Having a bad connection and an inability to work is a problem for remote and hybrid employees, so it's vital to understand your work-from-home internet requirements. In this blog, we'll provide a guide to internet needs for remote workers and highlight the key aspects you need to consider.

 

How and Why to Conduct a Speed Test

Before you establish your work-from-home internet speed requirements, it's important to conduct a speed test to see if your setup will allow you to work productively or at all. Speed tests are essential to understand your broadband's capabilities and limitations and for peace of mind. After all, failing to complete tasks or disconnecting during important meetings is less than ideal.

Conducting a speed test isn't as technical and complex as it sounds, so don't worry. One of the most common and simplest ways to run a speed test is using free web applications. Generally, they only take between 30 seconds and a minute and transfer around 40 MB of data, so keep this in mind if you have a data-based usage plan. You can test broadband speeds using any of the following web-based applications:

 

• Fast.com 
• Ookla Speedtest 
• AT&T Highspeed Internet Speed Test 
• SpeedSmart 
• Internet Health Test 

 

Testing Internet Speed Tests Using Mobile

If you're looking for a mobile app to test work-from-home internet speed, there are several available for IOS and Android. But for high-quality, broad-scope speed testing, Speedtest by Ookla app is your best bet. It's available for both IOS and Android and allows you to test broadband download and upload speeds.

 

Aspects That Can Impact Broadband Speed Tests

If you run an internet speed test and find that it's not quite up to what you were expecting, a few things may be impacting your test.

Various factors can influence Wi-Fi signals, such as interference from other devices, distance, obstacles (furniture and walls), and congested signals from nearby networks. These types of interference can fluctuate your Wi-Fi connection's speed and stability, leading to unreliable or inaccurate speed tests and results.

 

Ways to Improve Broadband Speed

Not getting the broadband speeds you expect? As we mentioned, there are several factors that can impact the speed test, and therefore, it won't provide an accurate reading of your broadband connection at home. Try the following when conducting an internet speed test to provide more accurate and reliable results:

 

• Move your device closer to the router and aim to put it in a central location free of obstructions such as walls, furniture, and ceilings (minimal obstructions to wireless signal)
• The classic, turn it off and turn it (your router) on again
• Ensure you aren't using a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band while testing for 5 GHz speeds
• Try different, newer devices to retest if you aren't happy with the results

 

Work-from-Home Internet Requirements

Everyone's work-from-home internet requirements vary, from writing documents and sending emails to Zoom calls and presentations. However, each person in a household could be running multiple apps while utilising video calls and sharing files with colleagues. 

Our Home Workers Broadband Package is designed with these tasks in mind, offering 300mbps download and 100mbps upload speeds. This not only ensures a faster and more reliable connection but offers peace of mind throughout the work day. No dropping out of important meetings or experiencing delays due to slow file sharing. Just trustworthy broadband that gives you what you need when you need it.

To give you a clearer idea about work-from-home internet speed requirements, let's take a look at some common work tasks and their broadband needs.

 

Email and Chat Apps

While you'll need more bandwidth to share and download image and video attachments, everyday emails and chat apps such as Slack don’t require a super high download speed. Fortunately, these types of apps and sending emails use a limited amount of bandwidth, regardless of how long or frequent your messages are. This is hugely beneficial for remote workers, as hindered communication can impact productivity and the social elements of the workplace.

With that said, it’s always important to have more speed than you need. Otherwise, you’ll run into trouble if you use chat apps alongside a range of other tools and tasks.

 

Internet Browsing

Depending on your profession, your online activity will range from casual browsing to heavy use of multiple platforms, tools, and other websites. If you're the latter and bounce back and forth between lots of tabs, it’s invaluable to have a high download speed to accommodate it. Especially if some of those tabs happen to be video calls or other media that will impact your speed. 

Casual internet browsing will not consume significant data unless you're on pages with many uncompressed images or videos. However, for social media scrolling, you'll need slightly faster speeds, particularly if video autoplay is on.

Loading a web page doesn't require a constant stream of data; you download the content once, and it remains accessible as long as it's stored in your browser's cache.

 

Video Calling

As the pandemic forced us into a new era of remote work and virtual socialising, many of us found ourselves grappling with the challenges of slow internet speeds and unreliable connections while using Zoom and similar apps for the first time. Now, ensuring you can hop on a call and communicate with colleagues is a vital aspect of work-from-home internet requirements.

Video calls consist of simultaneous sending and receiving of real-time video. Therefore, it's important to consider several internet speed factors to maximise the effectiveness of your remote meetings—download speed, upload speed, and latency.

 

• Download speed: Influences the quality of video from others during the call.
• Upload speed: Determines the efficiency of transmitting your video feed to others.
• Latency: Affects the way connections synchronise; high latency can distort calls and lead to lagging.

 

Video calls are such a common and widely used platform now, and in professional environments, some calls can be very serious and impact your work. For this reason, it’s critical to ensure your broadband connection offers more than enough upload and download speed to suit your needs. If you work from home but are unable to connect to video calls, that's a big problem.

 

File Sharing

Fast broadband significantly benefits home working by improving the efficiency and reliability of file sharing. With high-speed internet, large files can be uploaded and downloaded quickly, reducing waiting times and boosting productivity. It supports seamless real-time collaboration through cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox while ensuring high-quality video conferencing with minimal lag. 

Fast broadband also enables secure and efficient remote access to office networks, speedy synchronisation of files across devices, and quick installation of essential security updates.

 

A Reliable, Fast Broadband Connection for Home Working

At Wildanet, we offer two different business broadband packages tailored to the needs of work-from-home professionals. Our Home Workers Broadband package offers 300mbps download and 100mbps upload speeds, providing a fast and reliable connection for tasks such as video calls, file sharing, and document saving. 

However, our Home Offices package offers a staggering 900mbps download and 300mbps upload speeds. With these speeds, you can easily carry out all of your daily work tasks, boosting productivity and helping you stay on top of your workload. The package also supports more complex tasks, such as the use of CRM, e-commerce, and industry-specific office tools.

Broadband packages such as this can support one or multiple people working from home that run a range of tools and tasks throughout the day. There’s no such thing as having “too much” broadband speed, as you never know how hard you’re going to make your internet connection work from day to day.

 

Is Full-Fibre Broadband Good for Working from Home?

Full Fibre broadband represents the next evolution in internet connectivity. A future where speed and reliability are paramount. Unlike traditional 'fibre' broadband, which often relies on a mix of fibre optic and copper cables, full fibre uses pure fibre optic cables, offering superior performance. Full fibre broadband delivers faster speeds and enhanced reliability by directly linking users to the exchange via fibre optics.

In an era where digital connectivity is vital to daily life, especially for those working from home, the transition to full-fibre broadband promises to revolutionise internet usage. From productive work days and long video conference calls to simply being able to connect with colleagues, full fibre empowers users with the bandwidth and stability needed to thrive in the digital age. 

As more households embrace this cutting-edge technology, the promise of faster, more reliable internet becomes a reality for all communities.

 

Switch to Wildanet's Hyperfast Broadband

Wildanet is an independent internet service provider based in Cornwall, dedicated to delivering high-speed broadband to homes, businesses, and rural communities across Cornwall and the South West.

Despite significant advances in connectivity, many communities in Cornwall still grapple with substandard internet connections. This issue poses challenges for families and businesses but also for remote workers who need to be connected and productive at home. This is a significant disadvantage compared to counterparts elsewhere in the UK. 

Wildanet strives to provide a solution to this widespread issue by investing millions in the development of a new high-speed digital network tailored to the needs of Cornwall and the South West. Through this initiative, countless individuals will gain access to reliable broadband and digital connectivity, ensuring all your work-from-home internet requirements are met.

For more information and to determine if our service is available in your area, please enter your postcode here or contact our local team on 0800 0699906.