What is ultrafast broadband?
You've heard of superfast broadband, but now along arrives ultrafast. Believe it or not, these terms aren't just dealing with fluff and even have very specific meanings. So what stands ultrafast? Do you must it, and can you actually get it?
As the name signifies, ultrafast broadband is an extremely quick broadband connection – a lot faster than your typical superfast broadband deal, in fact. But there's a smallish more to it than that, as you're about to find out.
Definition of Ultrafast
To describe ultrafast broadband we must also define the other kinds of broadband you'll typically find out there. That way we can get a feeling of scale as to how much faster it is than the typical broadband deal. Standard ADSL broadband is a connection with a speed of less than 24Mbps (megabits per second) that reaches your property without the use of fibre optic cables.
So-called 'superfast' broadband offers speeds of 24Mbps or more and less than 300Mbps through cables that are fibre optic part of the form to your property. 'Ultrafast' broadband is a connection with speeds of more than 300Mbps, but less than 1Gbps (one gigabit per second, or 1000Mbps) and is typically supplied through fibre optic cables running the entire route between your house and the nearest interaction. The 1Gbps top speed, still classified as 'ultrafast', is also periodically also known as 'gigabit broadband.
Ultrafast broadband in real terms
A lot of providers will deal you their broadband speeds on how much you can download and stream, and how fast you can do it. But since we're now past
- Standard ADSL broadband (10Mbps-11Mbps): Stream between one and two HD movies at the same time
- Superfast broadband (35Mbps-213Mbps): Stream between four and 30 HD movies at the same time
- Ultrafast broadband (362Mbps-1000Mbps): Stream between 50 and 150 HD movies at the same time
If you're peeking at those numbers and thinking 'Why on earth would I ever want internet fast enough to stream over a hundred movies at once?' then you are asking the right question: Do you really need it?
Why need ultrafast broadband?
Your average family doesn't actually need all that much speed. Everyday uses such as surfing the internet or streaming movies and TV only start to tax your intermediate connection when a few people in the household are doing them at the same time.
However, there are some special cases where an ultrafast connection might be seductive. If one or more somebody in the household is a gamer who regularly downloads their games from the internet, having a fast connection means doing so will take less time. Likewise, if there are members of the household who like to stream movies and TV in 4K (a very high-definition screen resolution only available to the latest TVs), a faster connection is better.
However, even if these things occur regularly in your household, a superfast fibre connection is probably going to be enough. We generally don't advise ultrafast for your average household, but if it's something you want, then by all standards get it.
Tags : Broadband