What is a good internet speed?

“Good” depends on how many people share the connection and what they do. Measure what you have first with the FernTool speed test, then compare it with the guide below.

Quick answer

Light use (1–2 people, browsing, HD streaming): 10–25 Mbps
Typical household (several streams, video calls): 25–100 Mbps
Busy home, 4K on several TVs, big downloads: 100–500 Mbps
Upload for working from home: 5–20 Mbps or more

For reference, the US regulator (FCC) raised its definition of broadband in 2024 to 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up.

What common activities use

Netflix: Netflix recommends about 5 Mbps for HD and 15 Mbps for 4K, per stream.
YouTube: roughly 5 Mbps for 1080p and 20 Mbps for 4K.
Video calls (Zoom, Teams, Meet): about 2–4 Mbps each way for HD. Upload matters as much as download.
Online gaming: a few Mbps is enough during play. Ping matters much more (see below). Game downloads of 50–150 GB are where fast download speed pays off.
Cloud backup and uploading video: mostly limited by upload speed.

Add up what happens at the same time in your home, then add some headroom. Speed tests measure a moment, and Wi‑Fi rarely delivers your full line speed.

Ping, jitter and upload

Ping (latency) is the round-trip time in milliseconds. Under 30 ms feels instant, 30–60 ms is fine for most games, and over 100 ms is noticeable in fast games and calls.
Jitter is how much ping varies. Under about 10 ms is good. High jitter causes choppy calls.
Upload is often far lower than download on ADSL, cable, LTE and some fibre plans. If calls freeze when someone uploads, upload is the bottleneck.

Why your test is slower than your plan

Wi‑Fi: walls and distance cut speeds a lot. Test with a cable, or close to the router.
Busy times: evenings are slower on shared networks. See why internet is slow at night.
Old devices: older phones and laptops can’t reach high Wi‑Fi speeds.
VPN: a VPN adds distance and overhead. Compare with the VPN on and off.

Frequently asked questions

Is 50 Mbps good internet?

Yes for most households: it handles several HD streams and video calls at once. Heavy 4K use or many users may need 100 Mbps or more.

How many Mbps do I need for 4K streaming?

Netflix recommends about 15 Mbps per 4K stream. Allow more if other people use the connection at the same time.

What is a good ping for gaming?

Under 30 ms is excellent, 30 to 60 ms is good, and over 100 ms is noticeable in fast-paced games.

Why is my upload so much lower than download?

Many connection types (ADSL, cable, LTE and some fibre plans) are asymmetric by design. Check your plan’s stated upload speed.