Internet Speed Classifications: What Is a Good Internet Speed?

Are you unsure if you are experiencing a decent internet speed? We will help you determine if you have the appropriate internet package for your requirements.

After cost considerations, speed is perhaps the most critical factor when opting for an Internet Service Provider (ISP). However, unlike price – where you can simply look at the monthly bill and conclude “this is within my budget” – internet speeds are a bit harder to evaluate.

Is a 100 Mbps connection a fast one? Is 10 Mbps a slow connection? Is my ISP delivering the internet speed that they claim to deliver? We are sure you must be seeking answers to these questions. We have made this easy-to-understand guide to help answer these questions.

Let’s examine how internet speed is calculated, what may be considered high-speed internet, what is slow internet, and other related factors to help you understand “what is good internet?”

How Is Internet Speed Measured?

Internet speed is classified according to the volume of data a connection can upload (upload speed) and download (download speed) in a second.

Both upload and download speeds are displayed in bits per second (bps). Internet connections transmit thousands of bits of data per second. To make this measurement simple, we use the prefixes k, M, and G to identify how many thousands of bits we are referring to. Anyone familiar with the metric system will know k = 1,000, M = 1,000k (1 million), and G = 1,000M (1 billion).

You will notice that internet speed measurements are mostly in Mbps. If you exclude dial-up, which is now only prevalent in areas with poor telecom infrastructure, almost all internet connections these days start at 1 Mbps and rarely go over 1 Gbps. So it is convenient to measure internet speed in Mbps.

However, there are some ISPs, such as MetroNet, that offer ultra-fast internet. With download speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, skip to the future with MetroNet Fiber.

Having high download speeds is essential for most home internet users. Hi-speed internet is used for common functions like streaming videos, lives-streaming, music and video downloads, and for using social media apps.

Upload speeds are more important for institutional internet users. High upload speeds are required for video conferencing apps as well as to transfer large volumes of data to conventional or cloud servers. Speeds falling into the kbps threshold are typically referred to as slow internet. Gbps speeds, which are rare but are getting more common, fall into the super-fast range.

What Is a Good Internet Speed?

A decent internet speed starts at 25 Mbps. At this speed, you can do all common internet activities, like high-definition video streaming, browsing, gaming, and content downloads. Internet speeds breaching the 100 Mbps barrier are considered to be fast. Such a connection is most appropriate if there are multiple simultaneous users and/or multiple devices.

The FCC classifies connections within a range of 3 Mbps to 25 Mbps as broadband internet. This is a good reference point for determining if you are using a fast or slow internet connection.

A connection having speeds that are significantly faster than 25 Mbps is often referred to as fast internet. Although a 2 Mbps connection is good enough for activities like web browsing and video streaming, it is still not good enough to fall into the broadband category.

Bear in mind that multiple factors may affect the performance of your internet connection. Using too many devices on a single connection or heavy-duty activities like 4K video streaming or downloading can severely downgrade user experience. It can make a “fast” connection seem slow.

Summing Up

Given our dependence on the internet, it is important to determine if you have opted for the appropriate internet speed option for your home and office use. An internet speed test will solve this problem. All you need to do is to visit websites like speedtest.net and figure out the internet speed being delivered by your ISP. Use a wired connection to take the speed test to get accurate results.