Calculate your expected real-world network speeds based on connection type, concurrent users, and usage patterns. See if your broadband can handle your business demands.
| Connection | Advertised Max | Typical Actual | Upload | Latency | Contention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ADSL | 24 Mbps | 8–17 Mbps | 0.4–1 Mbps | 20–50 ms | 50:1 |
| FTTC | 80 Mbps | 50–70 Mbps | 10–20 Mbps | 10–20 ms | 30:1 |
| FTTP | 1 Gbps | 800–950 Mbps | Up to symmetric | 5–15 ms | Low |
| Leased Line | 10 Gbps | 95–100% of subscribed | Symmetric | 2–5 ms | 1:1 |
| 5G Business | 1 Gbps | 100–500 Mbps | 30–100 Mbps | 10–30 ms | Variable |
Speeds are indicative and vary by provider, location, and time of day. Leased lines provide guaranteed speeds with SLAs. View our networking solutions
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It depends heavily on concurrent usage — video calls, cloud apps, and large file transfers all add up quickly. As a rough guide, allow 5-10 Mbps per user for typical office work, more if your team relies heavily on video conferencing or cloud-based design tools. This calculator factors in your connection type and user count.
Advertised speeds are usually best-case figures measured close to the router. Shared connections like FTTC degrade with distance from the cabinet, WiFi congestion eats into throughput, and simultaneous downloads, backups, or video calls all compete for the same bandwidth, so real-world speeds are typically 20-40% lower.
FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) uses copper for the final stretch to your building and typically delivers 40-80 Mbps download with much slower uploads. FTTP (fibre to the premises) runs fibre all the way in, offering symmetrical speeds often up to 900 Mbps and far better reliability — increasingly the standard choice for UK SMEs where available.
A typical HD video call uses around 1.5-3 Mbps upload and download per participant. On a common 100 Mbps FTTP line, most offices can comfortably run 15-20 simultaneous calls alongside normal browsing, though upload-constrained connections like FTTC will hit limits much sooner.
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