How internet download speed improved over 30 years

When it comes to the internet and its usage, there is always a ‘need for speed’. While there was once a time we battled for hours just to load a web page, today we can download a whole film at lightning speeds. But how did this all begin? How did it evolve? And what is going to be the journey and story of download speeds in the future? This infographic gives you a flashback of the bad old days of slow internet speeds and a glimpse into the future – through a journey spanning 30 years.

• It all started in the 1980s – The 1980s was a time when 1G ruled with speeds of 28.8 KBITS/second, meaning it would take you a minimum of 2 days, 11 hours, 3 minutes and 47 seconds to download one full film, for example ‘The Shining’. Oh, and that would be in low-resolution too!Thankfully, 1G soon gave way to 2G, with 144 KBITS/second speeds – giving us websites with better and additional elements. Sadly, it still took five whole minutes before a page fully loaded. Not to forget, browsing on the phone was very expensive and not a practical option for many!
• The Y2K era – Then came the era of 3G. Faster downloads were possible but streaming was still of low-quality with slow buffering. It was far from being ideal but nevertheless, we were quite happy!The next step was 3G and 3.5G, which opened a whole new world of faster browsing and the ability to stream and download multiple pieces of content at one time. With those internet speeds, you could easily download a movie in ten minutes. Life was fun!

Now that we are about to reach the supposed peak of download speeds in 2020, with 5G bringing 1GBIT/second, you may well be able to download the entire Star Wars series (six films) in under a minute. Beat that!

If you want to check out some affordable high-speed data bundles, take a look at Lycamobile. We offer a range of SIM only deals to talk, text and browse to your heart’s content.