BlogConnectivity
Choosing an internet plan for your home office
By Vicky Ogola, Senior ICT Consultant 1 min read
Count the people and activities, not just the advertised speed. Video calls, uploads and reliability matter as much as megabits.
The right internet plan for a home office depends on what you do, how many people share the connection, and how much a dropped call costs you.
Count simultaneous use
Think about the busiest moment of the day: a video call, someone streaming, phones updating, children doing homework. Add up those activities rather than looking at one device.
Don't forget upload
Video calls, sending large files and cloud backups all use upload capacity. Check what upload speed a plan offers, not just download.
Reliability over peak speed
A slightly slower, stable fibre connection is usually better for work than a faster but inconsistent one. Ask about installation quality and how faults are handled.
Wi-Fi is often the bottleneck
Many "slow internet" problems are actually weak Wi-Fi inside the house. Place the router centrally and consider additional access points for larger homes.
Plan for outages
If work stops without internet, keep a mobile data backup and a small UPS for the router.
See our home and business internet plans.
About the author
Vicky Ogola
Senior ICT Consultant
Vicky Ogola writes about network design, connectivity, data centres and the infrastructure that business systems depend on.