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⚡Quick verdict
Allow about 5 Mbps for each SD stream, 10 Mbps for each HD stream and 25 Mbps for each 4K stream playing at the same time, plus headroom for everything else in the house. Most UK fibre lines are fast enough; poor Wi-Fi between the router and the TV causes far more buffering than a slow package.
- Measure speed on the TV or stick itself, not on your phone next to the router.
- Steadiness matters more than peak speed: a line that drops at 8pm will buffer.
- Ethernet or a mesh point usually fixes what a faster package cannot.
Speed per screen
| Quality | Per screen | Two screens | Four screens |
|---|---|---|---|
| SD | 5 Mbps | 10 Mbps | 20 Mbps |
| HD | 10 Mbps | 20 Mbps | 40 Mbps |
| 4K | 25 Mbps | 50 Mbps | 100 Mbps |
These are comfortable figures, not minimums. Streams vary from moment to moment; a fast-moving football match uses more data than a studio chat show.
Why the package is rarely the problem
UK superfast broadband averages well above the speeds in that table. The weak link is usually the last few metres: a router in the hallway, two walls, and a TV in the back room. Wi-Fi speed drops sharply through brick and near microwaves, and on the crowded 2.4 GHz band in flats.
Quick fixes, cheapest first
- Move the router higher and away from the TV unit’s metal.
- Connect the TV or stick to the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network if you have one.
- Use an Ethernet cable, or an Ethernet adapter for a Fire Stick.
- Add a mesh point or powerline adapter near the TV.
- Only then think about a faster package.
Our buffering fixes page goes through each of these in detail.
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