Broadband packages are sold by speed, but a number on its own does not tell you whether it will suit your business. A three person accountancy practice, a busy café and a design studio sending large files every day all need very different things. The good news is that you can work out what you need without being a network engineer, by looking at what your team actually does online.
Download and upload: the two speeds that matter
Every broadband connection has two speeds:
- Download speed is how quickly data comes to you: loading web pages, opening files from the cloud, streaming video and installing updates.
- Upload speed is how quickly data goes from you: sending your side of a video call, saving files to the cloud, backing up, sending email attachments and making VoIP calls.
Most broadband is sold with a much higher download than upload speed. For homes, that is often fine. For businesses, upload is frequently the limit you notice first, because so much work now happens in the cloud. Our guide to symmetric and asymmetric broadband covers this in more detail.
Work it out by activity
Rather than guessing a number, think about the activities that happen in your business and how demanding each one is.
Light activities
These use very little of your connection, even with several people doing them at once:
- Email without large attachments
- Web browsing and online banking
- Card payment terminals
- Messaging apps and chat tools
- Most booking and point of sale systems
If this is most of what your business does, a modest package is likely to be enough. What matters more is that the connection is reliable.
Moderate activities
These use more capacity, and they add up quickly when several people are doing them:
- Video calls, which use both download and upload for as long as the call lasts
- VoIP phone calls, which need only a little bandwidth but need it to be steady
- Cloud apps such as online accounting, CRM and shared documents
- Streaming music or video in a shop, café, salon or waiting room
- Customer WiFi, where you cannot control what visitors do
Heavy activities
These can use a large share of your connection on their own:
- Sending or receiving large files, such as design work, video, drawings, photographs or scans
- Cloud backup of computers and servers
- Remote desktops or hosted software used by several staff
- CCTV that is viewed or recorded remotely
- Large software updates across many devices
- Hosting services that people outside the business connect to
If your business regularly does several of these, especially uploads, you need a package with strong upload capacity, and you may want to consider a leased line.
Count people and devices at your busiest time
Your connection has to cope with your busiest realistic moment, not an average day. Picture the peak: perhaps a Monday morning when everyone logs on, or a lunchtime rush when the card machine, the till and customer WiFi are all busy.
Write down:
- How many people are working online at that moment.
- How many are likely to be on video calls at the same time.
- Which devices are running in the background, such as backups, CCTV, updates and smart equipment.
- Whether customers or visitors use your WiFi.
Then add the activities together. A handful of people doing light work need far less than the same number all on video calls while a backup runs.
Examples by type of business
These are general illustrations, not recommendations for a particular speed. Your own mix of activities matters most.
Small office
A small team using email, cloud apps and regular video calls will want a comfortable amount of upload so calls stay clear while files sync. If the phones run over the internet, reliability becomes even more important.
Shop, café or salon
Card payments, a till system and booking software are light. Customer WiFi and background music or video streaming add more. Keeping customer WiFi separate from the business network is good practice. Our guide to broadband for shops, cafés and salons covers this in more detail.
Creative or technical business
Design, video, architecture, engineering and similar work involves large uploads and downloads every day. Upload speed and consistency matter a great deal here, which is where full fibre with strong upload, or a leased line, earns its keep.
Working from home
One or two people working from home may need less raw speed than an office, but video calls and uploads still need a good connection, and family use adds to the load in the evening. See our home office broadband setup guide.
Leave some headroom
It is sensible to choose a package with some room to spare. Teams grow, cloud use tends to increase over time, and busy days are busier than you expect. That does not mean buying the fastest package available, but it does mean not choosing one that is only just enough today.
Speed is not the only thing that matters
Before upgrading, check that speed is really the problem.
- WiFi coverage. If the signal is weak in part of the building, a faster package will not help. Mesh units or business access points may be the answer. See our guide to business WiFi for offices, shops and warehouses.
- Connection type. A copper based connection can struggle with upload and vary with distance. Full fibre removes that limit. Our guide to full fibre vs FTTC explains the difference.
- Old equipment. An old router, computer or network switch can slow things down.
- Reliability. If an outage would stop your business, a backup connection may matter more than extra speed.
Running a proper speed test, using a wired connection where possible, is a good first step. Our guide on how to test your broadband speed explains how.
Find the right package
Check your address to see the business full fibre packages available at your premises, with estimated speeds, and a minimum speed where one applies. If you are weighing up broadband against a leased line, read leased line vs business broadband, or contact our team and tell us how you use your connection. We will recommend what fits, not simply the biggest package.