A practical baseline
For one person doing typical office work (email, chat, cloud documents and several video calls a day), a connection that reliably delivers around 25 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload, with ping under 100 ms and little jitter or packet loss, is a reasonable floor. This is our guidance, based on call apps’ published requirements of about 4 Mbps each way for the highest-quality video, plus headroom.
That floor rises quickly with the type of work and with other people at home.
Sizing for your home
| Situation | Download | Upload |
|---|---|---|
| One remote worker, light household use | 25–50 Mbps | 5–10 Mbps |
| Two remote workers, overlapping calls | 50–100 Mbps | 10–20 Mbps |
| Remote work plus kids streaming and gaming | 100–300 Mbps | 20 Mbps or more |
| Large uploads: video editing, design, data | As needed | 50 Mbps or more; symmetric fiber helps |
These ranges are our guidance. Measure at your busiest time to see what you have, and check that upload holds up while others are online.
VPNs and company tools
Many employers require a VPN. A VPN sends your traffic to a company server first, which can add delay and, on some setups, reduce speed. If your speed test is fine but work apps are slow, try a test with the VPN off and on (with your employer’s permission) to see the difference. IT teams can often route calls outside the VPN to keep them responsive.
Set up for reliable work
- Use a cable for your work computer if at all possible. It removes the most common source of call trouble.
- If you must use WiFi, work in a room close to the router or add a mesh point, and use 5 GHz.
- Schedule big uploads and backups outside working hours.
- Turn on smart queue management so other household traffic can’t swamp your calls. Check with the bufferbloat test.
- Keep a record of tests during working hours. If problems recur, it is useful evidence for your provider.
Have a backup plan
Outages happen. A phone hotspot is the simplest backup: test it in your work spot ahead of time with a mobile speed test so you know whether it can carry a call. Remember that hotspotting uses mobile data quickly, especially with video on.