Broadband providers by and large all advertise their best features, usually unlimited usage, which sounds useful but may not be something you necessarily need.
Here are some useful pointers and advice on how much broadband usage you probably need and you might find that by changing to another broadband package you will save a small fortune and stop paying for something you don't need.
To work out how much bandwidth you need, you can keep a close watch on your online activities by using Netmeter, a device which monitors your usage. You can also be guided by our summaries below, which will give you a good idea of how much bandwidth you are likely to use for different applications.
Basic Browsing and Emailing
You are probably fortunate if you really only need the net for checking your emails or surfing sites which use video or audio streams, as the packages best suited to these needs are generally the cheapest broadband deals.
Estimated usage allowance required = 1GB to 2GBper month
Online Radio and TV Catchup
With the increase in popularity of YouTube and BBC's iPlayer, there has been a corresponding increase in the amount of video watching online.
Watching video over the internet chews up a huge amount of bandwidth as it involves a steady stream of data moving between the web and your computer.
For instance, if you are using iPlayer, you will probably use between 200-500MB of bandwidth per program, depending on the length of the program.
Estimated usage allowance required = 5GB per month for 1 program per week.
Downloading music and films
If you download MP3's frequently from sites such as iTunes or Amazon, you'll find you want a minimum of 10GB of usage to enable you to continue surfing and watching online content while simultaneously downloading music files.
If you are likely to be using movie download services twice a month or more, then you'll need to think about choosing a package with a higher usage allowance to accommodate the far bigger file sizes.
Estimated usage allowance required = 10GB per month minimum
Peer-to-peer
If you are likely to share large files through network services such as Peer-to-peer (p2p) or Bittorent, you fall into a heavy downloader category and should definitely consider comparing unlimited broadband deals, which offer not only an unlimited usage, but a lenient fair/acceptable use policy.
Estimated usage allowance required = Unlimited
How much web usage do I need for Skype and VoIP?
You must be vigilant about monitoring your usage if your broadband connection is used mainly as a second phone line, since that is a heavy user of bandwidth. For example, 24 hours of talk time on VoIP phone uses approximately 2.4GB.
Estimated usage allowance required = 5GB minimum per month.
