Different internet providers sell different plans, each offering different download and upload speeds and these more often than not simply reflect the limitations of the legacy copper wire or legacy copper coax cable networks that we have in the UK. While it’s a great idea to choose a package that offers broadband speeds that will support your online activities, there's no point paying for “Superfast Broadband” if it doesn’t provide the performance you need.

Here is everything you need to know about upload and download speeds.

What is a good download speed?

We would say that a good minimum download speed, especially for a business, is 100Mbps. Unfortunately, this is hard to achieve with legacy copper wires and where it can be achieved is limited to very short runs of copper wire of only a few metres. It is somewhat easier to deliver this on a legacy copper-coax cable service, such as operated by VirginMedia/O2.

What is a good upload speed?

We would say that a good minimum upload speed, especially for a business, is also 100Mbps. Unfortunately, this can’t be achieved on either a legacy copper wire service, nor on a legacy copper coax cable service. Those services are heavily asymmetric, a design which is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was.

What is the minimum broadband speed my business needs?

This seems to be an obvious question to ask, and yet these days no one asks “what is the minimum CPU speed my business laptop needs” or “what is the minimum amount of RAM my business laptop should have?” - So why does this question keep being asked? The only reason this question is asked of broadband is because until recently, bandwidth on legacy copper wire networks or legacy copper coax cable networks was limited in supply and rather expensive. We still see advice online such as “… the average business requires at least 25Mbps of download speed and 3Mbps of upload speed to conduct everyday tasks like emailing and exchanging files”. Really? 3Mbps? Even 25Mbps is pushing it a bit in these days of Zoom-enabled work from home video calls…Full-fibre broadband is a game changer and removes the decades old limits of copper-based broadband.

Full fibre download and upload speeds

The symmetrical broadband services enabled by Full-fibre broadband are much less complicated, impervious to distance and they are symmetrical too. This means that wherever you are, on top of a mountain or in the middle of a city, you will receive the same ultrafast speeds for uploading as well as downloading as everyone else. Full-fibre broadband completely changes the rules of the game and legacy copper services simply cannot compete. Netomnia’s network is capable of delivering symmetrical download and upload speeds of up to 10,000Mbps (10Gbps) future-proofing the needs of communities and businesses for decades to come.

Check to see if your premises is in our plans to be covered by our network by visiting the postcode checker on our website. netomnia.com/check-availability