Bandwidth Usage Calculator
Estimate total network bandwidth requirements and monthly data consumption for a group of users.
Results
What is it?
Oversubscription is the practice of selling more bandwidth capacity than is physically available, based on the statistical reality that not all users consume maximum bandwidth simultaneously. A 4:1 ratio means you provision 1 Mbps for every 4 Mbps of theoretical peak demand.
How to use
Enter your total user count, their average active usage per person, peak usage hours per day, and your intended oversubscription ratio. The result shows how much bandwidth you need to provision, total theoretical peak demand, and estimated monthly data volume.
Example scenario
A 200-person office where each employee uses ~5 Mbps on average during work hours (8 hr/day), with a 4:1 enterprise oversubscription ratio: required bandwidth = 200 x 5 / 4 = 250 Mbps. Monthly data is approximately 200 x 5 x 8 x 30 / 8 / 1024 = 29.3 TB.
Pro tip
ISPs use oversubscription ratios of 20:1 to 50:1 for residential broadband — your "100 Mbps" plan is shared with neighbours. Enterprise networks typically target 4:1 to 8:1. For latency-sensitive applications (VoIP, video conferencing), consider deploying QoS (Quality of Service) policies to prioritise real-time traffic over bulk transfers regardless of oversubscription.