"Do I need the giant gigabit package to stream?" No. Video networks are far more forgiving than gamers like to admit, and the number the provider brags about is not the number that matters. Here are the real figures.
The honest speed table
- 720p/1080p video — ~5–8 Mbps per stream.
- 4K video — ~15–25 Mbps per stream.
- Live streams / voice — 3–8 Mbps.
So a "100 Mbps" package is already far more than one TV needs — even two simultaneous 4K streams fit in it. The speed number is rarely the pinch.
Why buffering happens anyway
Buffering is almost always your router/ Wi-Fi or latency, not a lack of speed. A fast connection that is high-latency every few seconds still stutters. Checks that help: position of the device / router (line-of-room), use the 5 GHz band, and rule out a weak Wi-Fi from a modem/router combo that is a generation old.
So when do you actually upgrade?
Upgrade only if streaming stutters on a single TV with nothing else heavy on the network — or if you honestly plan to simultaneously watch in 4K on multiple TVs. Otherwise the faster fix is almost always the router, the band, or the app itself. A heavy TV browser with videos to a pile of network calls can look slow even when the plan is big — that's a per-site issue, not bandwidth.
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