Slow internet days can create all kinds of delays and frustrations that you just don't want to be added to your daily tasks. But, as someone working from home, you have a little more control over your internet connection than a traditional office worker. This guide can help you understand the speed requirements for most remote working tasks and help you maximize your connection speed.
Test Your Connection Speed
The first thing you need to do is find out how fast your internet connection is using your wifi, and when connected directly to your internet router using an ethernet cable. It's good to test both because wifi is usually slower and much less stable than using a cable.
How to Test Your Internet Speed
Follow these instructions on wifi and again with a cabled connection to find out the different speeds available to you:
Navigate to google.com.
Search for "speed test".
Click the "run speed test" button which appears above the search results.
Understanding Your Speed Test Results
Mbps download - how many megabytes of data your connection can download (receive) in one second.
Mbps upload - how many megabytes you can upload (send) in one second.
Latency - how many milliseconds it takes for your connection to respond to a signal.
Your speed test will also give you a helpful description of what you can do with the speeds you have. The test example here shows more than enough bandwidth (speed) available in upload and download to watch HD TV, play online games, and be in a video conference at the same time.
Comparing Wi-Fi and Wired Connection Speeds
If you have tested both, you will probably find that your wifi upload and download speeds are slower than when using a wired connection. That's because wifi routers have limits to the amount of data they can send and receive, and because your home environment affects how clear your signal is and how far it reaches.
What Speed Do You Need?
Now you've tested your available speed, you can compare it to what is recommended for different internet uses. This can help you decide if you need to change your setup or upgrade your connection, and if your speed problems are being caused by something else.
Activity | Download in Mbps | Upload in Mbps |
Email and web surfing | 0.5 - 1 | Almost nothing |
Streaming HD TV | 4 - 6 | Almost nothing |
Video Conferencing | 3 - 5 | 1.5 (normal video call quality) 6 (professional streaming quality) |
Screen Sharing in a Conference Call | n/a | 3 - 5 for high-quality smooth video |
Remember when calculating how much bandwidth (speed) you need, that everyone in the home is sharing the same connection, and to have uninterrupted conference calls at the same time as checking your email, you will need 1Mbps download for email and 5 Mbps for video conferencing - meaning you need a total of 6Mbps download.
Should You Upgrade Your Connection?
If you have looked at the maximum possible bandwidth (speed) your connection can give you, and it is lower than what you need for your work, you should invest in a faster connection if you can. If you aren't able to upgrade your connection there are other things you can try in the next section to improve your speed.
Improving Your Connection Speed
If you have checked the bandwidth (speed) you need, and your internet service should be fast enough, there are ways you can improve your bandwidth usage and make more of what you have:
Move Your Wifi Router
Where you place your wifi router and what it's around it makes a huge difference to how far your wifi signal will reach and the quality of the signal that's sent out. Here are some tips for improving your wifi placement:
Keep your router out in the open with space around it. This prevents overheating and things like objects or walls blocking its signal.
Place your router in the middle of your house. This will cover most of your home. If you have multiple floors aim for the middle floor or high up on the lowest floor.
Avoid having large metal or electronic objects near your router as these can interfere with radio waves and reduce the strength of your signal.
Stand the antenna straight up if your router or the receiving device has them.
Move Closer to Your Router
If cables are not an option and your wifi signal is weak and unreliable, move your workstation closer to the router. Every wall you can remove between you and the router will have a dramatic effect on your signal quality and internet speeds. Walk around with a phone or laptop checking out the signal strength in different places before choosing where to move your home office to.
Use a Cable
The simplest way to improve your connection speed is usually to connect your device directly to the router using an ethernet cable (sometimes called a LAN, patch, or internet cable).
Cables are always a great choice if you can use them, just remember that different cables can send and receive at different speeds. So, before buying a new ethernet cable for your workstation, make sure you check the cable's transfer speeds in Mbps before you buy.
Prioritize Your Bandwidth Usage
If other people are using the same internet connection, you might have to come to an agreement about who can do high-bandwidth activities at what times of day. For example 'Person A' can use the connection for low bandwidth activities until 6 pm when 'Person B' finishes using it for video conferences.
If your wired connection has more than enough bandwidth but you need to use the much slower wifi connection, you can make the other devices use the bandwidth on a wired connection and leave only your workstation on wifi. This should stop the devices in your home from competing for your wifi signal.
Stop Bandwidth Hungry Processes
Devices on the same connection can be running processes that use a lot of your bandwidth. Windows Update is a great example of a process that starts without you knowing and eats up all your downloads! Find and stop these processes to get some of that speed back.
Wrap Up
Nobody wants to deal with a slow internet connection, especially when working from home. So test your speeds and find out what you have and if that is enough to do the work activities you need.
Here are some steps to improve your internet connection speed:
Move the router to the middle of the home, out in the open, and away from large metal and electronic objects if possible.
Move your workstation closer to your router.
Invest in a faster internet connection.
Use a cabled connection to your router, and/or buy a faster ethernet cable.
Stop bandwidth-hungry background processes.
Agree with others on scheduling your internet use.
If you have tried all the tricks to improve your internet speed, stability might be part of the problem. Take a look at Improving your Internet Connection Stability to investigate that issue.