Internet Speed for Working from Home

The internet, especially post-Covid, isn’t just for watching viral YouTube videos, forwarding funny emails, or playing video games anymore. It’s what connects us to our friends, family, co-workers, clients— essentially our entire community. And, at a time when it seems like everyone and their mother is a remote worker, we need to have the optimal internet speed for working from home. 

Most of us have ditched the 9 to 5 grind and now work from home (WFH). We get up in the morning, make a cup of coffee, and then sit at our computers wearing a nice, professional shirt accompanied by old pajama bottoms. In turn, we’ve realized that a fast and reliable network is critical to our job performance.

So, let’s dig into the importance of having a strong, speedy internet connection in 2022.

Why you need a fast internet speed for working from home

Having a fast, stable internet connection is imperative to thriving in our work culture today if you’re one of the majority of Americans who WFH. To put it plainly, your job is what keeps the lights on. Thus, your income, and in turn, quality of life, rely on your internet.

Slow internet can affect your job by making you miss critical deadlines, prevent prompt responses to your boss or colleagues, or cause you to get disconnected during an important Zoom conference. So, while upgrading your internet plan can seem like an insignificant decision at first sight, it holds the power to potentially make or break your reputation at work.

What’s the minimum internet speed for working from home?

WFH internet speed requirements depend on what your job demands and what your situation at home is. 

Does your job only require you to send emails, browse the web, or make spreadsheets? Or do you need to attend virtual meetings or download large files regularly? And what’s your environment at home like? Is it just you in your home office all day? Or is your partner in the next room on a Zoom call while your kids play Call of Duty in the living room?

A download speed of 50 Mbps is a good minimum to start with for WFH individuals. But, if your job requires more than just basic tasks like surfing the web or sending emails, you’ll likely need to upgrade your internet plan.

Is 100 Mbps fast enough for remote work?

Again, this depends on what your job requires you to do. So, if you’re wondering if 100 Mbps is good for working remotely, the answer is contingent on what you use your internet for. 

Most remote positions today do require faster speeds to perform your job successfully. This is because it’s likely you’ll be hopping on video conference calls and working with large, high-quality files. Even handling big documents like PDFs or PowerPoints calls for a fast and reliable internet connection. Likewise, if you have three or more people in your home who use the internet at the same time you’re working, you’ll need a bulletproof connection regardless of whether you’re taking video calls or downloading large files.

So, to ensure you have a smooth WFH experience no matter what your job requires you to do or how many other people are using the internet in your home at the same time, you need a connection that’s essentially a one-speed-fits-all.

Is there such a thing?

Let us introduce you to Fiber— the best internet speed for working from home.  

What’s Fiber Internet?

Fiber internet is a broadband connection that relies on the use of fiber optic cables for transmitting the information.

You may have heard that Fiber is the future, as it’s earned a reputation for being the chic, cutting-edge technology for internet connection. It currently offers the fastest and most reliable internet speed for working from home.

In fiber optics, cables made from thin fibers of glass or plastic transmit data as pulses of light. With this technology, information can travel extraordinarily long distances— much longer than the traditional internet, which uses copper wire as a means of sending and receiving data.

The three primary benefits of fiber internet are reliability, speed, and unlimited bandwidth. So, we’ll discuss each one and how it can improve your WFH lifestyle.

Revolutionary reliability

You can depend on fiber optic cables to do their job reliably. These cables cross oceans and are impervious to weather along their journey of transmitting information. 

It’s tremendously difficult for fiber cables to get damaged, as they carry data by way of light. This makes the cables far less susceptible to the negative effects of harsh weather, which can cause interrupted signals and outages in other types of broadband internet connections.

How this boosts your WFH lifestyle

When your work from home connectivity is reliable, so is your work. You won’t have to worry about your connection ever cutting out in the middle of an important conference call or while you’re typing out an email to your boss. You’ll be able to work in a streamlined manner, stress-free.

Download rates as fast as the speed of light

It’s not a race when you’re competing against the speed of light. Fiber optics will always get to the finish line first. Today, fiber plans offer speeds that can be 10 to 20x faster than the standard 50 to 100 Mbps many of us have adapted to. Most fiber connections have download speeds of at least 1 Gbps, or 1,000 Mbps, which isn’t just a good internet speed for working from home. It’s phenomenal.

How this boosts your WFH lifestyle

So, if you’re wondering, “how fast should my Internet be to work from home? It should be Fiber fast. The unparalleled speeds that a fiber connection offers make work processes like emailing and loading webpages much faster than any other internet solution on the market. In turn, fiber optics can speed up the rate at which you complete tasks and make you a more efficient employee.

Symmetrical upload speeds

 

When you have a fiber connection, you’re not settling for just an adequate upload internet speed for working from home. Upload speeds on a cable connection only reach a fraction of Fiber upload speeds. Because fiber speeds are symmetrical, if you can download data at a rate of 1,000 Mbps, then you can upload data at a rate of 1,000 Mbps. 

How this boosts your WFH lifestyle

Upload speed is the type of Internet speed you need for video calls. A fiber optic network ensures the highest-quality video call experience due to its unbeatable upload speeds. This means your face won’t appear distorted and fuzzy when you’re on a professional Zoom call with your boss.

Unlimited bandwidth

Since Fiber has impeccable functioning capabilities at high speeds, it’s virtually impossible to place a limit on its capacity. This means that there’s no throttling. In other words, your smooth, speedy connection won’t be affected by the number of devices that are using your internet. 

So, a limitless bandwidth is just another reason why Fiber is the best internet speed for working from home.

How this boosts your WFH lifestyle

When you experience symmetric bandwidth speed, you don’t have to worry about a call dropping or a slowed work process when you’ve got Netflix on in the background, your partner working virtually in the other room, and your kid uploading a dance on TikTok all at the same time.

Your best bet at accessing a dependable, fast internet speed for working from home

A fast and stable internet connection at home is a top priority for the majority of us who work remotely, whether that’s full-time or part-time.

So, if your area has access to a Fiber network, you should take advantage of it. Fiber internet has the potential to transform the way we work in the WFH era we’ve all unprecedentedly found ourselves in. 

At 24-7 & West Wisconsin Telcom, we offer a 1 Gbps fiber connection that’s faster in all directions with no data caps, throttling, or contacts. Chat with us today to discover your options so you can be more productive while you work from home.