Download vs upload speed: what's the difference?

Both directions are measured in megabits per second (Mbps). A thousand megabits make a gigabit, so 1,000Mbps is 1Gbps.

Package names generally refer to the download speed. BT’s Full Fibre 300 and Sky’s Full Fibre 300 both advertise around 300Mbps download, but their advertised uploads are 49Mbps and 40Mbps respectively (checked October 2026). The upload figure is published; you just have to look for it in the speed details. If you want to know how megabits relate to the megabytes your files are measured in, see our guide to broadband speed units explained.

Openreach’s figures for its older technologies:

• Copper broadband (also called standard broadband or ADSL) offers up to 21Mbps download and up to 1Mbps upload, and gets slower the further you are from the telephone exchange.
• Part fibre (fibre to the cabinet, or FTTC) uses fibre optic cable from the exchange to the green street cabinet near your home, then traditional copper wire for the final stretch to your door. Openreach quotes up to 76Mbps download and up to 15Mbps upload, and says FTTC reaches 96% of the country.

Openreach’s 15Mbps is its headline figure, and some part fibre packages advertise a little more. Advertised average speeds for part fibre packages, checked in October 2026:

Sky Ultrafast uses G.fast, a faster form of part fibre that Sky says reaches about 6% of UK homes. Even the best of these uploads is well below the full fibre figures in the next section.

Distance matters on part fibre. Openreach says your speed may be affected by how far your home is from the street cabinet, and that speeds can start to drop noticeably beyond around 300 to 400 metres. Advertised figures are averages, so they cannot tell you what your own line will manage; the address-specific speed information you get before you sign is the better guide. Our guide to slow broadband on long lines covers your options if you are a long way from the cabinet.

Full fibre (fibre to the premises, or FTTP) runs fibre optic cable all the way into your home, and Openreach says its performance is not affected by distance from a street cabinet. Uploads are far faster than on part fibre, but the main Openreach full fibre packages from BT and Sky are still asymmetric.

The underlying network is uneven too. Openreach’s full fibre runs on a technology called GPON, which ISPreview reported in August 2026 supports up to 2.5Gbps downstream and 1.24Gbps upstream on each trunk line, shared between several premises: roughly twice as much capacity towards homes as away from them.

Advertised average speeds checked in October 2026 include:

• Sky Full Fibre 75: 75Mbps download, 16Mbps upload
• BT Full Fibre 300: 300Mbps download, 49Mbps upload
• Sky Full Fibre 300: 300Mbps download, 40Mbps upload
• BT Full Fibre 500: 500Mbps download, 73Mbps upload
• BT Full Fibre 900: 900Mbps download, 110Mbps upload
• Sky Gigafast (on Openreach): 900Mbps download, 90Mbps upload

On these packages, upload is between roughly a tenth and a fifth of the download speed. Openreach’s fastest service on its standard GPON full fibre network reaches up to 1.8Gbps download with 120Mbps upload, ISPreview reported in August 2026. Sky sells a Full Fibre 1.6Gbps package over Openreach’s network, but Sky’s own page lists that package at 1,600Mbps download and 1,000Mbps upload (checked October 2026), which differs from ISPreview’s figure for the underlying Openreach product. If upload matters to you, confirm the figure with Sky for your address before ordering.

For most households even the lower full fibre uploads are plenty, as the activity figures below show. Our guide to what full fibre broadband is explains how it differs from part fibre.

Virgin Media’s main network uses cable rather than telephone lines, and it also sells full fibre. Its speeds page (updated 8 September 2026, checked October 2026) lists these advertised averages for its standard packages, all asymmetric:

M125 to M500 are listed at the same speeds on cable and full fibre. Virgin Media says these are averages measured at peak time (8pm to 10pm) and are not guaranteed.

The same page also lists an upload speed add-on, under its full fibre speeds, with upload matching download on every tier: for example 516Mbps both ways on M500 and 2,000Mbps both ways on Gig2 (checked October 2026). The page does not explain where the add-on is offered or what it costs, so ask Virgin Media whether it is available at your address. See how its packages compare at your address on our Virgin Media broadband deals page.

Ofcom’s last annual home broadband performance report, using March 2023 data, found a median download speed of 69.4Mbps and a median upload of 18.4Mbps (as reported by ISPreview). Ofcom said it would be the last report of that kind. The pattern is the same as in the package figures: the median upload was around a quarter of the median download.

A brand is not always one or the other. Some providers sell over more than one network, or list different speeds for the same package name, and the upload depends on what serves your home:

• Rebel Internet sells symmetric packages (Rebel 550 and Rebel 1Gb) over CityFibre and asymmetric ones over Openreach. Our Rebel broadband deals page shows which are offered at your address.
• Sky sells symmetric Gigafast+ packages over CityFibre, while its other full fibre packages run over Openreach and are mostly asymmetric (Full Fibre 300, for example, is 300/40Mbps).
• Virgin Media lists Gig2 at 104Mbps upload on cable but 200Mbps on full fibre, and its upload add-on appears only under its full fibre speeds.

The practical rule: check the upload figure for the exact package offered at your exact address, not the brand in general.

Openreach is trialling a newer full fibre technology called XGS-PON. ISPreview reported in August 2026 that it is offered at maximum symmetric speeds of up to 8.5Gbps, starting from a pilot of about 40,000 premises in Guildford and Woking, with more than 1 million premises planned by the end of August 2027 and around a third of Openreach’s full fibre network over five years.

Symmetric speeds are not automatic even here. ISPreview reported in January 2026 that the pilot’s 5.5Gbps and 8.5Gbps tiers come with 550Mbps and 850Mbps upload, and that symmetric versions are likely to cost extra. As now, these speeds would reach you through a provider such as BT or Sky, so check the package rather than the network’s headline capability.

Video calls are an everyday example of upload use, because everyone on the call sends video as well as receiving it.

Microsoft says its figures are per device, so someone who joins on a laptop and a phone at once counts twice. A single call needs only a few megabits per second, and Ofcom says even a “decent” 10Mbps connection is enough for an HD video call. The total climbs when several people are on calls at once, or when calls overlap with other uploads such as a cloud backup. If you work from home, our guide to broadband for working from home goes further.

Live streaming needs a steady, sizeable upload. YouTube’s recommended live-stream bitrates using the common H.264 format are 8Mbps for 720p, 14Mbps for 1080p at 30 frames per second, 17Mbps for 1080p at 60 frames per second and 42Mbps to 50Mbps for 4K. Newer formats (AV1 or H.265) need less, for example 10Mbps for 1080p at 30 frames per second. YouTube advises running a speed test to check your upload and choosing a quality your connection can stream reliably.

Set those numbers beside the package figures above. A 1080p stream at 60 frames per second, at 17Mbps, is more than most part fibre packages advertise as their average upload (Sky Superfast lists 16Mbps, BT Fibre 2 20Mbps), and more than many part fibre lines can upload, especially longer ones. Entry-level full fibre and cable can be tight too: Sky Full Fibre 75 lists 16Mbps upload and Virgin Media M125 20Mbps. Packages from around 300Mbps upwards have room to spare. Uploading a finished video is less demanding, since it does not have to keep up in real time, but your upload speed still decides how long you wait.

Phones and computers backing up photos and documents to cloud storage are uploading, and so is anyone sending big files. These jobs rarely need a set minimum speed; upload simply decides how long they take. As a rough illustration, the same file takes about ten times as long over a 10Mbps upload as over a 100Mbps one.

The catch is that everything in your home shares the same upload capacity, so a big background backup can compete with someone’s video call. If calls break up while a large upload is running, consider pausing the upload until the call has finished.

Ordinary online play needs very little upload. Xbox’s recommended minimums are 3Mbps download, 0.5Mbps upload and a ping under 150 milliseconds. Ping, the delay in data reaching the game server and back, usually matters far more than upload; our guide to latency, ping and jitter explains why.

Upload matters more if you stream your console to another device. PlayStation says Remote Play needs at least 5Mbps upload and download, with at least 15Mbps each way recommended. If you broadcast gameplay live, the YouTube figures apply. Our guide to broadband for online gaming covers the rest.

1. List what sends data at your busiest time: who is on video calls, who streams live, which devices back up automatically.
2. Look up each activity’s published figure in the tables above, at the quality you actually use.
3. Count each device separately. Two people in two meetings is two uploads.
4. Add them up and leave headroom. Advertised speeds are averages, Virgin Media’s are not guaranteed, and part fibre uploads fall with distance.

Illustrative example, not a recommendation: two adults in Teams video meetings at Microsoft’s recommended 2.5Mbps upload each make 5Mbps. Add a teenager live streaming 1080p at 30 frames per second, at YouTube’s recommended 14Mbps, and the total is 19Mbps. That is more than most part fibre packages advertise as their average upload (Sky Superfast lists 16Mbps) and leaves almost no headroom even on BT Fibre 2’s 20Mbps, but it is well within BT Full Fibre 300’s advertised 49Mbps upload. Without the live stream, 5Mbps fits within the advertised upload of every part fibre package listed above, although a line a long way from its cabinet could still struggle.

For the download side of the same sum, see our guide to what broadband speed you need.

Upload deserves more weight if your household has several people on video calls most working days, live streams or uploads long videos, regularly sends large work files such as video projects or photo sets, backs up lots of devices, or uses Remote Play. If your home mainly streams, browses and makes the occasional call, the uploads listed above for full fibre and most cable packages cover that with room to spare, and download speed, price and reliability are likely to matter more.

• What is the advertised average upload speed for this package at my address?
• What minimum upload speed will my contract state?
• Is this package full-fibre, part-fibre, cable or copper, and which network delivers it?
• Is the upload symmetric at my address, or only in some locations?
• What happens if my upload keeps falling below the contract minimum?