No, 2 Mbps upload is poor. It's enough for one person on one 720p video call, and not much more. If your result is around 1.8 Mbps, that call works only while nothing else in the house is uploading.
What still works at 2 Mbps
One-to-one calls at HD quality fit. Zoom needs 1.2 Mbps up for a 720p one-to-one call. Microsoft Teams recommends 1.5 Mbps for one-to-one video, and Google Meet uses up to 1.7 Mbps at 720p.
Online gaming is fine on its own. Xbox asks for just 0.5 Mbps up, because game traffic is tiny.
What fails, and why it fails suddenly
Group calls are where 2 Mbps runs out. A Teams meeting at its recommended quality needs 2.5 Mbps up, and Zoom at 1080p needs 3.8 Mbps. The apps will lower your video quality to cope, so others see a blurry or frozen picture of you even though your own screen looks fine.
Livestreaming doesn't fit either: even Twitch's 720p at 30 fps setting needs 3,000 kbps, which is 3 Mbps.
The bigger problem is that everything shares the same 2 Mbps. One Ring 1080p camera needs 2 Mbps by itself. A phone backing up photos will take whatever it can get. When the upload is full, your call doesn't just lose quality: everything you send waits in a queue, and ping climbs with it. That's why a call can be fine for twenty minutes and then fall apart. What download latency means explains the queueing effect, and it applies to upload too.
How 2 Mbps compares with official benchmarks
- UK: Ofcom's "decent" broadband floor includes 1 Mbit/s of upload. At 2 Mbps you're just above it.
- US: the FCC's benchmark includes 20 Mbps of upload, ten times what you have.
- Ring rates any upload under 5 Mbps as Poor.
Why your upload might be this low
Some lines are simply built this way. ADSL, older cable plans and weak 4G connections commonly land in this range. Some plans spell it out: Verizon lists 4–5 Mbps up for LTE Home, and 1–3 Mbps for Home Internet Lite after its monthly data allowance.
But low upload is often a local problem, not the plan:
- Wi-Fi. Phones and laptops typically have weaker radios than the router they talk to. Far from the router, upload often drops faster than download. The Wi-Fi vs Ethernet guide covers this.
- Something else uploading during the test, like cloud backup, a camera or a game console sharing clips.
- A VPN, which adds overhead in both directions.
Run the speed test on a laptop plugged into the router with other uploads paused. If the wired upload is much higher, the fix is inside your home.
How to raise a low upload
- Check your plan's upload figure. If you're getting what you pay for, only a plan change will help.
- Pause backups and sync during calls, or schedule them overnight.
- Turn off your camera on group calls when you aren't speaking. Audio uses very little.
- Ask about a higher upload tier, or switch technology. VDSL2, newer cable plans, 5G home internet and fiber all usually offer far more upload than ADSL.
- In the UK, if you can't get 1 Mbit/s up and 10 Mbit/s down, you may be able to request an upgrade under the broadband Universal Service Obligation.
Even a jump to about 5 Mbps makes a real difference: is 5 Mbps upload good? shows what that tier allows. For the upload each activity needs, see what counts as a good upload speed.