Internet providers

[Andy in Germany]

I'm trying to organise an internet connection for my new apartment, and I'm pretty clueless to be honest. I want to be able to do video calls with the family, listen to potcast and watch YouTube videos, run my blog and spend far too much time on CC.

I appreciate that these are often different companies here but I suspect a lot will be similar.

What speeds do I need for these fairly modest ambitions?

What nasty little tricks are the providers currently trying to hide behind the hype?

 

[ColinJ]

Do you ever want to stream in UHD? If so, 25-30 Mb/s.

HD? 5-6 Mb/s.

Less demanding streaming, (say) 3 Mb/s.

If more than one person would be using the connection at one time, potentially multiply those figures by the number of people doing so.

Unlimited data is a must! Honestly, you don't want to worry about paying extra or your connection being 'throttled' if you exceed some arbitrary data limit. (Before unlimited broadband, I once ran up a £100 internet bill in about a week!)

 

[BoldonLad]

Not sure if everything I am about to say is relevant in Germany, where, I understand you live... but...

If this apartment is not your permanent home, is it worth considering Mobile Broadband? By this I mean a router, which can take a 4g Sim card (or, possible a 5g SIM card), and which will give you access to Mobile data, plus will broadcast a wifi signal in your apartment, and/or depending on router, provide a number (typically 4) hard wired connections. In my experience here in UK (and when travelling in mainland Europe), such a set up will give suitable speeds to allow video calls (FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp), watch Netflix etc etc

Depending on your mobile phone contract, you may even be able to use the Sim from your mobile phone, rather than acquire another.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Only you at home?
Get the medium package from any provider that is cheapest.
I don't know the German providers, here we have 3 big efficient providers, well 4 but one is not available in my area.
I don't like one of those 3 remaining providers, so I jump between the other 2 every time my contract ends.
60/80 MB download is plenty, unlimited data I think is standard anyway.

 

[wiggydiggy]

I'm trying to organise an internet connection for my new apartment, and I'm pretty clueless to be honest. I want to be able to do video calls with the family, listen to potcast and watch YouTube videos, run my blog and spend far too much time on CC.

I appreciate that these are often different companies here but I suspect a lot will be similar.

What speeds do I need for these fairly modest ambitions?

What nasty little tricks are the providers currently trying to hide behind the hype?

15Mbps

Your usage sounds very similar to mine, my current landlines speed is much faster than that but a recent cock up meant I was reliant on 4g Mobile only. I found its max speed (about 15Mbps) to be fine.

The only issues I had was with bottlenecks, if my Xbox started downloading a game I had to pause it as it would eat all the bandwidth, I did downloads at night.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Do you ever want to stream in UHD? If so, 25-30 Mb/s.

HD? 5-6 Mb/s.

Less demanding streaming, (say) 3 Mb/s.

If more than one person would be using the connection at one time, potentially multiply those figures by the number of people doing so.

Unlimited data is a must! Honestly, you don't want to worry about paying extra or your connection being 'throttled' if you exceed some arbitrary data limit. (Before unlimited broadband, I once ran up a £100 internet bill in about a week!)

Thanks for the info, although I'll have to google DuckDuckGo all the remotely technical bits... I think @Luddite_in_Germany may be a more appropriate screen name.

 

[Andy in Germany]

Not sure if everything I am about to say is relevant in Germany, where, I understand you live... but...

If this apartment is not your permanent home, is it worth considering Mobile Broadband? By this I mean a router, which can take a 4g Sim card (or, possible a 5g SIM card), and which will give you access to Mobile data, plus will broadcast a wifi signal in your apartment, and/or depending on router, provide a number (typically 4) hard wired connections. In my experience here in UK (and when travelling in mainland Europe), such a set up will give suitable speeds to allow video calls (FaceTime, Skype, WhatsApp), watch Netflix etc etc

Depending on your mobile phone contract, you may even be able to use the Sim from your mobile phone, rather than acquire another.

I think I almost understood some of that.

By "router" are we talking about the box connected to the wall or is that something else in this context?

 

[Andy in Germany]

So far the two options that keep coming up are these:

1 & 1

Vodafone (cable)

Both have a nasty clause where you have a 2 year contract and halfway through the tarif more than doubles, but this seems normal. The Vodafone one seems to be a bit cheaper to begin with and overall. I'll have to check if there is a cable connection in the apartment. I expect there is, as the owner works in IT.

 

[BoldonLad]

I think I almost understood some of that.

By "router" are we talking about the box connected to the wall or is that something else in this context?

Essentially yes. Sometimes referred to as a MiFi

 

[slowmotion]

Ask around and choose a provider who has a good track record for fixing problems when your connection dies. Budget providers tend to be pretty listless in that respect. A couple of weeks without broadband is a right pain,
I know. I've used Talk Talk and Plusnet.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Lebara is my mobile who gave me the 15Mbps. They are based on Vodafone. I'm not in a contract, its a pay monthly.

£30p/m got me unlimited everything, I'm now on a £5p/m deal as I don't need the data and swapped back as I still have a landline.

In the future when my landline (contract) expires I'm seriously considering a mobile only deal as £30p/m is cheaper than I get with Bt.

 

[classic33]

If you can't set your mobile as a hotspot(internet connection), these are replacing the smaller MyFi devices.

Currently using a Huawei b535* version, as well as one of the smaller battery powered versions.


*Battery available, and so far no real issues in use.

 

[Sharky]

listen to potcast

That could be a popular feature.

 

[OldShep]

if You get a 4G signal or better seriously consider It. I use a PAYG sim piggy backs on Vodafone £25/mth unlimited data and a s/h TP Link router cost me £30. Speed capped at 10Mbs but it’s all that’s needed.
We watch GCN+ all day and YouTube at night with never a buffering circle.
Just looked and we’ve used 97Gb since the 4th July.

 

[Jody]

8mbs per second will be enough if you want to stream Youtube in HD (not 1440 60FPS) to one account but will buffer if 2 or more people are streaming HD.

30+ if you have a family all wanting to stream.

To be fair 2mbs would cover all but your Youtube streams