Work From Home Internet Speed Test

Is Your Internet Good Enough for Working From Home?

Your internet is good enough to work from home if you have download speeds of at least 25 Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps. You’re even better off if you can get home Wi-Fi with download speeds of 100 Mbps. You don’t need the fastest speeds ever, but when it comes to working from home, a fast and reliable connection is paramount.

Although most work tasks don’t actually require fast internet, ample bandwidth is important because you need to be able to perform multiple online tasks with ease while also balancing the Wi-Fi needs of roommates or family members. Fast speeds also help make for a fluid workflow and low-stress day—you can download files in a timely fashion and maintain a smooth Wi-Fi connection during crucial meetings and brainstorm sessions.

Take our speed test above to see if your home Wi-Fi is good enough for your remote work tasks. Then keep reading below for in-depth guidance on how to get the best internet for working from home.

Jump to: Best internet plans for remote work | How fast should your internet be? | Fiber internet and symmetrical speeds | Satellite internet and rural internet | How much data do you need? | Zoom calls | Downloading and uploading | Hotspots and remote work

Jump to:

• Best internet plans for remote work
• How fast should your internet be?
• Fiber internet and symmetrical speeds
• Satellite internet and rural internet
• How much data do you need?
• Zoom calls
• Downloading and uploading
• Hotspots and remote work

Best internet plans for working from home

See bottom of the page for disclaimers.

How fast should your internet be if you work from home?

*Data from Omni data usage calculator and Armstrong data usage calculator.

To work from home, you should have an internet download speed of at least 25 Mbps and upload speed of 3 Mbps. These speeds are the baseline standards that the Federal Communications Commission sets for broadband internet—and they should be enough to cover most daily work tasks.

Realistically, though, you may want a faster connection. A great download speed for most people is 100 Mbps. That gives you ample bandwidth to cover all your work tasks while leaving plenty of room for streaming, gaming, and more.

Here’s what you can do at work with fast Wi-Fi:

• Juggle multiple tasks at once
• Stream music and podcasts while on the job
• Handle numerous video calls during the workday
• Share the same Wi-Fi with others without slowdowns or disconnects

Get fiber internet for smooth video calls (and other benefits)

If you really want good internet for working from home, get fiber.

Fiber internet is the fastest and most reliable internet you can get. Not only does fiber have incredibly fast speeds, but it also gets you symmetrical uploads and downloads.

When your upload speeds are just as fast as your download speeds, you get a ton more support to handle upload-heavy tasks like Zoom calls, uploading files to a cloud, posting to YouTube, and streaming over Twitch. It’s the best internet for influencers and other full-time content creators.

Can you work at home with satellite internet?

Yes, you can work from home with satellite internet. But it’s not as easy as working from home with a faster connection, and you may need to budget for slowed speeds and extra data. And you’ll need to make sure other people and devices in your home aren’t trying to stream or video conference at the same time that you work, especially if you have an important meeting to take.

Satellite isn’t an ideal internet connection type for remote working. Since the connection is beamed down literally from space, you have to contend with slow speeds, high latency, and tight data restrictions. Satellite internet plans also cost significantly more than most internet packages.

If you live in a rural area, you’re better off seeking out a fixed wireless or DSL internet plan if they’re available. Or just work from the office, which (hopefully) can get you a better connection.

What is the best satellite internet provider for working from home?

*Plus hardware, shipping & handling fees, and tax. Fully refundable. Depending on location, some orders may take 6 months or more to fulfill.

^†Pricing for the first 6 months. Service plans require a 24-month commitment. Pricing not available in all areas.

^‡Offer available to new qualifying customers. One-time standard installation fee may be due at checkout. Minimum 24-month service term required. Equipment lease fee is $12.99/mo. Taxes apply. Service is not available in all areas. Offer may be changed or withdrawn at any time.

Starlink is the best satellite internet provider for working from home. Though installation prices are steep, Starlink’s flagship plan gives you ample speeds and 1 TB of high-speed data per month—a luxury compared to the stringent data caps you get from other satellite providers.

How much data do you need for working from home?

Data from the Armstrong data calculator.

Ideally you need at least 600 GB per month of internet data if you’re working from home.

While internet speeds are important, you also need to think about the amount of data you consume per month as part of your regular tasks. Zoom video calls, downloads, and video streams can be a huge drain on your data, so make sure you have a big enough data cap on your monthly Wi-Fi package.

Data caps put a limit on how much data you can use before overage fees or throttled speeds kick in. Most providers give customers 1 TB per month, which is plenty. But if your job involves a ton of downloading and Zoom calls, aim to get an internet plan with unlimited data.

How much internet speed do you need for Zoom calls?

*According to bandwidth requirements on Zoom’s website.

**Zoom uses the term “high-quality video,” which doesn’t describe any industry-standard video resolution, but we interpret it to mean standard resolution of 480p.

Technically, Zoom doesn’t require a whole lot of speed to work properly. According to the app’s bandwidth requirements, you don’t even need 1 Mbps of download speeds to get a Zoom video call going in 480p SD resolution.

Honestly, though, you’re going to want a fast and consistent internet connection for this sort of thing.

In our experience, sluggish Wi-Fi makes for herky-jerky video calls. The video buffers. There are delays between the video and audio. Voices start speeding up and slowing down as the connection struggles to play catch-up with the live feed. It’s frustrating—and potentially disastrous if you’re conducting important business.

So if you’re using Zoom all day—or you’re regularly on another video conferencing app, like Skype, Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts or WhatsApp—don’t stick to bare-minimum speeds. Leave a wide buffer of bandwidth to account for other tasks, other users, and technical glitches that may come along unexpectedly.

How much internet speed do you need for downloading files?

Data from Omni bandwidth calculator.

Next to video conference calls, downloading and uploading are the biggest bandwidth bandits in the work-from-home world.

It’s true that many workplaces don’t require you to download large files on the regular. Most stuff we download for work—say, a PDF or screenshot or high-resolution image—can be downloaded in a matter of seconds even on a 10 Mbps connection.

But lots of jobs entail downloading of larger files, including software, videos, and more. Also, many workers have to upload files as well, helping them work over cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive. In these cases, it’s better to have faster speeds because it minimizes the amount of time it takes to complete each download (or upload). Fast speeds also let you multitask a lot easier, without fears that the download will freeze and you’ll have to start all over.

Use a hotspot for remote work at hotels and restaurants

Hotspots aren’t the best tools to use for working from home. But when you’re working from a hotel or a restaurant, they can’t be beat.

A hotspot gives you a Wi-Fi connection on the go, letting you connect laptops, phones, and other Wi-Fi devices. Most phones come with built-in hotspots, but you can buy a standalone hotspot to get faster speeds and connect more devices.

Best hotspots for remote work

Data as of 11/28/22. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change. Amazon.com Price as of 11/28/22 10:30 MST. See full disclaimer.

Of course, you can always use the Wi-Fi hotspot at a coffee shop or restaurant to get some work done when you’re away from home. But, like, do you really want to do that? Restaurant Wi-Fi is often horribly slow and unreliable, and connecting to an unsecured public network also opens you up for attacks by malware and viruses.

Using a hotspot gives you faster speeds—because you’re not sharing your internet with 100 other people. And quality hotspots also come with password protection and other security features like WPA2 encryption, keeping your sensitive work docs safe.

For more information, read our full guide to portable internet and our guide to the best hotspots on the market today.

Why use a hotspot instead of coffee shop Wi-Fi?

• Faster speeds
• Connectability for more users
• Better privacy and security safeguards

What to do if your internet speed is slower than expected

There are several reasons why your speed test results might not be as fast as you expected. Try these tips to see if you can get a more accurate reading:

• Temporarily disable your firewall (but don’t forget to turn it back on afterward) and rerun the test.
• Reboot your modem and router, and rerun the test.
• Unplug your router from the modem, plug a desktop or laptop into the modem’s Ethernet port, and rerun the test.
• If you have a wireless gateway rather than a separate modem and router, plug a desktop or laptop into one of the Ethernet ports, and rerun the test.

If you see inconsistent results, there might be a bottleneck on your end. You can troubleshoot poor internet speeds with our guide on how to fix slow internet. But your internet connection may just be slow either from your plan or your internet type.

If nothing helps, call your internet provider or look for a new one.

How to make sense of your speed test results

Here’s a brief overview of what your speed test results mean and how they affect your internet’s performance. For more in-depth information, check out our consumer’s guide to internet speed.