How Good Is 600 Mbps Internet Speed? [Complete Analysis]
A single user or a small group of users can get by just fine with 600 Mbps. In addition, by 2023, a 600 Mbps connection will be sufficient for large households and medium-sized businesses with 9-15 employees.
You can stream over 700 songs on Spotify at once, or play over 20 high-definition Netflix videos at once.
Moreover, you won’t encounter any lag or delays even if the plan is shared among ten to twelve devices.
At this rate, is there anything else you can do? Can 600 Mbps handle all of your data? How about picking an Internet service provider and a plan? I decided to put Comcast Xfinity’s 600 Mbps service plan to the test for 21 days to get to the bottom of these questions.
Is 600 Mbps a Fast Speed?
You’d be correct in assuming that downloading at 600 Mbps is four times as fast as the typical US connection.
It only takes 46-47 minutes to download a 200 GB file (less than an hour.) Additionally, with 600 Mbps internet, over 500 devices can be online at once with no stuttering or network lag.
The Bandwidth Needs of Various Online Tasks
| Online Activities | Minimum Required Upload Rate | Upload Rate Prerequisites | Does it work with 600 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 600 Mbps?
The quality of an online gaming experience depends on the player’s ability to quickly download and upload game data.
And it’s been said that 3 Mbps is the bare minimum for acceptable download speeds. While downloading at 10 times the speed, uploading is a mere 1/10 as fast.
Upload speeds of around 60 Mbps on 600 Mbps WiFi are suitable for online gaming. So, with this strategy, you can have nearly 20 consecutive gaming sessions.
In addition, this data plan makes quick work of downloading even the largest game files, like Mortal Kombat.
The download time for Asphalt 9 Mobile is only 10-20 seconds, despite the game’s 2.0 GB file size. That was lightning fast!
Can You Stream at 600 Mbps?
High-quality video streaming requires fast download and upload times. Take Netflix as an example, which needs 25 Mbps of bandwidth to stream HD content.
The 600 Mbps connection allows for nearly twenty-four simultaneous Netflix streams. Streaming video is fine at 600 Mbps.
YouTube’s much lower bandwidth needs are obvious. Streaming 1080p video requires a minimum of 5 Mbps download speed. That’s roughly 100-120 minutes of 1080p content. This plan allows for the streaming of around 300-400 720p videos.
However, Spotify only needs 513 Kbps, which is a fraction of what other music streaming services need. If you do the maths, you’ll find that 600 Mbps is sufficient for almost 937 Premium Spotify Streams.
In reality, no router can accomplish this. However, you can still listen to music without interruptions, even if everyone in your household is online at the same time.
Is It Acceptable to Work at Home with 600 Mbps?
Team video conferences are another scenario where you’ll want to think about your upload speed. You needn’t fret over anything, what with the internet speed of 600 Mbps. Here, we’re talking about an upload speed of roughly 60 Mbps.
Zoom HD calls require 3.8 Mbps of bandwidth, so you can make almost 10 calls at full resolution using this plan. The maximum number of simultaneous calls is 60 when using the standard definition.
Therefore, there is a lot that can be accomplished with the 600 Mbps plan. This plan is ideal for a household with 7-10 people who do a lot of online activity together, such as gaming, streaming, working from home, downloading movies, and more.
With this network, you can use multiple devices at once to engage in activities like high-definition voice calls or video streaming.
How Long It Takes to Download Various Files at 600 Mbps
Note on Download Speed of 600 Mbps: Mbps MBps. While internet plans are typically measured in megabits per second (Mbps), web browsers use the megabyte (MB) unit.
This means that a download speed of about 7.5 MB/s can be attained with a 600 Mbps (megabits) plan.
See the table below for an estimate of how long it will take to download various file types using an internet connection speed of 600 Mbps.
| Online Activity | Time To Download at 500Mbps |
|---|---|
| 4K Movie or 1080p 60FPS (10GB – 20 GB) | Approx 7 min. |
| 480p Movie (Around 900MB) | Approx 1 Min. |
| 1080p Movie (2GB – 4GB) | Approx 2 Min. |
| High Quality Picture or Image (10MB) | Approx 4 Sec. |
| High-Quality Audio File (25MB) | Approx 4 Sec. |
| Latest PC Games or Xbox or PS5 Games (60 GB) | Approx 25 min. |
In the United States, what does 600 Mbps cost?
Internet speeds vary widely depending on where you live and which ISP you subscribe to.
A monthly fee of $35 can get you onto the 600 Mbps plan. However, before subscribing, it is important to take into account the total number of devices and users.
Internet Providers with 600 Mbps Service Plan:
| Service Provider | Current Broadband Plans | Approx. Download Speed | Approx. Upload Speed | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verizon | Internet 500/500 | Up to 500 Mbps | Up to 50 Mbps | $45 / Mo |
| AT&T | Fiber 500 Mbps | Up to 500 Mbps | Up to 50 Mbps | $65 / Mo |
| Spectrum | Blast Internet | Up to 600 Mbps | Up to 50 Mbps | $70 / Mo |
| Cox | Ultimate 500 | Up to 500 Mbps | Up to 40 Mbps | $70 / Mo |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can 600 Mbps support a large number of devices?
With a connection speed of 600 Mbps, you can use up to ten devices at once without any problems. You can use this internet plan for anything from casual web browsing to data-intensive tasks like file sharing, video streaming, and online gaming.
Is 600 Mbps good for work-from-home employees?
For one user working remotely, an internet connection with speeds greater than 10 Mbps is considered adequate. Approximately 8-10 people can successfully conduct business from home using an internet connection of 600 Mbps.
Is 600 Mbps speed good for online gaming?
Yes, You can play online games without experiencing any lag or delay with this connection speed. With this strategy, it only takes a few minutes to download even a large game file like Mortal Kombat.
300 Mbps vs 600 Mbps: Which should I get?
The 300 Mbps plan is suitable for households or businesses with up to three connected devices. However, a connection speed of 600 Mbps is ideal for medium-sized businesses and households with multiple users.
Wrap Up
Most people don’t need more than 600 Mbps. This plan will provide for your every need, even if you never leave your computer.
In fact, a family of eight to ten people, or a workplace of about 70 people, could easily collaborate using this strategy.
With such a fast connection, even demanding tasks like downloading and uploading large files, rendering high-resolution images, or making video calls are a breeze.
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