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How Much Broadband Speed Does Your Business Actually Need?

A simple calculation based on staff numbers, cloud usage and concurrent calls — instead of buying the biggest number available.

11 July 2026 6 min read

Count concurrent demands, not headcount

Estimate simultaneous heavy users: video calls at roughly 3-4 Mbps each, cloud file sync in bursts, and VoIP calls at 0.1 Mbps each. Ten office staff rarely need more than 100 Mbps down unless they move large files.

Upload is usually the bottleneck

Video calls, cloud backup and hosted phone systems all push data upward. A 900/110 connection can feel slower in practice than a symmetric 200/200 for a busy office.

Buy headroom, not vanity numbers

Size for your realistic peak with about 30% headroom. Paying for a gigabit line that never exceeds 80 Mbps of real use is spending that would deliver more if put into failover or WiFi coverage.

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