Enter the total bandwidth, number of users, and bandwidth per user into the calculator to determine the missing variable.
Bandwidth per User Formula
The following formula is used to calculate the average bandwidth per user for a given total bandwidth and number of users.
B_{user} = \frac{B}{U}Variables:
- Buser is the average bandwidth per user (e.g., Mbps per user)
- B is the total shared bandwidth (e.g., Mbps)
- U is the number of users
To calculate the bandwidth per user, divide the total shared bandwidth by the number of users. This gives the average bandwidth available to each user if the total bandwidth were shared evenly.
What is Bandwidth per User?
Bandwidth per user is the average amount of bandwidth available for each user when a single connection (or bandwidth pool) is shared among multiple users. If the number of users increases while total bandwidth stays the same, the average bandwidth per user decreases. If total bandwidth increases while the number of users stays the same, the average bandwidth per user increases.
If you are looking for a traditional ISP “contention ratio” (often written like 20:1), that is typically an oversubscription ratio based on users’ access-line speeds versus the shared/backhaul capacity; it generally requires additional information beyond just total shared bandwidth and user count.
How to Calculate Bandwidth per User?
The following steps outline how to calculate the Bandwidth per User.
- First, determine the total bandwidth available (B).
- Next, determine the number of users sharing the bandwidth (U).
- Finally, calculate the bandwidth per user using the formula Buser = B / U.
- After inserting the values and calculating the result, check your answer with the calculator above.
Example Problem :
Use the following variables as an example problem to test your knowledge.
Total Bandwidth (B) = 100 Mbps
Number of Users (U) = 20
Bandwidth per User (Buser) = 100 / 20 = 5 Mbps per user