Read your upload against what you do, not against the headline download. A video call in HD wants about 3 to 5 Mbps up, a little more once you share your screen, and backing files up to the cloud wants 10 Mbps and above before it stops dragging. One person working from home is comfortable from around 10 Mbps of upload; two on calls at the same time want 20 Mbps or more, because everyone in the house shares one upstream. Reliability counts as much as the raw figure: a line that drops for ten seconds mid-meeting costs you more than a slow download ever will, so a steady connection beats a fast but flaky one.

Most UK home broadband is built to receive far more than it sends. On a part-copper line, the "fibre" most homes actually have, with fibre to the street cabinet and copper to the door, upload is typically capped around 10 to 20 Mbps however fast the download looks. That weak upstream is exactly what freezes your face on a call while everyone else stays sharp. Cable lines are lopsided the same way. Full fibre run all the way to the property is the exception: it is usually symmetric, so it sends about as fast as it receives, which is why it is the connection built for working from home.

Rule out the wifi first. Run the test again with a laptop plugged into the router: if the wired upload is healthy and calls still stutter, the wifi is the problem, not the line. If the wired upload is also short, the line is the limit, and the fix is a symmetric full-fibre line. Hyperoptic and Community Fibre build nothing else, and the test above shows whether either reaches your desk. It is also worth keeping a backup for the days the line goes down on a deadline. Best broadband for working from home covers the backup plan in full, and you can isolate the figure on the upload test.