Part of our IPTV Guide section.
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Speed per screen
| Quality | Per screen | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SD | 5 Mbps | Fine for phones and small screens |
| HD / Full HD | 10 Mbps | The sweet spot for most TVs |
| 4K Ultra HD | 25 Mbps | Needs a 4K TV and a 4K-capable device |
These figures include a margin above the stream’s own bitrate, because broadband speed fluctuates and other devices share the line.
Work out what your household needs
Add up the screens that might be watching at the same time, then add about a third for phones, laptops, game downloads and video calls.
| Household | Streams at once | Aim for at least |
|---|---|---|
| Single viewer | 1 × HD | 15 Mbps |
| Couple | 1 × 4K + 1 × HD | 45–50 Mbps |
| Family | 1 × 4K + 2 × HD | 60–70 Mbps |
| Busy house share | 4 × HD + gaming and calls | 80–100 Mbps |
Your subscription’s number of simultaneous screens should match the busiest moment of your evening, not the average.
Stability matters as much as speed
A speed test measures a short burst. Streaming needs a steady flow for hours. Three other measures decide whether you see a smooth picture:
- Packet loss: data that never arrives. Even 1–2% causes stutters on live streams.
- Jitter: variation in delay. High jitter drains the player’s buffer unpredictably.
- Peak-time slowdown: many lines slow in the evening when the whole street is online. Our article on evening buffering explains why.
This is why a wired Ethernet connection to the TV or streaming device fixes so many problems. See Wi-Fi or Ethernet for streaming.
How to test your connection properly
- Test from the device you will stream on, or a laptop in the same spot, not next to the router.
- Test at 8–10pm on a weekday, when congestion is highest, as well as during the day.
- Pause other downloads, updates and cloud backups while testing.
- Compare a Wi-Fi test with a wired test. A big gap points to your Wi-Fi rather than your broadband.
- Repeat over a few days. If evening speeds regularly fall well below your package’s minimum guaranteed speed, raise it with your provider.
Mobile data, 4G and 5G home broadband
4G and 5G home broadband routers can stream IPTV well when the signal is strong, especially 5G. Place the router near a window, use the 5 GHz Wi-Fi band and keep an eye on data allowances: HD uses around 1.5 to 3 GB an hour and 4K about 7 GB. Our guide to UK broadband for streaming compares full fibre, FTTC, cable and 5G in more detail.
Frequently asked questions
Is 30 Mbps enough for IPTV?
Yes for one or two HD screens. For a 4K screen plus another stream, aim for 50 Mbps or more, especially if others in the home are online in the evening.
Does upload speed matter for IPTV?
Hardly. Streaming is almost entirely download traffic. Upload speed matters for video calls and cloud backups, which can affect streams if they saturate the line.
Why is my speed fine but IPTV still buffers?
Usually Wi-Fi interference, peak-time congestion or a problem on the provider’s side. Follow our buffering guide to find the cause.
