All of our OPEN fiber internet plans are fast enough to support 4k streaming, but there are still some factors to consider when picking your speed.

1. How many people will be streaming?

If you have a full house where everyone has their own devices and favorite streaming services, or games and other online activities, bandwidth can go fast. A 4k stream needs 25Mbps to play without interruption. That means if you have our OPEN 50 internet, you can stream two simultaneous 4k videos without having any issues. Throw in a third stream though and you might suddenly start to experience quality degradation or buffering.

2. What other types of internet usage will go on in your house?

Streaming video is the most persistent bandwidth user, but it’s far from the only one. One source of bandwidth usage that will hog as much bandwidth as it can get its hands on are game downloads. Modern games tend to be grand in size, and the servers hosting them are fast, so game downloads can fully utilize your connection’s bandwidth. This means that even a fast fiber connection can get really bogged down for the duration of the download. Even a few years ago it was relatively rare to download a new game or major update, but it has become increasingly common for games to include regular large updates. All of these add up to something to keep in mind if you are experiencing slow speeds or issues streaming video.

As you can see, your internet speeds will have a simple but direct impact on your streaming video experience. While faster speeds will never hurt, they aren’t always necessary to meet your needs or wholly sufficient to prevent issues at all times. Happy streaming!