

A 5 Mbps upload speed is more than enough for surfing the web, shopping on Amazon, checking your email, or watching YouTube.Įven if you don’t live in an urban area with access to cable networks, upload speed usually isn’t as important as download speed. This is actually pretty standard and not usually something to worry about.Īll online activities use a bit of upload speed when we click on a link or select a video to watch, but this is fairly minimal. Many people are shocked their first time taking an internet speed test to find that even though they’re paying for a 300 Mbps internet connection, their upload speed is hovering around a measly 5–10 Mbps. Upload speed determines how fast you can upload information like a social media post, a YouTube video you made, or a cloud file from your computer to the rest of the internet-it’s essentially the reverse of download speed. If your evening routine involves everyone in the house streaming HD video to a different device, you’re going to need a bit more speed to keep everyone happy. Certain online activities, like streaming movies on Netflix, use a lot more bandwidth. That means if you have four people in your house, your internet plan should at least be 40 Mbps.

For an average household, 10 Mbps per person is a good estimate. What counts as a “good” download speed depends a bit on what you do online. When internet service providers (ISPs) advertise their internet speeds, download speed is what they’re talking about. Download is what we use most often when we’re online, so it usually makes sense to focus on it first. Download speed determines how fast information from the internet gets to our devices, whether that information is a web page, a movie, or a Windows update. When most people think of internet speed, they’re thinking of download speed. An internet speed of 500–1,000 Mbps is a good download speed for nearly any online activity, including internet gaming speeds.
