How to choose a broadband plan without guessing

Count devices, not people

A four-person household today typically runs somewhere between twelve and twenty connected things: phones, laptops, a TV, a console, a couple of cameras, a speaker. Most sit idle most of the time. What matters is how many want bandwidth at the same moment, which is usually between 8pm and 11pm.

A working approach: count the things that stream, call or back up, and think about how many of those realistically run together on your worst evening. Two or three simultaneous heavy users is a very different requirement from five or six. Rather than applying a fixed number per device, start from the plan that covers your busiest hour and adjust if it does not.

Then ask what leaves the house

This is the step people skip. Download carries what you watch. Upload carries what you send: video calls, cloud sync, camera footage going off-site, a photo backup running quietly in the background.

On a connection where upload is a fraction of download, those compete with each other, and the symptom is that everything feels slow for no visible reason. If your home uploads, a plan where upload matches download removes that particular problem.

Check the terms, not just the number

• Data limit. Ask whether unlimited means unlimited, or unlimited until a threshold after which speed drops.
• Upload figure. Ask for the number. "High" is not a number.
• Total payable. For your whole billing period, including tax.
• Router. Who owns it, what a replacement costs, what happens if you disconnect.
• Renewal. What the price becomes afterwards, and on what notice.
• Faults. Which number you call, and whether that person can send an engineer or only log a callback.

Test before you upgrade

If your current connection feels slow, run a wired speed test before assuming the plan is too small. A good share of "slow internet" turns out to be Wi-Fi coverage, and no plan upgrade fixes a router in the wrong place. The placement guide covers that.

The right plan is the smallest one that survives your worst evening. Anything above that is money spent on a number you will never see.