Baseline speeds and uploads
For one person on HD Teams or Zoom, 40 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up is a workable floor if usage is quiet—but add a partner streaming 4K or cloud backups and you will want 80–100 Mbps down with 18–20 Mbps up or full fibre. Symmetrical or high-upload fibre reduces the “frozen thumbnail” effect when screen sharing large decks.
Latency, jitter and VPN overhead
Corporate VPNs add headers and can cap throughput on consumer routers. If IT allows split tunnelling, use it for video to bypass concentrator bottlenecks. Test ping to your employer’s region; transatlantic hops add milliseconds unpredictably. Wired Ethernet for the work laptop beats Wi-Fi for consistency.
Backup connectivity
Mobile hotspot failover, a cheap 4G dongle on a different network, or dual-WAN routers smooth critical meetings when Openreach digs through the pavement. Note Ofcom compensation does not negate the need for a Plan B on client calls.
Tax and expenses
HMRC rules on homeworking payments change—check current gov.uk guidance; some employers reimburse broadband proportionally. Keep invoices if allowable.
SwitcherMate helps you compare fibre tiers with realistic upload numbers so your payslip is not funding inadequate connectivity.
Security basics for remote professionals
Separate guest Wi-Fi, disable WPS, and patch router firmware promptly—consumer routers have been targeted in botnets. Use company VPNs only as directed; split tunnelling should be an IT decision, not guesswork, to avoid leaking internal routes accidentally.
If you handle client data, consider whether home insurance or professional indemnity policies expect reasonable network safeguards—documentation helps if incidents occur.