For the longest time, the internet was a mostly one-way street — providing fast downloads but slower upload speeds. It was designed this way intentionally to support our online behaviors at that time. But times have changed — and so have our digital habits and needs. More than ever, we are relying on our internet connection for video conferencing, content creation, gaming, large file transfers and cloud storage services. The need for faster upload speeds has become more pronounced. If you’re lucky enough to live in an area with access to symmetrical speeds, we will show you why you might need it.
Many Americans are unhappy with their internet service. A recent CNET survey showed that more than half of the respondents saw price increases while still experiencing unreliable connectivity. It’s possible that a big chunk of this unreliability comes from internet connections with asymmetrical internet speeds.
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What are symmetrical internet speeds?
To understand symmetrical internet speeds, you must first know how the internet works. The internet is like a highway (it was called the information superhighway in the earlier days, after all). It has lanes leading to and away from you, with data traveling both ways. The data delivered to you uses the download speeds, while the data you send out uses upload speeds.
But not all internet connection types are symmetrical. Asymmetrical internet connections have a wide download lane, with bandwidth of multiple gigabits in some cases. The upload lane, on the other hand, is a narrow, single-lane route. For example, a 300Mbps plan usually has download speeds around 300Mbps, but upload speeds may be as low as 30Mbps, or even lower. This can cause upstream traffic choking, leading to a traffic jam or slow internet.
Symmetrical speeds solve this problem with equally sized download and upload lanes. Data flows at the same speed up and down, so there isn’t any room for bottlenecking that will slow down file uploads or Zoom calls. So, if you get an asymmetrical 300Mbps plan, the upload and download speeds will both be around 300Mbps.
A report from technology and data analytics company OpenVault in August notes that upstream usage grew 17.9% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2025, which means that more consumers have internet usage that requires better upload speeds.
Why is upload speed important?
We’ve had internet connections with asymmetrical speeds for years, so why is upload speed suddenly important? Simply, internet usage has changed in recent years.
“Homes have shifted from passive consumption to two-way participation with video calls, cloud backups, creator uploads, home cameras and collaborative/remote work,” says Ookla analyst Luke Kehoe. (Disclaimer: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, the same company that owns CNET.) With our digital lives becoming a two-way conversation, low upload speeds are a limitation.
Data bottlenecking due to poor upload speeds can make your internet laggy and unreliable, hindering functionality for many regular online tasks. It can create choppy, pixelated and garbled Zoom video and sound for your recipients and disrupt the swift transfer of photos and videos to iCloud to share with family and friends.
Basically, internet users’ needs have evolved. We need to send data just as frequently and quickly as it is received, which makes upload speed just as important for a speedy and reliable internet experience across all devices.
Who needs symmetrical speeds?
Not everyone needs symmetrical speeds, but if any of these examples sound familiar, you might be due for an upgrade.
The remote worker: If your day includes a ton of Zoom calls or FaceTime with friends and family, and you keep seeing “internet connection lost” with complaints of choppy video, you might want to consider an upgrade. Even large files that upload too slow to Google Drive or Dropbox can be a sign that your upload speed is the bottleneck and asymmetrical speeds are holding you back. Remote work may not seem internet-heavy sometimes, but all that usage adds up and can cause delays when you need it for real-time collaboration, screen sharing and more.
The gamer: Gaming itself doesn’t need much upload bandwidth, but if you’re using voice chat or livestreaming your gameplay to Twitch or YouTube, you’ll need consistent upload speeds to ensure your stream quality doesn’t drop. And if somebody in your household uses the same internet connection while you’re gaming, the lower upload speed could cause gameplay issues, so you’ll want a little headroom there.
The content creator: Whether you’re uploading 4K videos to YouTube, backing up gigabytes worth of raw photo shoots to the cloud or sending large project files to clients, you’re probably familiar with how frustrating slow upload progress bars can get. Content creation involves sending a lot of data back and forth, so good upload speeds are just as important as good download speeds.
The smart home enthusiast: Smart homes have many devices hooked up to the internet, which means the upstream traffic can add up very quickly. If you have security cameras uploading HD footage 24/7, smart doorbells sending notifications along with video footage or smart devices like Amazon Echo or Google Home communicating with the cloud, you’ll need symmetrical speeds to ensure all devices function properly.
The large household: Large households mean a ton of devices. One person may be on a work video call, another livestreaming on Twitch and a third backing up their iPhone to iCloud. If you have traditional asymmetrical internet, all of these use cases are unlikely to work smoothly simultaneously. Multiple users performing upload-heavy tasks will quickly overwhelm your limited upload speed.
If any of these situations apply to you, symmetrical internet speeds could save you a lot of headaches.
Test your current setup: Before upgrading, run a simple speed test as recommended by our expert, Ookla analyst Luke Kehoe. Use a wired connection to check your baseline speeds and latency (ping). Then, start a large backup or file upload and run the test again during the upload.
If your upload-under-load ping figure jumps well above 150 to 200 milliseconds and video calls start stuttering during uploads, your upload speed is the bottleneck. This quick test will prove whether symmetrical speeds will solve your internet issues.
The price of symmetry: Is it worth it?
If you’ve decided that you need symmetrical speeds, the next step is determining how to upgrade and whether the pricing is worth it. Symmetrical speeds typically come with fiber-optic internet, which isn’t available everywhere and often costs more than traditional cable.
Cable internet was designed so that users could download more than they upload, so the infrastructure was built to allocate more bandwidth to downstream traffic. DSL has similar upload speed limitations due to how phone lines were originally designed. If you need more details on how these internet connection types work, our home internet 101 explainer provides more details.
In contrast, fiber networks can deliver symmetrical speeds because light travels the same speed in both directions through fiber-optic cables, making the infrastructure capable of symmetrical speeds.
“The bottleneck during busy hours is increasingly the uplink, not the downlink, especially on non-fiber connections lacking symmetrical speeds,” Ookla analyst Luke Kehoe told us.
If you want symmetrical speeds, you’ll likely need to find a fiber provider. Not all fiber plans are symmetrical, though. Some internet providers still offer asymmetrical plans on fiber networks, so you’ll need to check the broadband facts label to ensure your plan of choice has symmetrical speeds.
The price difference between asymmetrical and symmetrical plans varies widely by ISP provider and location. Sometimes the difference is minimal, and you might pay $10 to $20 more per month for symmetrical speeds. In other cases, symmetrical plans can cost significantly more.
Before making the switch, calculate your time waiting for uploads. If you regularly send large files, the time saved might be worth the extra cost. Upload speeds matter most when sending data somewhere, so consider how often that happens in your daily routine. If you don’t, the price jump might not make sense.
Ready for internet symmetrical speeds?
How we use the internet has changed drastically in recent years, so your internet connection may need to adapt to your usage. It’s not a mandatory upgrade for everyone, but if you feel squeezed by your current setup, you might be due for an upgrade.
Whether symmetrical speeds are worth it depends on how much upload-heavy your usage is generally. If you’re constantly frustrated by slow uploads, video calls where others can’t see you clearly or long waits to back up files to the cloud, symmetrical speeds could solve those problems. But if your biggest upload is the occasional photo to social media, you’re probably fine with your current connection.