My ISP is upgrading from DSL to fiber optics. I will have my choice of 150 Mbps, 500 Mbps, or even 1000 Mbps. Of course, the price increases with selected speed.

I live alone and seldom have more than 12 devices connected, which includes 8 security cameras.

I'm thinking that the 150 Mbps plan will suffice, since for the past 5 years I have lived with a 20-25 Mbps DSL plan.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Unless you do heavy and large downloads the 150 MB/sec should do fine as long as all works with the current setup concerning your cameras. The cameras are probably the deciding factor as they are the most numerous. If your current 20-25 MB/sec has worked with the cameras the lower 150 MB/sec should do just as well if not better.

My download connection averages ~116 Mb/sec and I oaten stream videos through Prime Video, Paramount, Disney, Netflix and HBO Max. Unless the bandwidth is shared with other systems this streaming really only requires ~30 Mb/sec max. for 4K.

If you went with a higher speed over the 150 Mb/sec you MIGHT see a slight difference in web page loads and such but it would be minor. As to what we humans see download speed of over 30-40 Mb/sec is usually minor. Sure there IS a difference but how important is it if a site page loads in .25 seconds or .5 seconds?

Now there IS a difference between download speed and throughput. Many ISP systems give high download speeds but throttle the throughput. Boils down to how much data they allow to go through within a certain time regardless of the actual download speed.

Ahhh, A second thought on your cameras. Do they do transfers via your internet connection? If through internet you would probably see some improvement in performance but it done strictly through your router you will probably see no change as that would be a local network connection which would not involve your internet connection.

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Thanks for the input, Jay. In regard to your question about my cameras, I'm thinking they work through my internet. Each camera has a unique internet address (e.g., http://192.172.0.110:10120/), but sometimes (not often) I have to reboot my router when the cameras stop working. Also, via the internet, I can view four of the cameras that my friend operates in Tennessee, as long as his internet is up and running.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

I still think the 150 Mb/sec would do you fine. Actually re-booting the router is not a bad thing. I don't know if still prevalent but there is/was bad stuff out that would corrupt a router but a router re-boot would wipe it out. I have my router set to automatically re-boot once a week as a security measure. If your router has this function I recommend that it be enabled. Even with all that routers tend to drop out at times. I'll probably never have a Linksys again as I had in Florida as I had to re-boot the thing almost daily to maintain a wireless connection. My old D-Link that I first got in Wyoming was better but still seemed to drop out a lot. My current Belkin router will still drop out but very seldom; mayhaps once a month or so.

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