and it is fine for streaming during the day, and so-so for streaming on weekends and at night. In the past I also had 150 MB, and it was fine during the work day for business stuff. In my experience, 250 MB is overkill for 99.9% of business stuff.

If I was only interested in having consistent streaming at any time of the day, I'd go with 6 MB DSL over 250 MB cable.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2019, 10:51:42 AM by YttriumNitrate »

ketchup

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2019, 11:08:42 AM »
If you work from home a lot, you may care more about upload speed than download speed.  I'm currently on shitty 6mbps down / 768kbps up DSL and it's "fine" for browsing or streaming (Netflix etc. typically in 720p) but hair-pullingly frustrating whenever uploading anything other than a Word doc.  And we can forget about doing two remotely bandwidth intensive things at the same time (last night we had to wait about 45 minutes for my GF's photos to send to her client before we could turn on Hulu - usually we can plan around this but it's annoying regardless).

My own griping aside, unless you have specific needs, something like 25/5 from Comcast is probably plenty for two people working from home during the day and streaming at night.

mattdc79

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2019, 07:36:48 PM »
This is all really helpful. Thank you!

Villanelle

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2019, 07:57:32 PM »
If you pick one, are you in any way committed?  If not, go with the lowest (or at least lower) and upgrade if needed. 

YttriumNitrate

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Re: Suggestions on comcast internet speed?
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2019, 10:28:12 PM »
If you pick one, are you in any way committed?  If not, go with the lowest (or at least lower) and upgrade if needed.

The only thing to watch out for is that when you buy* the cable modem you'll need to make sure that you get a half decent one that will also handle the higher speeds.


**I assume renting a cable modem for $10/month when you can buy for $30-40 is still grounds for being banned from this forum.