Recommended Speeds and Data Usage of Internet Services

Certain services may require higher speed connections for an optimized user experience.

Internet connection speeds are measured in bits per second. A bit is the smallest unit of digital information and can be expressed as either a 0 or a 1. Bits are represented with a lower case "b."

• Bit Per Second (bps)
• Kilobit Per Second (kbps): a thousand bits per second
• Megabit Per Second (Mbps): a million bits per second
• Gigabit Per Second (Gbps): a billion bits per second

If you have a service with a data cap, it is important to be aware of how much data you're using and how that data is measured. The following types of services can use data very quickly:

• Streaming Video (on devices or connected receivers)
• Streaming Music (on devices or connected receivers)
• On Demand Video downloads (on connected receivers)
• Video/Audio Communication services (on connected devices, i.e. Skype, Vonage)¹
• Online Gaming (on connected devices)¹

¹ Due to latency issues in satellite communication, video and audio communications services like Skype or Vonage and online gaming like Playstation Network or XBOX Live are not compatible with dishNET Satellite services no matter the data plan.

Internet download and upload sizes are measured in bytes.

• Byte (B): 8 bits of data
• Kilobyte (kB): a thousand bytes
• Megabyte (MB): a million bytes, or a thousand kilobytes
• Gigabyte (GB): a billion bytes, or a thousand megabytes
• Terabyte (TB): a trillion bytes, or a thousand gigabytes

The following are examples of commonly used services from the above categories. The grid below lists typical data usage; actual usage may vary by user and device.

Did you know? You can visit the My Internet section of your online account to purchase additional GBs of data if you run out for the month.