Minimum internet speed for movies on 360 via Netflix

[FantasiaWHT]

Hi all!

I'm trying to trim costs in my life and want to figure out what the minimum internet speed is at which streaming movies are watchable via Netflix on Xbox 360. I won't really be multi-tasking, so nothing else major will compete with the 360 for bandwidth.

My ISP offers 1Mb/s, 5Mb/s, 10Mb/s, and 20Mb/s. My initial thoughts are 1 is not enough and 20 is way more than enough. $10/month difference between 5 and 10. I have 10 right now so the big question is can I cut back to 5 safely?

Thoughts?

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Are you planning on streaming HD or SD? I believe minimum requirements are 1.5Mb.

5Mb should be fine for SD and can possibly support HD, but any fluctuations will cause problems with HD.

[buzz_n64]

Also, if you plan on going wireless, especially with hd, get the n adapter.

[whoisKeel]

Don't know. But the 360 always gives a "determining network quality" or some such notice at the beginning...from 1 to 4 bars I believe. And I think when you pause it is says in the upper corner. The stream will re-adjust (even go up) or go down if your Internet gets bogged down. I have a 7Mbps connection, I believe, and HD streams fine. I've really only ever seen anything less than 4 bars a handful of times. I use a wired connection to my router.

So...if you don't have to start out with a contract, go for the 5 Mbps, and if you aren't getting full quality 4 bars, upgrade back.

[allyourblood]

I own the wireless G 360 adapter, so keep that in mind:

I used to have Cox's standard internet tier, which I believe was around 12.5mbps. I then stepped down to their economy tier at 1.5mbps for about 9 months. Netflix ran fine for the most part, but HD was definitely gone and I usually toggled between 1-3 bars. The only annoying bit (aside from the mediocre image quality) was that Netflix would switch between the 3 stream qualities about 2-3 times every half hour. If you can live with that (we did for months), you'll find the overall performance acceptable.

As my wife and I began watching more often, we decided we were willing to pay a little more to jump up to the consistant HD stream, so we moved back to the 12.5mpbs tier.

For the record, even with the old wireless G adapter, HD plays perfectly, without any hiccups.

I have a feeling 5mbps will be fine for HD, or at least right on the edge, and it's more than acceptable for SD. I'd try that first and see how things go. 1mbps is going to be too slow.

[Oobgarm]

Whatever Time Warner's basic internet plan is, that's what I use(standard is 7, I'm a step below that but have no idea what the exact figure is). Also, I have the older 360 wireless adapter and a cheap wireless router and all is good. *shrug*

[megasdkirby]

Remember to take into account download as well as upload.

I've seen connections oofer 5Mbps Down and 256Kbps Up, and it's quite terrible. One would think that for downloading all you need is "down", but you need a good "up" as well.

Upload speed is specially important with online gaming.

[FantasiaWHT]

The upload speeds are 5/1 and 10/2

Thanks for all the tips! I have a wired connection at the moment. I have a 360 wireless adapter but I couldn't get it set up here (despite having it set up just fine in my last place...)