New tool: work out what internet speed you actually need

Technology in SA
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I kept seeing the same question, from friends and on here, how fast a line do I actually need? Almost everyone either overpays for a big headline number they never feel, or picks something that chokes the moment the house gets busy. So I built a small free tool to answer it honestly.

Try it here: What Internet Speed Do I Need? (South Africa)

Instead of asking for your speed, it asks what your home actually does on a busy evening, how many 4K screens, HD streams, video calls and browsers run at the same time, plus any gaming and whether you push a lot of data up. It adds up that busy moment, not the daily average, because that peak is what really decides whether a line copes.

Out of that it gives you two numbers, a download speed and an upload speed to aim for, and it tells you whether fibre or 5G and LTE fixed wireless suits you better. Gaming and video calls lean on a steady low ping, and uploads matter for working from home, and both of those quietly favour fibre, so the tool says so rather than just quoting a download figure.

The honest part I care about most is that it will happily tell you to buy less. For a lot of homes the answer is 25 to 50 Mbps, and past about 100 Mbps a normal household rarely feels the difference. No upsell.

Once you have your number, it links straight to our fibre and 5G/LTE deal comparisons so you can find the cheapest plan that fits, and I have added a companion article that explains the reasoning here: What Internet Speed Do I Actually Need? SA Guide

I would love feedback. Does the number it gives you match what you run at home, and is there an activity you think it should ask about? Tell me and I will tweak it.

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I think as well as steady-state or average you may have a (frequent) peak demand and you may want this to dictate your speed

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Daniel, that’s a solid idea mate. Spent thirty-five years doing electrical installations and I can tell you people are useless at working out what they actually need. They see a number advertised and think that’s what they’ll get, then complain when their Netflix buffers during load shedding anyway.

Nebula’s got a point about peak demand though. During the day when the missus is streaming something, I’m downloading files, and the grandkids are doing online schooling on the other side of the house, that’s when the internet needs to perform. The average is meaningless if your peak usage is choking the line. Same principle as electrical load really, you size for your maximum demand not your average usage.

Useful tool if it cuts through the marketing nonsense. Most ISPs would rather you bought more than you need anyway.

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