Is 10Mb broadband Good enough?

planetdek

 My current broadband deal is about to expire and inevitably they want to put up the cost. Having a look around I can get some pretty good deals with a download speed of 10Mb. My current package claims 36Mb and I have never had any issues with it.

I have 2/3 computers in the house (rarely in use at the same time) various Alexa devices and I use Netflix/Prime/iPlayer on one Smart TV most evenings. Internet use is mostly browsing, shopping , banking etc.

My question is should I go for the slower package?

Has anyone any real experience of 10Mb download speeds with Netflix or iPlayer and general internet use? I do not want to regret it when the buffering starts! 

Obvious contenders are Plusnet and John Lewis , if anyone has direct experience of either of these what are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

callum5

planetdek said:

 My current broadband deal is about to expire and inevitably they want to put up the cost. Having a look around I can get some pretty good deals with a download speed of 10Mb. My current package claims 36Mb and I have never had any issues with it.

I have 2/3 computers in the house (rarely in use at the same time) various Alexa devices and I use Netflix/Prime/iPlayer on one Smart TV most evenings. Internet use is mostly browsing, shopping , banking etc.

My question is should I go for the slower package?

Has anyone any real experience of 10Mb download speeds with Netflix or iPlayer and general internet use? I do not want to regret it when the buffering starts! 

Obvious contenders are Plusnet and John Lewis , if anyone has direct experience of either of these what are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

I previously had Sky broadband on their 10mb package and the real world speeds were only around 2-5Mb, for HD streaming I wouldn't recommend that speed. You should be able to find Fibre broadband on sites such as Uswitch for not much more than the Standard Broadband package and in my experience I would recommend going for the Fibre option.

This Plusnet deal is £22.99 pm with a £75 Gift Card when you join. Which takes the monthly cost down to £18.82.

(https://www.plus.net/deals/unlimited-fibre/?affiliate=uswitch&bannerId=fib40-18-lo2021fib4016a0rc75aff&utm_source=uswitch&utm_medium=res-affiliate&utm_content=&utm_campaign=2021fib4016a0rc75aff&WT.mc_id=aff_003)

KxMx

We had an average speed of 10mb but it would dip down as low as 1mb.
When getting the full speed it was absolutely fine for tv streaming including HD but when it dipped the picture quality would go and the buffering would hit but not that often.
Since upgraded to fibre as Talk Talk were offering it £1 per month less upon recontract. 

Mickey666

I used to have a real-world 6Mbps broadband service from BT.  Four PCs in the house, plus phones and tablets, but rarely all in use at the same time.  Mainly web browsing, email, some music streaming etc. No gaming.  One smart TV exclusively used for streaming (no aerial/dish connected).  Everything worked well and buffering on the TV was a rare occurrence.  On that basis, I would guess that 10Mbps would be fine.

A few years ago, FTTC arrived in my village and I upgraded to BT's 30Mbps service (real-world 29Mbps) for not very much extra cost.   I can't remember the last time the smart TV buffered but otherwise I've noticed little difference in practice.  The speed increase is only noticeable when downloading or uploading large files, but I don't do that very often and waiting a few extra minutes is no big deal for me.  if I was doing it everyday for work then it would probably be more important, but sending an email with large attachments in 10 seconds instead of 30 seconds is basically insignificant.

For me, the pursuit of broadband speed is largely irrelevant and even a 60Mbps service was available I don't think there would be any benefit for my level of usage so I wouldn't pay any extra for it. 

Broadband is getting a bit like cars nowadays - pretty much any car can out-perform the drivers' needs or capabilities.  Is there much point in paying extra for a car than can do 120mph rather than 100mph as most can these days?  Yes, there are always exceptions, but they are getting rarer.

JJ_Egan

My first question would be what is going to happen if 10 is not good enough??

iniltous

It sounds as though you are currently on FTTC and are considering downgrading to exchange based ADSL.....with many ISP‘S there isn’t a huge difference in price and if it’s only a couple of ££ then not likely to be worth it....if your current deal has ended have you shopped around , you may get a better deal offered, or you could try asking your current provider what they will do on price , to stop you leaving ....if you do go onto ADSL, you probably need to get an individual estimate for line speed , not just a generic product average 
try this
https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/
use may have to use your address as it won’t recognise LLU numbers