What is 17mb speed like?

17mb broadband is more than enough for example if you're a small family two kids. For browsing the internet watching iPlayer and doing internet banking 17mb broadband is an ample speed. Bare in mind that Ofcom reported in 2016 that:

The average actual fixed broadband download speed delivered to UK homes is improving,
and increased by 25% to 36.2Mbit/s in the year to November 2016 - Ofcom 2016

For instance the "BBC iPlayer programmes stream at up to 2.8 Mbps" and recommends a speed slightly above that. If you have other people in the house using the connection for example, and you're both watching iPlayer separately then 17mb would still be enough.

But Wait! It's unlikely you'll actually get that speed because the type of broadband which comes with 17 megabytes speed is usually called ADSL broadband. 17 megabytes per second is the maximum possible speed achievable from an ADSL style connection. In reality the speed you will get will be much slower.

To find out what your speed could be we recommend using an accurate broadband availability checker. Use our broadband availability checker, which gives you a reasonably accurate broadband speed prediction based on Openreach data.

Try 17mb first, then upgrade to fibre later

Why not try a DSL style connections first, and then upgrade to fibre later? Slower ADSL connections often come with shorter contract lengths (a short of 3 months). For example, at Karma Computing we offer the ability to upgrade your connection to a fibre package after three months if you want to. This is a safe way to test if 17 megabytes broadband is fast enough for you, if not then you can always upgrade to fibre later with no penalty.

Check with your providers if you can get a short contract ADSL connection first. This is an easy way to experience what 17mb broadband is like.