What is a good upload and download speed for WiFi connection?

Not sure what is the average upload speed for WiFi, how much speed is good for your internet connection, and what is a good upload and download speed for wifi should be for common activities like checking emails, video calls, playing online games, streaming, and more? If that’s the case, this post is for you; check it out right now!

But first, it’s good to spend some minutes learning basic things concerning WiFi internet connection, its pros & cons compared to the wired internet, etc. Let’s get started right now!

Good internet speed

What is WiFi? 

It is a wireless networking technology that allows devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, and more, to connect to the internet.

So, what exactly is WiFi? How does it work? What are the advantages and downsides of using WiFi internet? Following are quick answers to these questions.

WiFi, what exactly is it? How does it work?

Technically, WiFi is the radio signal transmitted from a wireless router to the nearby WiFi-enabled devices. The signal is then translated into data that users can see and use. The devices also transmit a signal back to the router. 

Put it briefly, WiFi uses radio waves to send data from the wireless router to the Wi-Fi-enabled devices within a certain range. That’s how WiFi works. 

Home network

Pros and cons of WiFi internet network

WiFi internet connection offers various benefits to internet users. For sure, this technology allows us to connect and use the internet so conveniently. However, along with its superior advantages, WiFi also has considerable disadvantages that make it less solid than a wired connection. 

Major pros 

• Mobility and flexibility. It’s the most significant advantage of WiFi. Using WiFi means that you can access the internet from any place as long as your device is in a WiFi range.

• Multiple users. Numerous WiFi-enabled devices (TVs, tablets, laptops, phones, video game systems, and more) can use the network at the same time without running any Ethernet wires throughout the house or office. 

• The installation is considered easy and fast.

Wi-Fi signal

Major cons

• Slower speed (than a wired connection). According to businessinsider.com, Ethernet connection (Ethernet cable) is almost always faster than WiFi.

• Prone to things like wireless interference, physical obstacles, and distance. The farther the distance between the wireless router and your device, the weaker the WiFi signal. Besides, WiFi internet can be interrupted or even blocked by walls, floors, material objects, wireless interferences, etc.

• Security. WiFi connections are likely less secure than Ethernet connections.

These are basic things to know about WiFi internet. In the next part of this writing, we’ll learn about good download and upload speeds for WiFi.

What are good download and upload speeds for WiFi?

Both download and upload speeds are important for our internet experiences, no matter whether you use WiFi or a wired internet connection. Without sufficient internet speeds, it’s hard for us to do online activities smoothly. 

Before finding out what download and upload speeds for WiFi are good, let’s check out what these two are and how they matter.

Downloading

Upload and download speeds 

Together with ping (latency), upload speed and download speed are primary factors determining how fast and strong an internet connection is. 

Download speed

It is the rate at which the data (in the form of text, audio, videos, …) travels from a server on the internet to your devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, or others).

The faster the download speed, the better. With better internet download speed, it will be quicker for your devices to receive the data. 

Download speed is measured in Megabits per second - Mbps. And of course, the higher the download Mbps value, the faster the connection in terms of downloading data.

Note that a vast majority of regular online activities that average internet users do involve downloading data. These activities include streaming or watching videos online, gaming, checking emails, visiting websites, downloading files, and more. That’s the reason why fast upload is always considered so vital that most internet service providers give their priority to download speeds.

Fast upload speeds 

Upload speed 

While download speed refers to how fast your device can receive data, upload speed represents the speed at which data moves from your device to the internet.

Not just downloading, we are also uploading all the time, but the amount of data involved is often too small. Therefore, download speeds are considered more important than upload speed. 

For activities like watching videos online, checking emails, or web surfing, wifi upload speed slow doesn’t affect much. However, in some cases, good upload speeds, not download speeds, are what matter the most for users. 

Well, anytime you do activities involving uploading large amounts of data like live streaming, sending large files, uploading video to YouTube, sharing videos or photos on social media, …, then fast internet speeds for uploading data or good wifi upload speed are extremely important.  

Internet speed test

What is a good upload speed and download speed for WiFi?

To be honest, it’s hard to have a definite answer here since several factors determine a good upload and download speed for WiFi, including the activities that you often engage in, the number of devices using your network, and the internet plan that you are paying for. 

If you are a singer user and use the internet mainly for things like browsing the web, checking emails, or streaming music, the download speed of 5 Mbps seems quite enough. 

However, 5 Mbps is never sufficient for streaming UHD videos on Netflix or playing FPS games. You will need at least 25 Mbps of download speed to stream Netflix content in UHD quality on one device at a time.

Fast speeds for wifi connection

Well, for home networks having multiple devices frequently using the connection for bandwidth-heavy activities such as streaming, broadcasting live streams, downloading/uploading large files, playing fast-paced games, the internet needs to be so fast to be called a good speed connection. 

For a piece of information concerning what a good download speed and upload speed is, as per allconnect.com, the FCC has defined broadband internet, or fast internet, as the connection with minimum download speeds of 25 Mbps and minimum upload speeds of 3 Mbps since 2015. 

Still, generally speaking, good Wi-Fi connection speeds depend on what you (and other people) use the internet for. Note that since WiFi signals are transmitted through the air, WiFi speeds aren’t as fast as speeds of a wired connection, so in some cases, you might want faster speeds for WiFi to ensure seamless internet experiences. 

Internet service provider

Internet speed ranges and what they are good for

Following are 5 internet download speed ranges divided by highspeedinternet.com. Let’s see what we can do with each of these internet speed ranges.

0 - 5Mbps

At speeds less than 5 Mbps, you can do basic things like:

• Streaming music on one device

• Browsing the web

• Checking email

• Searching on Google

5-40 Mbps

This speed range is suitable for:

• Streaming video on one device

• One gaming for one gamer

• Video calls on Skype or FaceTime

• ...

40-100 Mbps

The range is good for:

• Downloading large files

• Multiplayer online gaming

• Streaming videos in high definition on a few devices

• ...

100-500 Mbps

It works for:

• Downloading large files quickly

• Gaming online for multiple players at once

• Streaming 4K content on multiple screens

• ...

Higher than 500 Mbps

With this speed, you can do a lot of almost everything on devices at once. 

Multiple internet users

Some ending words

Recently, MySpeed shared with you lots of details and information about WiFi internet connection and what is a good upload and download speed for WiFi. Well, as you can see, while WiFi is so advantageous when it comes to mobility, flexibility, and convenience, it seems to be not as fast and solid as a wired connection. About what good Wi-Fi connection speeds are, they depend on how you use the internet. And that’s all for this post, hope you liked it.