How Much Bandwidth is Enough?

It sort of depends on what sort of end user you are, as this analysis by Motorola suggests. Power users require more than lighter users, to be sure. The issue for a network engineer, of course, is that a network has to be engineered for the needs of the most-demanding user, not the least-demanding user. Which suggests that the supply of bandwidth will continue to climb, though it isn't so clear that power users will escape the requirement to pay more money for the privilege.

Motorola thinks about six percent of users require 58 Mbps by 2010, while a quarter of households will require 40 Mbps service. About 44 percent of households will be able to get by with just 19 Mbps.