There are many factors to keep in mind when upgrading to Fibre, chief among them the ideal line speed and amount of data. For those new to Fibre, megabits per second (Mbps) equals speed while gigabytes (GB) is data quantity. Here’s how to decide what you need to get both the best speed and the best quantity for your needs.
What line speed do I need?
| Up to 10Mbps | 10–40Mbps | 50Mbps+ |
| You live alone – it’s ideally suited to a single stream per session. | You stream on multiple devices at the same time in standard definition (SD), or a single device in high definition (HD) and above. | You stream on multiple devices in HD. |
| Only two to three devices will be connected at any one time. | You have three to five devices connected at any one time. | You use 10 to 15 devices. (The number of devices you can use is dependent on which apps you use.) |
| You mainly use the internet for emails, browsing, downloading music and photos, or streaming movies and series in SD on one device. | In addition to email, browsing and social media, you also use media-rich applications and work in real-time (using VoIP and video conferencing, for example). If you plan to binge on series, the recommendation is at least 20Mbps. | In addition to email, browsing, social media, using media-rich applications and working in real-time, you also game online. With an average twitch reflex of under 25 milliseconds, gamers need fast uploads and speed is king. |
What data allocation do I need?
25–75GB
If you use only ‘light’ services, this will do. ‘Light’ services include:
- Browsing online
- Sending emails with file attachments
- Browsing social media minimally and not posting or viewing videos
- Managing documents or media in the Cloud
75–300GB
With this, you can increase the services mentioned to the left to include:
- Moderate media services in HD
- Occasional streaming, although TV services aren’t really recommended – as a guide, keep in mind that movies average 1.5–4GB in size and songs are roughly 50MB
- Gaming online sometimes
- Using video conferencing or VoIP now and again
300–1000GB
Examples of what you may do online include:
- Using real-time, data-rich applications that update and download constantly
- Gaming online more frequently
- Sending emails with larger attachments
- Using video conferencing or VoIP more often
- Browsing video on social media
Uncapped
An uncapped Fibre package means you have no restrictions and can engage in activities such as:
- Stream in HD on multiple devices and more often
- Do all your business using real-time applications such as VoIP and video conferencing
- Regularly game online
- Spend unlimited time on social media
Have more questions? Read our FAQ guide to Vodacom Fibre data bundles and subscriptions.
Header photo by Carl Heyerdahl on Unsplash
