Upload speed test
What your upload speed test result means
Updated 7 June 2026
ToolsUpload speed test
Upload speed
Test your upload
~20 seconds · sustained upload + download · plain-English answer
Runs in your browser · no data leaves your device
Upload is what your line sends, what your end of a Zoom call, your photos to iCloud, your cloud backup needs. Most home broadband is wildly lopsided: 200 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up. We measure both ends, and tell you if upload is what's holding you back.
Upload speed test
You have just tested the one number broadband adverts never quote: your upload. Download is what your line pulls in. Upload is what it sends, your half of a video call, your photos syncing to the cloud, the big file you are emailing for work. Here is how to read the result.
Upload only matters when you are the one sending, so judge your number against what you actually do, per person doing it at the same time.
A video call in HD needs about 3 to 4 Mbps, a little more once you share your screen. Backing up photos and video to iCloud, Google Photos or Dropbox wants 10 Mbps and up before it stops eating your evening. Posting your own video to YouTube, or sending large files for work, is comfortable from around 10 to 20 Mbps. A busy household where two or three people upload at once shares one upstream, so add their needs together.
If your reading clears the work you do with a bit of headroom, your upload is fine. If you are the one who freezes on the call while everyone else stays sharp, it usually is not.
Most UK home broadband is built to receive far more than it sends, so upload comes a distant second. On a part-copper line (the "fibre" most homes actually have, fibre to the street cabinet and copper to the door) upload is typically capped around 10 to 20 Mbps no matter how fast the download is. Cable lines from Virgin Media O2 are lopsided the same way. Full fibre run all the way to the property is the exception: it is usually symmetric, so the line sends about as fast as it receives.
First, rule out your WiFi. Run the test again on a wired connection. If wired comes back much faster, the line is fine and your WiFi is the bottleneck.
If wired is still slow, there are two cases. Either your line is underperforming what you pay for, which is a fault worth chasing, so tell the test your postcode and provider and it will check your upload against your package and point at the likely cause. Or you are at the ceiling for a part-copper or cable line, where no amount of rebooting adds upstream the technology cannot carry.
The only real lift then is full fibre. YouFibre and Hyperoptic run symmetric lines as standard, and if one reaches your address the test will show the deals that can carry your uploads, with the mid-contract price rise shown up front. Sorry, Uswitch.