Best broadband for working from home

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many UK office workers were forced to work from home. In fact, according to Finder, around 60% of the UK workforce were working from home at the height of the pandemic!

Restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 crisis may have largely been lifted, yet, millions of Brits still continue to work from home either permanently or on a regular basis. Ah yes, hello hybrid working!

Of course, working from home means you’ll need most of the facilities you would have at your office, like a dedicated office, or at minimum, a suitable working space.

People also need the facilities to make free calls (or at least recoup the costs!), not to mention the ability to receive one-to-one video calls, download and upload large files, and stream videos, among many other day-to-day work-related activities.

But, where there’s a will, there’s a way! And it all starts with ensuring you have a reliably rapid internet connection so you can continue to work from the comfort of your own home.

Top tips for choosing the right broadband for working from home

Of course, these activities need reliable internet connectivity and excellent broadband from your internet service provider. So, first things first, we’ve put together our top tips on choosing the right broadband for working from home.

• Home Office Broadband Speed
  • Upload Speed
  • Download Speed
  • Min. Speed
  • Speed Test
• Usage Limits
• Why Fibre Broadband is Excellent for Working From Home
• Fibre Broadband Providers
• Broadband Plans

What broadband speed do you need for working from home?

You will be bombarded with the word ‘speed’ when deciding which broadband to use for working at home. Upload speeds and download speeds are important, and generally, faster speeds make for a better service! You could get up to 900Mbps with us.

Don’t be caught out though – the best deals by price may not offer fast upload speeds or download speeds. When you’re working from home, it is crucial to get a broadband package that provides you with the best minimum speed for your needs.

Minimum download and upload speeds

So, what is the minimum internet speed for working from home? Rather than considering whether your broadband package gives you the correct minimum speed, consider what you need from your internet connection first.

The right minimum speed for your home working activities depends on what you do online.

For instance, you generally won’t be using the connection for online gaming or tv streaming during office hours, unless there are others in your household who may need to use the connection at the same time, so the need for speeds isn’t as high as it usually is.

Here are a few examples of the working activities you might need great speeds for.

Email and web browsing

Emailing and web browsing are relatively lightweight activities. Web pages for example are generally optimised to be as small as possible so that they load quickly. The same goes for emails as they are primarily text files.

So, a standard ADSL broadband package should suffice for your internet connection.

But, if you are sending or receiving large attachments in your emails, these will consume larger amounts of data. In this case, you are much better off with fibre optic broadband packages.

VOIP and video conferencing

Many people are making the switch from using their landline to streaming their calls through their internet connection instead.

It’s no surprise that the use of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) has increased steadily over the past few years. VOIP has a relatively low bandwidth requirement, so a superfast broadband connection isn’t essential.

Yet, video conferencing and calls are a whole other ball game. You may be wondering..

What speed do you need for the most popular video conferencing systems for working from home?

We’ve got you covered.

• Skype. 300Kbps for low quality, rising to 1.5 Mbps for high quality.
• Google Meet. 3Mbps.
• Apple Facetime. 3Mbps.
• Zoom. Between 600Kbps and 1.5Mbps

Of course, these figures are for guidance only, and they will vary depending on the number of connected devices on the call. For a stable and good quality video, you can’t go wrong with the ultrafast connection provided by full fibre broadband.

File uploads and downloads

As with email attachments, uploading and downloading files quickly requires a fast connection. If you need to frequently transfer large files, you should consider an ultrafast fibre connection.

Even if you only upload or download small files, it can still take quite some time. Faster speeds are also crucial when you’re transferring files to the cloud.

Waiting for files to transfer, or having them time-out or require re-transmission can be incredibly frustrating. It’s certainly not the situation you want for your home working environment, and that broadband rage can be avoided!

Use our speed test to check your broadband connection

You can check how fast your broadband connection is using our broadband speed test tool. If you need faster speeds than you’re currently getting, you might want to start shopping around for the best broadband deals.

Here’s a breakdown of our broadband packages, including fibre optic broadband. We offer different packages at great prices, so you can always find the best broadband deal for you.

• Full fibre 900
• Full fibre 600
• Full fibre 300
• Full fibre 150

Home broadband packages usage limits

Working from home can put a considerable amount of stress on your existing home broadband connection.

For instance, you might be using multiple devices for your work, or working at the same time as others in your household.

You may be running your work mobile phone through your home broadband rather than using your home phone line. You’ll probably spend more time on video calls than you would typically.

These additional tasks and connected devices mean you’ll be using data faster than usual. If your broadband package doesn’t include unlimited data, you could be in for some more frustration. Going over your data limit could result in your broadband speeds being reduced or your subscription costs increasing.

So, it’s always worth shopping around to compare broadband deals if you’re being restricted by data allowances with your current home broadband.

What is fibre broadband?

Fibre provides high-speed connectivity. It is considered to be the most reliable home broadband for working from home. It is also future-proofed, so you can be sure that it will provide you with a fast internet connection for years to come.

Find out more about fibre broadband.

What’s the difference between fibre and ADSL?

The main practical differences between fibre and ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) connections come down to cost and reliability.

ADSL can be cheaper than full fibre connections – but, when it comes to speed and reliability ADSL connections are no comparison to full fibre.

Let’s face it, if you are home working, you need a reliable internet connection. The last thing you want is to be back on the commuter train every morning because your broadband just isn’t cutting it.

What’s the difference between ADSL vs Fibre?

Why is fibre optic broadband excellent for working from home?

Fibre optic broadband is excellent for home office working. But what are the practical benefits you could reap in your own home office?

Check out these reasons to opt for a full fibre package:

1. You can connect multiple devices at the same time
2. Impressive downloading and uploading speeds
3. Reliability
4. Crystal clear video

You can connect multiple devices at the same time

When working remotely or at home, you will likely have several devices connected to the internet simultaneously. Even when you are the only person at home, your work might require you to have an office laptop connected at the same time as you have your home computer on.

You might want to listen to some music while you work, potentially from a streaming service through your tablet and played through WiFi speakers.

No doubt, you will have at least one mobile connected, possibly another if you have a dedicated work phone. All these devices require bandwidth, so fibre is ideal for connecting them all at the same time, with plenty of room left for you to add more.

Impressive downloading and uploading speeds

Full fibre broadband offers you a much faster connection. Although you might accept a slow speed when downloading a family movie, things might not be quite so acceptable if you are keeping the team waiting for an important document because your internet connection with your current broadband provider is slow.

When it comes to working from your home, speed is of the essence. FTTP offers you an ultrafast fibre connection, capable of dealing with anything your work-life (and home-life) can throw at it!

Reliability

If there is one thing that will frustrate your boss and team more than waiting on your slow connection to deliver a file, it’s not receiving it at all. If your connection is unreliable, you may lose crucial communications for an indefinite period.

That’s frustrating enough in the home environment but unacceptable at work. Fibre is stable and future-proofed to provide you with reliability for years to come.

Crystal clear video

You might not be streaming videos while working at home, but you will likely participate in video meetings and conferences. There’s nothing worse than needing to join an important meeting, only for your connection to keep dropping out on you. With a broadband service that gives you a full fibre connection, you will have crystal clear video, so you needn’t miss a word of your meetings again.

Is mobile broadband suitable for working from home?

Although there are plenty of mobile broadband providers offering excellent broadband speeds, you should consider whether this is a sufficient, or reliable enough, broadband package for working from home.

While mobile broadband may suffice if you are travelling or you’re away from your home office for a few hours, it doesn’t offer the capability and reliability of fibre broadband.

When you are working from home, you may need your laptop, mobile phone, and other devices connected simultaneously.

Even the best mobile broadband or mobile deals or business mobile broadband packages may not provide you the speed and bandwidth you require for optimal home working.

That’s why Airband recommends a reliable fibre broadband package.

Do you need phone line rental when working at home?

You don’t require a phone line for ultrafast broadband. As most office activities can be conducted via an ultrafast broadband connection, there is no requirement for a landline.

Do you need a phone line to get broadband?

More home workers means a demand for a better broadband service

Life may be mostly back to normal following the pandemic. However, for millions of office workers, the new normal is to spend a large proportion of their employment working from home. This trend is likely to continue, and probably increase.

Find your new broadband deal for home working

If you’re one of the many home workers in the UK, you might be wondering whether any other broadband providers can offer you a stronger connection speed. If you’ve been struggling along with your WiFi signal, let fibre optic broadband make your life easier.

Get the best broadband for working from home with Airband.

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You might also like:

• How much broadband do I need?
• What’s the difference between superfast and ultrafast broadband?
• How to choose an internet service provider