But some internet plans give you much faster uploads, even gigabit speeds. What is a fast upload speed?Ī fast internet upload speed is at least 10 Mbps. Having internet that fast is like owning a lifted 4WD work truck-you likely won’t have any opportunity to use all that power unless you’re involved in some industrial-grade internet activity, like mining cryptocurrency with dozens of computers all on the same Wi-Fi. There’s no reason to have an internet plan in the range of 2,000 Mbps or faster right now.

Uploading large files or backing up hard-drives to cloud servers.

But other activities take up more bandwidth and thus require much faster speeds.Īctivities that benefit from gigabit internet: It’s not necessary if you spend most of your online time doing things like checking email, streaming video in HD, and making occasional Zoom calls, since those activities require much less bandwidth.

But it’s expensive and faster than most people need, so it’s not worth it for the average user. It’s also worth it if you share your Wi-Fi with a bunch of roommates or family members. Gigabit internet is worth it if you use a large amount of bandwidth on a regular basis. A couple providers even offer 2 Gbps in some areas, while AT&T offers 5 Gbps. On the high end, residential internet speeds can reach up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) of download speed, or 1,000 Mbps. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has advocated for raising the baseline definition of broadband to be 100 Mbps. Although that’s enough speed for basic internet use, it’s actually a bit slow by today’s standards, since many providers offer 100 Mbps speeds as basic-level plans. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines broadband or high-speed internet as 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload speed. Fast internet is a connection with speeds of 100 Mbps and up.

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