Internet Explained: What is a good ping, download, and upload speed?

Running speed tests is a nice way to check your internet performance.

Looking at the test results, you will know how great your connection is and whether the speed is the same as what your ISP (Internet Service Provider) offers to you.

When it comes to speed test results, download & upload speeds are essential metrics showing how fast your connection speeds are. Meanwhile, ping time or latency lets you know how responsive the connection is.

So, what is a good ping, upload, and download speed on internet speed test results? Keep reading to find the answer.

But first, let’s spend some minutes learning the meaning of these 3 metrics & the major difference between uploading & downloading.

Internet connection

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What’s ping?

Ping time or also known as latency measures the reaction time of an internet connection. This metric lets you know how quickly you can receive a response after sending out a request from your device to a server on the internet.

Latency is measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower latency or ping, the better, and vice versa.

Low latency is so crucial in online activities where just some milliseconds can make difference in the user’s internet experiences, such as playing online games, streaming, etc.

Latency ms

What’s the download speed?

Unlike the latency (measured in milliseconds - ms), download speed is measured in Mbps – megabits per second.

It shows how much data your computer can get from the Internet in a given second. The data can be in the form of videos, images, text, audio, so on.

Activities such as streaming videos on Netflix, downloading files, listening to music on Spotify, etc all require you to download data.

Having faster Mbps download means that you can receive your files quicker, stream more TV shows & movies at once (in higher quality) as well as be less affected by other internet users in your household using the connection at the same time.

On the other hand, poor download speeds mean it will take more time to grab the data from the Internet.

Downloading data

What’s upload speed?

This metric is also measured in Mbps (megabits per second).

Upload speed determines how fast you can send data from your computer or other devices to another location on the internet.

For example, sending files via emails, making video calls with someone, posting videos or images on social network sites, or playing live tournament-style video games all require high values of Mbps upload to send your data to someone else’s server.

Speed for uploading data is essential for most internet users, but in fact, some people rely on it more heavily than others.

For content creators, who work with videos, audio, graphics, ... with large file sizes, slow speeds for uploading could take them lots of time to post the content online or they have to wait for hours to store it on a cloud-based server.

Uploading data

Difference between download and upload speeds

Don’t be surprised if you receive the test results showing a higher Mpbs download value than the Mbps upload value. It’s so normal.

Often, the download speed is higher and faster than the upload speed.

The difference between these two metrics is normal because most average internet user spend more time downloading (including browsing websites, watching videos, listening to music, ...) than they do uploading.

Thus, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) has designed its system to give priority to downloading.

Well, if you see your upload speeds slower than the download speeds, it’s probably expected as the connections are designed to provide better bandwidth for downloading than uploading.

Uploading and downloading speed test

What is a good ping, download, and upload speed?

These metrics are major factors determining how great an internet connection is.

Generally speaking, the higher Mbps, the better your connection is. About ping (or latency), like mentioned previously, the lower, the better for sure.

But how many Mbps of download and upload speeds are perfect? How much latency is perfect?

Well, there are perhaps no firm answers to these questions since how fast the internet should be for each individual mainly depends on what we use the internet for, as well as how many devices will be connecting to the network at once.

However, right below here, we are going to give you some general ideas on what speeds are considered good; let’s see.

Good download speed - Is 17 ms ping good?

What is a good ping rate for internet?

According to hp.com, the rates of 100 milliseconds and under are the average ping level for most broadband connections.

As mentioned above, low ping plays crucial role in online activities like playing online games, streaming, etc.

In gaming, ping rates that are less than 20 ms are low ping, while the amounts between 50ms to 100ms range from very good ping to average ping. But when the rate is about 150 ms or even more, it’s considered high ping.

Mbps stands for megabit per second

What's a good download and upload speed?

To figure out how fast your connection should be, let’s begin with the question of how you are using the internet.

How you are using the internet

Different online activities require different speeds.

Activities like video streaming, downloading large files, video conferencing require much more speed (for downloading) than things like web surfing, email checking, etc.

Let’s see whether you have light use, or moderate use, or high/heavy use of the internet.

• Light use

If you just use the internet for basic things such as email, browsing the web, basic video, and music streaming, it’s light use.

• Moderate use

For moderate use, it means you use all those basic things adding to one of the activities, such as streaming HD video, telecommuting, or gaming.

• High use

But when you do all the basic things, plus two or more “moderate” uses, it’s the high use.

Of course, as their names suggest, you always need a much faster connection for high use as compared to light use. If you have moderate use, the download speed of about 25 Mbps or even less than that seems quite ok.

Good speed upload, speed download

Good download & upload speeds

According to the FCC, a good internet connection should have a download speed of 25 Mbps or more, while the value for uploading data shouldn’t be less than 3 Mbps.

Having these speeds, you can engage in online activities like uploading videos, web browsing, HD streaming, online gaming, and downloading music without any significant problems.

If your Internet speed surpasses the baseline of 25Mbps, it’s considered “fast internet speed.” Also, the speed value of 100 Mbps and higher is considered “high-speed internet.”

That’s about good internet speed, according to FCC. Keep reading to find out the minimum and recommended internet speed for popular online activities like gaming, video streaming, web browsing, ...

Broadband internet connection

What internet speed do you need for gaming, streaming ....?

Right below here are some guidelines as to the minimum internet speed needed for common activities. After testing your internet speed, you can compare the results with the following numbers to see if it’s enough for your needs.

For sure, it’s so great if you receive results with good Mbps and ms. Now, let’s see the recommended numbers.

How fast does internet need to be for gaming?

It’s recommended at least 04 - 08Mbps of internet speed for online gaming for one player. As per minim.com, this is to keep the gaming sessions from crashing, lagging, and framerate dropping.

However, minim.com suggests a speed of between 10 - 25 Mbps to ensure pleasant gaming experiences that will have no or insignificant effects on other devices in the house connected to the network simultaneously.

Well, when it comes to online gaming, ping time or latency is even more important than internet speeds.

A latency of 20 milliseconds or less is so great for your flawless gaming experience. If your latency is between 20 - 100 milliseconds, it’s still good for many games.

However, if you have latencies of more than 150 ms, noticeable lags will likely occur in the games.

Good internet speed for gaming

Recommended internet speed for streaming

No matter whether it’s about video streaming or music streaming, buffering is always the most frustrating thing that badly affects our streaming experience.

• For video streaming

To ensure your enjoyable video streaming experiences, it’s recommended at least from 03 to 04 Mbps for standard definition, 05 to 08 Mbps for HD (high definition) video, and at least 25Mbps for 4K Ultra HD.

Note that if you are streaming with multiple devices at once, faster internet is crucial for smooth streaming experiences.

• For music streaming

About music streaming, well, you don’t need these speeds. In actuality, an internet speed of 2 Mbps should be sufficient for streaming music.

That means you can always enjoy your favorite songs without the need for a fast connection no matter what.

1 Mbps for streaming

Speeds for email checking, web browsing, social media scrolling

Social media scrolling, web browsing, and email checking don’t take much internet bandwidth. Of course, these common activities also don’t require fast bandwidth speeds.

In fact, 1 - 10 Mbps are more than enough for us to access Gmail and Facebook at any point in time.

Minimum internet speed for work from home

Good internet required for working from home, of course, depends on the kind of work you do.

For those who frequently participate in video meetings, and upload or download large files, it’s recommended at least 25Mbps for one person working from home at once, according to minim.com.

Note that if you don’t have a connection strong enough to engage in activities requiring stable and fast speed like mentioned above, changes that your working productivity and work efficiencies will be affected significantly.

Best internet for working from home

Wrapping up

The internet download, upload, and ping values directly affect your internet experience. Good speed for uploading & downloading data as well as low latency will ensure your best internet experiences no matter what online activities you are engaging in.

Running speed tests to check these metrics will help you know if your internet connection is strong enough for you to engage in online activities. Well, that’s all for today’s post, we hope you find it interesting and filled with lots of helpful information.

Source: https://gospeedcheck.com/article/what-is-a-good-ping-download-and-upload-speed-66