We obsess over download speeds, but upload bandwidth is the real secret to a smooth remote workday. Here is what you actually need.

If you’re working from home, then there’s a good chance that you spend a decent chunk of your workday on camera for virtual team meetings. Virtual meetings are an essential part of the remote grind — and also where our internet connections tend to fail us the most. Seems like there’s always someone on the call with a frozen screen or stuttering audio, and issues like those can grind the conversation to a halt. If it’s happened to you, then you know how frustrating it can be, particularly if you’re leaving your boss and other important teammates waiting.

Your connection might cut out during a work call for many reasons, but the most common culprit by far is your upload speed. This is a measure of how quickly you can send data from your device out into the internet.

Your upload speed can easily become a bottleneck when you’re trying to broadcast video. To make matters worse, in most homes, our upload speeds are far more limited than our download speeds. For instance, if you use cable internet to get online, as the majority of homes in the US do, there’s a high likelihood that your upload speeds are lacking. You might have download speeds of 500 or even 1,000 megabits per second but only have upload speeds of just 35Mbps.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent your home internet connection from hijacking your productivity.

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