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.

A 10–40Mbps line is ideal if you use multiple apps.

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