|
A service plan with higher bandwidth will cost you more. But there are many benefits.
Having a higher bandwidth means you will be able to achieve a higher data transfer rate which in turn leads to shorter download times. This is especially significant when downloading large files. Here's a look at how long it takes to download the 383 MB Maple Story game client.
| 56 kbps dial-up |
900 mins |
| 512kbps |
100 mins |
| 30 Mbps (30,000 kbps) |
2 mins |
Many users don't just run a single online application at a time. A user could be checking his e-mail, surfing a website, downloading a music file, watching a clip from You Tube and playing an online game at the same time. To be able to support and have a smooth experience of multiple concurrent sessions requires a plan with higher bandwidth.
| 56 kbps dial-up |
Not possible |
| 512 kbps |
Possible but slow and jerky |
| 3,500 kbps and above |
Smooth and responsive |
With broadband routers being commonplace and affordable, a household can easily set up a LAN at home to share the broadband line among multiple PCs. Mum could be watching a You Tube clip, Dad downloading a large Power Point file from the office, Daughter conducting a video chat with her friends and Son is playing an online game with his guild. But having multiple concurrent users, each of whom could be running multiple online sessions can really tax your bandwidth. In this example, the family is probably sucking up about 1.3 Mbps of bandwidth. Having a higher bandwidth plan could really help right about now.
| 56 kbps dial-up |
Not possible |
| 512 kbps |
Not possible |
| 3,500 kbps & above |
Smooth and responsive |
Be Prepared for New Bandwidth-Intensive Applications
Every video stream has a certain bit rate that gives an indication of how much bandwidth you need to be able to watch the video smoothly. To be able to stream video directly from a website to your PC requires a sufficiently high-bandwidth service. A lot of emerging video applications will demand for higher bandwidth.
| High definition TV |
6-8 Mbps (MPEG4), 20-25 Mbps (MPEG2) |
| Super HD (SHD-TV) |
32 Mbps (MPEG4), 60 Mbps (MPEG2) |
| 3D HD-TV |
187 Mbps (MPEG4) |
| Multimedia-rich teleworking |
Up to 20 Mbps |
| Telemedicine |
75 Mbps and above |
If Mum is watching a high definition IPTV show (8 Mbps), Dad is conducting a three-party video conference call (8 Mbps), Son is playing a multi-party online game (6 Mbps) and Daughter is viewing a high quality live video stream from a video sharing website (2 Mbps), that requires a total bandwidth of 24 Mbps, which only higher-end broadband services by can support.
|
|
|