If there’s one good thing that came out of the pandemic, it’s the remote work systems that many offices have now started to follow or implement. This has opened up tons of opportunities for many people, especially those that can take up projects and jobs from another country entirely. Naturally, it is also ideal for those who cannot commute to and from work every day due to longer routes or lack of conveyance.
However, working from home is also a form of work, so you cannot overlook this or make a compromise when it comes to the quality of work or resources. For example, just because you have to work from home, it doesn’t mean you can make do with barely enough internet speed and call it a day. You have to have a good internet plan with an appropriate internet speed to manage your duties and more.
So, the first thing you need to do is look for a good internet service provider that offers various types of internet plans. For example, Xfinity is a well-known provider and its internet speed is known to have many options to cater to every user’s needs – click here to know more about it. But how much speed do you need? Let’s check that out!
Recommended Download and Upload Speeds for Video Conferencing Apps
When it comes to your work, even if you are working remotely, there has to be some system and also some monthly meetings in place. How else is the boss supposed to keep track of the work progress? Depending on your job, you might even have to deal with clients from time to time. Naturally, to do all of these, you need to make sure you have the right internet connection and speed to prevent the audio and video quality from being bad.
Take a look at the table below to get an idea of which video conferencing app requires how much download and upload speed to function properly. Keep in mind that these are only the popular app options that we come across and use more often than others.
| Apps | Recommended download speed | Recommended upload speed |
| Zoom | 1.5 – 3 Mbps | 1.5 – 3 Mbps |
| Skype | 30 Kbps – 8 Mbps | 30 Kbps – 1.5 Mbps |
| Slack | 200 Kbps – 4 Mbps | 100 Kbps – 600 Kbps |
| Google Meet | 18 Kbps – 3.2 Mbps | 12 Kbps – 3.2 Mbps |
Do you notice how the maximum speed number is only just a single digit number, whereas you get internet plans of speeds up to 200 Mbps, 500 Mbps, and 1000 Mbps? This is because the internet plan is supposed to work for multiple people and multiple activities. It is not just based on one activity.
Recommended Download and Upload Speeds for Work-from-Home Activities
Other than video conferencing, there are some other activities like emailing, downloading and sending files, browsing, and more. Emailing and web browsing do not take up a lot of internet speed and this is why we have not added a table with their recommended speeds.
However, we have added a table for downloading files. Additionally, you might also need to watch some movies or videos for the sake of your job. This means you need appropriate speed for streaming as well. Thus, we have added the recommended speed for them as well.
Take a look at the table below to see the details for it!
| Activity | Recommended download speed | Recommended upload speed |
| Downloading a hi-res image file | 10 Mbps | 1 Mbps |
| Downloading a small video file | 100 Mbps | 10 Mbps |
| Downloading a large video file | 1000 Mbps | 1000 Mbps |
| Streaming music on Spotify or Pandora | 5 Gbps | 1 Mbps |
| Streaming videos and music on YouTube | 5 Gbps | 2 Mbps |
| Streaming videos on Netflix, Hulu, etc. | 5 Gbps | 5 Mbps |
The Takeaway
How much speed you need is completely up to you and your work. So, to get the right speed at the right time, you should research properly about how much you need or use on a daily basis. Getting the right speed is crucial to your work as it can disrupt your work or refine it. To ensure that your work goes smoothly, you need to pay special attention to this.
Additionally, an internet connection is not just something you use for your work only. You need this connection for your personal needs as well.
So, choose a connection and speed accordingly and if you don’t understand what to do and which to pick, then you can seek the help of an expert like the salesperson present in the store. Make sure to come with your own knowledge as well, because you should have an idea of what’s going on. And with that, we will end the topic and let you go to figure out the internet speed that you need!
