What can my internet speed handle?
Type in your plan's download and upload speeds. You'll see how many streams, calls and games it can run at the same time, how long large downloads take, and which kinds of household it suits.
Download times at this speed
| Activity | Max at once |
|---|
Which households it fits
| Household (busiest moment) | Needs down / up | This plan |
|---|
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
How it’s calculated
The calculator takes the usable share of your plan (85% by default) and divides it by each activity's published rate, rounding down:
usable = plan × 0.85 max at once = floor(usable ÷ Mbps per activity)
Video calls and live streams use upload as well as download, so they are limited by whichever direction runs out first. That is why a 300/20 Mbps plan carries twelve 4K streams but only five 1080p video calls: each call sends 3.0 Mbps (Zoom's 1080p figure), and 20 Mbps × 85% leaves 17 Mbps of usable upload.
Download times use seconds = GB × 8,000 ÷ usable Mbps: 8 bits per byte and 1,000 megabits per gigabit. For any other file size, the download time calculator does the same sum. The household check uses the same presets and 30% headroom as the internet speed calculator.
Is 100, 300 or 500 Mbps enough?
| Plan (down/up) | 4K streams at once | 1080p calls at once | 100 GB game |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 / 10 Mbps | 2 | 2 | 5 h 13 min |
| 100 / 10 Mbps | 4 | 2 | 2 h 36 min |
| 300 / 20 Mbps | 12 | 5 | 52 min 17 s |
| 500 / 50 Mbps | 21 | 14 | 31 min 22 s |
| 1000 / 1000 Mbps | 42 | 223 | 15 min 41 s |
All at 85% usable. 4K uses YouTube's 20 Mbps recommendation; calls use Zoom's 1080p figures of 3.8 Mbps down and 3.0 Mbps up. Download times are at the usable speed, not the headline speed.
The table shows that in most homes upload runs out long before download. If two or three people work from home on video calls, check the upload figure on your plan before paying for more download speed. The upload speed calculator sizes that side on its own.
Assumptions and limits
- 85% usable is an assumption. Protocol overhead, Wi-Fi and other traffic mean you never get the whole headline figure. You can move the slider if your wired tests show more or your Wi-Fi shows less.
- Rates are recommendations. Streaming apps adapt their quality, so a stream often uses less than its recommended speed. The results say what fits comfortably, not the absolute maximum.
- Small activities are left out. Browsing, music and idle devices use too little to give a useful "how many at once" answer, so the table skips them.
- It doesn't measure your line. The calculator works from the plan speed you type in. To see what you actually get, run a speed test and compare it in the speed test checker.
When more download speed helps
Extra download speed mainly helps with big files. A 100 GB game takes about 52 minutes on 300 Mbps and under 16 minutes on 1 Gbps at 85% usable. Streaming and calls don't get better once they have enough. Whether faster downloads are worth a higher monthly bill is the question in is gigabit worth it.
Frequently asked questions
Is 100 Mbps enough for a family of 4?
Usually. A busy moment for a family of four (two 1080p video calls, a 4K stream, a 1080p stream, a game, two people browsing and ten idle devices) needs about 50.2 Mbps down and 10.0 Mbps up with 30% headroom. A 100/10 plan covers the download but falls just short on upload; 100/20 is comfortable.
Is 300 Mbps fast enough for gaming?
Yes. Online games use only a few Mbps. What matters for gaming is ping, not bandwidth. Extra speed only makes game downloads and updates finish sooner.
How many devices can 100 Mbps support?
The number of devices matters less than what they do at the same time. Idle phones and smart speakers use almost nothing; each 4K stream uses about 20 Mbps. At 85% usable, 100 Mbps carries four 4K streams at once, or a larger mix of lighter activities.
Why does my plan run out of video calls before streams?
Calls send video as well as receive it, and most plans have much less upload than download. On a 100/10 plan, 8.5 Mbps of usable upload fits two 1080p Zoom calls at 3.0 Mbps each, even though the download side could carry far more.
Related tools
Add up what your household does at once to find the download, upload and ping you need.
Speed test checkerCompare a speed test result with your plan and find out whether it is normal.
Is gigabit worth it?Gigabit vs 300 and 500 Mbps: what changes, what does not, and who benefits.
Upload speed calculatorAdd up streams, calls, cameras and backups to find the upload speed you need.