The Student Room Group

Question about internet speed

Ok, this probably sounds like quite a stupid question, but I don't really understand :P
I'm looking up broadband deals for my student house, and I think I've found quite a good one
The advertised speed is 16MB (I know that doesn't mean we'll get the advertised speed) but if theres 5 people all using the internet at once, how does that affect the speed?
Does it literally divide up so none of us will get more than 4MB or does having 5 people use it lower the speed but only by a bit so we'd all have say 7MB instead of 10?
Basically will 16MB be ok?
Apologies if I sound really stupid :biggrin:
Reply 1
Avatar for 4TSR
4TSR
2
Original post by rosiesaurus
Ok, this probably sounds like quite a stupid question, but I don't really understand :P
I'm looking up broadband deals for my student house, and I think I've found quite a good one
The advertised speed is 16MB (I know that doesn't mean we'll get the advertised speed) but if theres 5 people all using the internet at once, how does that affect the speed?
Does it literally divide up so none of us will get more than 4MB or does having 5 people use it lower the speed but only by a bit so we'd all have say 7MB instead of 10?
Basically will 16MB be ok?
Apologies if I sound really stupid :biggrin:


There are no such thing as stupid questions. The internet connection is indeed affected by the number of people using it. If there are going to be 5 people using it regularly I would say take the next package up which is around 30 right?
Reply 2
Avatar for SiJ0NES
SiJ0NES
11
Just get Virgin Media. They do quite good student deals on NUS. Also their student packages are designed for lots of people using it


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by 4TSR
There are no such thing as stupid questions. The internet connection is indeed affected by the number of people using it. If there are going to be 5 people using it regularly I would say take the next package up which is around 30 right?



Original post by SiJ0NES
Just get Virgin Media. They do quite good student deals on NUS. Also their student packages are designed for lots of people using it


Posted from TSR Mobile


This is the cheapest deal from Virgin media, but what I don't know is would this include line rental? Cause if not that's another £15/month?
virgin.JPG
Or if you get broadband and phone, theres this, but its not really that much different to BT in price
virgin 2.JPG
Reply 4
Avatar for 4TSR
4TSR
2
Original post by rosiesaurus
This is the cheapest deal from Virgin media, but what I don't know is would this include line rental? Cause if not that's another £15/month?
virgin.JPG
Or if you get broadband and phone, theres this, but its not really that much different to BT in price
virgin 2.JPG


I believe you can get it without a line rental
Reply 5
Avatar for A5ko
A5ko
3
The only thing I would watch out for with Virgin is their throttling during high utlization. If you live in a very populated student area, they tend to throttle speeds like mad. Sometimes you could be waiting 6-12 months for them to rectify the issue.

Just do a bit of research within the area you are in.
Original post by rosiesaurus
Ok, this probably sounds like quite a stupid question, but I don't really understand :P
I'm looking up broadband deals for my student house, and I think I've found quite a good one
The advertised speed is 16MB (I know that doesn't mean we'll get the advertised speed) but if theres 5 people all using the internet at once, how does that affect the speed?
Does it literally divide up so none of us will get more than 4MB or does having 5 people use it lower the speed but only by a bit so we'd all have say 7MB instead of 10?
Basically will 16MB be ok?
Apologies if I sound really stupid :biggrin:

If you were all constantly downloading or streaming then basically yes, you'd each get 3.2MB/s. However, using the internet (ie just browsing websites) doesn't use nearly enough data to max out your connection. If everyone is using the internet for anything other than streaming video, you'd each pretty much get 16MB/s.
Reply 7
Avatar for Limpopo
Limpopo
17
To say the speed is 16mb isnt really correct. For speed read capacity. Speed has more to do with latency and throughput than capacity.

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