How Fast Is 40 Mbps? [Complete Analysis]
In 2023, a connection speed of 40 Mbps is considered standard. It’s fast enough to be considered broadband and significantly faster than the global average.
This speed allows for smooth collaboration between a small group (2-4 people) using a single connection.
You won’t be sorry if you’re a single person who decides to sign up for this service. It’s the best choice for individual use.
Ten low-bandwidth online games, eight HD Prime Video streams, two HD Microsoft Teams calls, and sixty streams each of Spotify and Apple Music are all possible with a 40 Mbps connection.
In what other ways can 40 Mbps be put to use? When it comes to home and office use, how well does it perform?
How well does it perform for gaming, live-streaming, and doing business from home? So, I subscribed to the appropriate Xfinity plan for a week and documented my experiences with it below to hopefully help you make up your mind.
Is 40 Mbps a Fast Speed?
In order to do things like surfing the web, watching videos, participating in online meetings, playing online games, etc., appropriate internet speed is required.
Find out if your favorite online pursuits need more than 40 Mbps of bandwidth by consulting the table below.
| Online Activities | Minimum Required Upload Rate | Upload Rate Prerequisites | Does it work with 30 Mbps? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Media (Facebook/Twitter /Instagram/Tiktok) |
500 – 2000 Kbps | 200 – 300 Kbps | Yes |
| Messaging & Email | 100 Kbps | 12.5 Kbps | Yes |
| Web Browsing | 100 – 1000 Kbps | 12.5 – 125 Kbps | Yes |
| Google Meet Voice Call |
100 Kbps | 12.5 Kbps | Yes |
| Google Meet Video Call |
2-3 Mbps | 250-300 Kbps | Yes |
| Skype HD Call | 1-3 Mbps | 125 – 300 Kbps | Yes |
| Skype Group HD Call | 4-5 Mbps | 500 – 600 Kbps | Yes |
| Zoom HD Call | 3.5-4 Mbps | 400 – 500 Kbps | Yes |
| Zoom Group HD Call | 4-5 Mbps | 500 – 600 Kbps | Yes |
| Watching YouTube Videos [480p] | 500 – 1000 Kbps | 200 Kbps | Yes |
| Watching YouTube Videos [1080p] | 2-3 Mbps | 250 – 300 Kbps | Yes |
| Streaming Netflix [720p] | 1.5-2 Mbps | 250 Kbps | Yes |
| Streaming Netflix [1080p] | 5-7 Mbps | 600-800 Kbps | Yes |
| Online Gaming | 3-4 Mbps | 300 – 400 Kbps | Yes |
| Streaming Audio Music | 400 Kbps | 50 Kbps | Yes |
Can You Play Games at 40 Mbps?
The bandwidth requirements of online games are extremely high. However, it also depends heavily on something called ping or latency, which has nothing to do with transfer rates.
To put it another way, having low latency is essential for trouble-free gaming. It doesn’t matter if your connection speed ranges from 40 Mbps to 400 Mbps if the ping is too high and you can’t play online games.
In order to avoid lags while playing games, you’ll need a fast upload speed. Do 40 Mbps suffice for online play? Because of this, I can confidently say that playing with 3 of your friends at 40 Mbps speed will be a breeze since most low-end and mid-end games require a 1 Mbps upload speed.
To sum up, if you have 40 Mbps of internet speed, you can stream live content on YouTube or Twitch and play online games without any noticeable lag or stuttering.
However, this speed may not be ideal when it comes to downloading games because large game files will take much longer to download than necessary.
BattleField, for instance, necessitates more than 150 GB of hard disc space. Downloading the game files at this rate will take more than 10 hours. This seems like a very tiring activity to do during the day.
However, games like CounterStrike, which have a total size of 1GB, can be downloaded in under five minutes using a 40Mbps connection. Therefore, the answer is dependent upon whether or not you plan to download high-end games.
Can You Stream at 40 Mbps?
Different streaming services have different compression algorithms, which means different bandwidth requirements for video or audio.
Let’s see what it’s like to have a 40 Mbps connection when watching videos on Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube and listening to music on Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Amazon Prime Music.
Netflix is one of the most well-known video-streaming services because of its wide variety of high-quality video formats, including 720p, 1080p, and even 4K.
Internet connection speeds of 3 Mbps, 5 Mbps, and 25 Mbps are needed for the three available stream qualities. Does Netflix even load at 40 Mbps? You can watch one 4K and three HD streams at the same time on Netflix.
A further improvement is that it is likely possible to simultaneously stream two 4K videos and two HD videos. The most popular free streaming service, YouTube, is known for its wide variety of video quality options, from 144p all the way up to 8K.
Two 4K streams or eight HD streams can be broadcast simultaneously with 40 Mbps. In comparison to Netflix, the bandwidth needs of Amazon Prime Video are much less.
For 4K streaming on this platform, you’ll need a speed of 15 Mbps, while HD streaming will require a speed of 3.5 Mbps. The conclusion is that 40 Mbps is more than enough to simultaneously play two 4K videos and two HD videos.
Is 40 Mbps Adequate for Working at Home?
Can you join a Zoom, Google Hangout, or Skype video call without experiencing any delays? The answer can be found in the upload rates, not the download rates. Many internet service providers provide packages with upload speeds that are only a tenth as fast as download speeds. A definition, please. The maximum upload speed that will work with a 40 Mbps download speed is 4 Mbps.
The minimum upload speeds required by popular video conferencing services are listed below.
- Zoom HD calls: 1.5 Mbps
- Microsoft Teams one-on-one HQ calls: 0.6 Mbps
- Microsoft Teams 1080p group calls: 3.8 Mbps
- Google Meet one-one HQ calls: 1 Mbps
- Google Meet group calls: 1.5 Mbps
With download and upload speeds of 40 Mbps and 4 Mbps, respectively, online video conferencing should go off without a hitch.
How Much 40 Mbps Internet Really Costs
The most subscribed to ISPs typically have speeds of 50 Mbps or more available. CenturyLink’s internet service package is both affordable and dependable, with download speeds of up to 40 Mbps.
The relevant packages from various ISPs are as follows:
| Internet Provider | Service Package | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Xfinity by Comcast | Internet up to 50 Mbps | $55 / Mo |
| CenturyLink Broadband | Internet up to 40 Mbps | $45 / Mo |
| AT&T Broadband | Internet up to 50 Mbps | $50 / Mo |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many devices can 40 Mbps support?
With a 40 Mbps plan, you can play online games, engage in video conferencing, stream HD video, and audio, and run two or three devices concurrently.
Is 40 Mbps good for Work-From-Home?
Whether or not 40 Mbps is sufficient for work from home depends on the specifics of the work being done. The recommended speed for working from home is 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps. It’s possible that 40 Mbps is sufficient for a single-device environment.
40 Mbps vs 100 Mbps: Which should I get?
A single user with 1-2 devices can get by just fine on 40 Mbps WiFi. However, if multiple people in a household or workplace need to access the internet at once and do so frequently, a 100 Mbps connection is preferable.
Wrap Up
In conclusion, if you want to play games, watch videos, and work from home, you only need 40 Mbps of internet speed.
However, it’s not great if there are four or more people using it who have very similar requirements. You should therefore evaluate your internet requirements and select an appropriate service plan.
Further Read:
