What Is Symmetrical Internet?

Sometimes it’s hard to find out what your internet service provider (ISP) offers as far as upload speeds go. Some providers just like to keep their cards close to their chest, we guess.

Here’s a cheat sheet with a few different internet providers and plans that offer symmetrical download and upload speeds.

Most often, you’ll find symmetrical internet speeds like these featured in fiber internet plans. Sometimes it’s easy to identify these symmetrical internet plans because they’re named with a simple slash. If a plan is named “100/100,” “300/300,” “500/500,” or something similar, that means you get the same upload speed and download speed.

Let’s check out CenturyLink’s Fiber gig-speed plan to see that symmetrical speed in action.

CenturyLink keeps things simple with one symmetrical fiber plan for one gigabit at $75 a month. It also doesn’t do price hikes, so once you’ve signed on with a rate, it won’t change.

All Frontier fiber plans offer symmetrical download and upload speeds. These plans have no data caps and no contracts, making them extra appealing.

The exclusive Google Fiber offers three symmetrical internet fiber plans, which reach an utterly fantastical speed of 8 gigabits.

Verizon offers three symmetrical plans on a fiber-optic network, including its fastest plan, Fios 2 Gig.

Ziply Fiber is a smaller provider, but its fiber plans offer symmetrical speeds at decent prices.

Curious what your upload speed is right now? Take an internet speed test to find out. You might be surprised!

Most of us have survived with upload speeds stuck below 50 Mbps. Yup, 1980s and 1990s kids, you know exactly what we mean.

So if we’ve managed to get along just fine without fast upload speeds so far, is symmetrical internet even worth it?

Pros of symmetrical internet:

• Faster upload speeds

Cons of symmetrical internet:

• More expensive
• Unnecessary for most

If you’re mostly browsing Facebook, forwarding emails to your nieces and nephews, or checking Google for the latest sports scores, then you probably don’t need symmetrical internet.

But we think symmetrical internet is a huge plus if you’re one of these types of people:

• Students
• Businesses
• Telecommuters
• Content creators
• And maybe gamers (we’ll get to them in a minute)

That’s because these people often upload PDFs, large graphic files, and videos to the internet so that they can share them with clients, coworkers, teachers, and students.

These types of files tend to be a lot larger. For example, the video we posted with this article is about one gigabyte (GB) in size. Here’s how long it would take to post that one GB file on YouTube using different upload speeds:

But wait, what about gamers who livestream on Twitch, Mixer, or YouTube? Do they need fast upload speeds?

Yes, you’ll need a solid, fast upload speed to make livestreaming work. Otherwise, you can bet your viewers will be frustrated with the quality of your stream. Or you’ll get frustrated whenever you lag during an Overwatch or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare match.

Most DSL and cable internet plans don’t offer symmetrical speeds—with these types of internet, your download speed is typically 10, 20, or even 30 times faster than your upload speed. This is called asymmetrical internet.

Here’s a cable internet plan from Xfinity as an example of what asymmetrical internet speed looks like.

Pros of asymmetrical internet:

• Usually less expensive
• Suits most needs

Cons of symmetrical internet:

• Slower upload speeds

Sounds like faster upload speeds are best, right? Well, we hate to break it to you, but the answer isn’t so simple.

Just paying for the fastest upload speeds out there could result in you overpaying for your internet plan each month. And no one wants that.

Honestly, we think most everyone will be just fine with upload speeds under 25 Mbps. Why? Well, let’s say you want to join a video conference. To make sure your face doesn’t show up as a pixelated mish-mash of colors, you’ll need 1.3 Mbps upload speeds.

And what about streaming on Twitch in HD? You’ll need a surprisingly slow speed of 3.6 Mbps to do that comfortably.

Here are the upload speeds we recommend for different types of internet users:

• Average users: 5-10 Mbps
• Gamers: 5–10 Mbps minimum (and a connection with low latency, packet loss, and jitter)
• Content creators and video conference attendees: 10 Mbps minimum

Curious about how fast your download speed should be? Take a look at our guide to how many Mbps you need, including our recommendations for streaming, gaming, and more.

So who needs 100, 300, or even 500 and faster upload speeds? Businesses.

A business needs fast upload speeds to make sure all of its employees can share files, post to social media (for work, of course), upload videos, and do what their day-to-day jobs require.

Sure, one person doesn’t need fast upload speeds to do all those things, but when you’re talking 30, 100, or even thousands of employees working out of one building, you’re going to need a lot more upload speed to keep up.

Symmetrical internet is when the download and upload speeds match. Most folks don’t need it, but if you’ve got it, you’ll probably like it.

How did we choose which symmetrical internet plans to include in this piece? We picked symmetrical plans from some of our favorite, most trusted internet providers. Unfortunately, not all of our top providers offer symmetrical plans, so we don’t include providers like Spectrum, AT&T, and Xfinity.

To see more about why we rank those providers so high, check out Best Internet Service Providers.