What is Bandwidth?

Bandwidth is the speed capacity of a wired or wireless network. It is the maximum amount of data that can be transmitted in a set amount of time. The more bandwidth, the faster the data transfer. Think of a water pipe, the bigger the pipe, the more water that can pass through it.

Bandwidth is commonly seen in relation to broadband and referred to as bits per second (bps), millions of bits per second (Mbps) or billions of bits per second (Gbps.)

You can get different bandwidth for uploading or downloading; however, it is becoming more commonplace to have the same capacity for downloads and uploads.

How much Bandwidth do I need?

There is a calculation for bandwidth which involves some heavy mathematics. In 2018, the average (home) broadband speed in the UK is 54.2Mbps, according to Ofcom.

This is sufficient enough for those who even work from home that needs to access some cloud-based services or need to connect to a video conference.

In the everyday business environment, you need to work out what applications are held in the cloud, whether you’ll need to upload/download large files and how many devices (think about each user having at least 2 devices) will be using the internet.

Type of Broadband vs Bandwidth

ADSL connections

ADSL connections were traditionally one of the most common types of broadband connectivity businesses used to connect to the internet however this is starting to be outstripped by Fibre broadband (FTTC/FTTP).

These shared broadband connections offer you a choice of speeds and features to suit the size and requirements of your business.

ADSL Max offers download speeds of up to 7 Mbps with upload speeds of up to 800K.

ADSL2+, which boasts download speeds of as high as 16 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1.5MB.

Fibre Broadband (FTTC / FTTP)

One of the main benefits of fibre broadband is that it provides faster download and upload speeds which make it ideal for all companies that require a fast and stable connection.

Speeds of up to 76Mbps for downloads and 19Mbps for uploads are provided by an FTTC Fibre Broadband connection and FTTP Fibre Broadband provides bandwidths of up to 330Mbps for downloads and 30Mbps for uploads.

Both options make sharing files easier and allow users to connect with remote workers and regional offices via video conferencing.