We’ve put together a quick guide for the recommended internet speeds for video streaming, music streaming, and live streaming. But more importantly, we created a top five list of internet service providers (ISPs) for streaming anything and everything because we know how frustrating sloooooow internet speeds can be. So, let’s find the best internet provider for you to support your binge-watching and 24/7 music-listening demands. We want sufficient speed. PS: DSL is usually better than satellite—but streaming on satellite internet is still doable if you have no other choices. Luckily, you don’t need the most expensive plan to find the speeds you need. We recommend 25–50 Mbps per person for streaming, so 100 or 200 Mbps will likely fit you or your small family’s needs. If you have a lot of connected devices or internet users at home, then you should look into 1,000 Mbps. If you check out the Fastest Internet Providers, you’ll see three internet providers that made our list here. But we keep cost in consideration for you, as well.
How to Speed Up Your Internet What Are Mbps? How Much Internet Speed Do I Need?
One of the many reasons we chose Xfinity as our favorite internet provider for streaming is because Xfinity gives you reliable and fast download speeds. No one wants to have the movie Knock at the Cabin buffering on the closing scene when destruction is happening or during the final two minutes of the NBA Championship. Xfinity is available in 40 states, making this the most accessible internet provider in the US. But keep in mind that the prices will vary depending on which part of the country you live in. No matter where you live, the plan you and your family need will depend on how many people use the internet at once. We like Fast for families of 2–3 that might work from home before their night of Netflix streaming, or Superfast for families of 4. Verizon Fios Internet uses a fiber connection that gives you fast download and upload speeds, low latency, and great pricing for your wallet. Stream Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on a Sunday morning without any lagging interruptions. Sounds like the perfect service, right? The only thing that’s holding us back from making Verizon Internet our first option is its very limited availability in the US (we’re talking nine states). We hope one day Verizon Fios will come around. Literally. We recommend the Internet 300/300 plan if you have a small family or the 500/500 plan if you have a family of 4 that uses the internet constantly. If you have a bigger family or you plan to download and upload multiple files at once, you won’t be disappointed by Verizon’s Fios Gigabit Connection. If these AT&T Fiber plans are accessible to you, the absolute best deal is the $55/month plan for 300 Mbps download speeds. Or hey, for $10 more, you could get 500 Mbps so the whole family can stream a TV series on their smartphones at once. AT&T is the best fiber alternative to Verizon Fios Home Internet because of its performance (Verizon’s speeds are just a little bit more reliable). But if you don’t live in one of the cities Verizon Internet is offered, at least your internet bill will be slightly less expensive with AT&T. The major downside to CenturyLink is that you might end up with subpar download speeds for streaming. If you’re able to connect at 50, 75, or 100 Mbps, you should be all right. But if CenturyLink only offers speeds in your area that crawl along, you might want to check elsewhere. We highly recommend ordering this plan if CenturyLink’s fiber internet package is available in your area. But, let us repeat: if it’s available in your area (you might now be seeing a trend with fiber). You can probably tell by now that we really like fiber internet connections, but we just wish they were widely accessible for streamers. Windstream makes it possible for you to stream your Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max while you’re cooking, doing a project, or entertaining. When you look at the plans, you’ll notice two of the plans are the same price. This is because prices vary by location and this is the lowest price you can look forward to. Another thing to notice–the plans that list a range will tell you the exact download speeds to expect in your area when you finish signing up for the package. Why does Windstream have to make it so complicated? It’s still a reliable service though! On the upside, you’ll get unlimited data with Windstream’s plans so you can stream as much of The Last of Us as you want. But don’t forget that’s the recommended internet speed for just one streaming service. So if you and your family are streaming HD or 4K movies on multiple devices, you’ll want more Mbps. We recommend at least 25 Mbps for one person, but if you have more than one person streaming in your home, we bump our recommendation up to 50 Mbps at the minimum. We aim for at least 25 Mbps, which is enough for one person. Luckily, plans with these speeds don’t usually cost a lot. But like we said, we recommend this speed if you live by yourself (cue the music All by Myself). Or you can opt for an ISP like CenturyLink, where you sacrifice a little bit of performance for an unlimited data plan. This is great for those who like to listen to music as they work. Other ISPs such as Xfinity have a 1.2 TB data cap, which is unfortunate as you use about 1 GB of data when you’ve streamed music for your entire 8-hour work-day. Fiber is best, cable is good, and DSL is better than satellite internet. Fiber will give you great speed and low latency when you’re streaming Yellowstone, while satellite is the best option if you don’t have access to other internet connections. We only recommend reliable and trusted companies because we wouldn’t recommend something we don’t want. We value fair pricing for what you get, so this will very much be in consideration when we rank our favorite providers. But if you’d like your subscribers to view you in 4K, you’ll want download speeds of 13 Mbps or more and upload speeds of 20–51 Mbps.
