Upload speed controls how fast data travels from your home to the internet, video calls, cloud backups, screen sharing, security cameras, uploading photos and videos. Most Nova Scotia households are fine on 10 Mbps of upload, which is what standard cable internet delivers. Where upload starts to matter more is heavy work-from-home use, multiple simultaneous video calls, live streaming, or content creation. For those households, symmetric fibre, where upload matches download, is worth it. Purple Fibre's 2 Gbps symmetric plan is $60/month at addresses where it's available.
Internet providers advertise download speed because it's the big, marketable number. Upload speed sits in smaller text on the same page and most people never think about it. For a lot of households that's fine, the upload lane on a normal cable plan is enough for how they actually use the internet. But for a growing number of households, it isn't. This piece walks through what upload does, the households where it genuinely matters, and how to tell which side of the line you're on.
The quick answer
Every internet connection has two speeds:
- Download, how fast data comes into your home. Streaming Netflix, loading web pages, downloading updates.
- Upload, how fast data goes out of your home. Video calls, cloud backups, uploading files, security cameras streaming footage.
Cable and DSL plans are almost always asymmetric, a big download number and a much smaller upload number. That's a property of the underlying technology, not a choice by any specific provider. A typical cable plan in Nova Scotia delivers 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps of download and 10 to 15 Mbps of upload.
Fibre-to-the-home can be symmetric, upload matches download. Purple Fibre's entry plan is 2 Gbps of download and 2 Gbps of upload.
Whether the difference matters comes down to what your household actually does with the internet.
Which household are you?
- Mostly streaming (Netflix, Prime, Disney+)
- Web browsing and email
- Occasional video calls (once a week or so)
- Phone photos auto-backing up overnight
- Casual online gaming
- One or two smart-home devices
- Kids doing schoolwork and homework
- Full-time remote work with regular video calls
- Two or more people on calls at the same time
- Screen sharing or remote desktop daily
- Content creation, uploading video, live streaming
- Four or more security cameras or a video doorbell
- Heavy cloud-file workflows (large files syncing constantly)
- Backing up big photo or video libraries regularly
Honest read: most Nova Scotia households sit in the first bucket. If yours does, a standard cable plan does everything you need it to, and paying more for symmetric upload wouldn't change your day-to-day experience. If yours sits in the second bucket, or is starting to drift that way as more of your life moves online, then upload becomes the ceiling on how good your internet feels, no matter how big your download number gets.
Where upload actually matters
Here's the specific breakdown of where the upload number does real work, and how much of it you're actually using.
The video and audio of you, what the person on the other end sees, travels on upload. A single 1080p call uses roughly 3 to 4 Mbps of upload. One person on a call at a time is comfortable on a 10 Mbps upload plan. Two calls at once start to feel it. Three at once is usually where it breaks.
iCloud, Google Photos, Dropbox, phone backups, all upload. On 10 Mbps of upload, backing up 20 GB of photos takes several hours, which is usually fine because backups run overnight when nobody's using the internet. On symmetric fibre it takes minutes, but for most households that's convenience, not necessity.
This is where standard cable upload starts to show real limits. Screen sharing, remote desktop, uploading files to team drives while on a call, the stuttering-screen-share experience remote workers know is almost always upload congestion. If working from home is more than an occasional thing, upload is the single most important internet spec for your household.
Most games themselves need very little upload, a few Mbps at most. Voice chat adds a bit more. Where it matters is if a gamer in the house is also streaming to Twitch or YouTube at the same time, which is a much heavier upload demand.
Each 1080p camera uses roughly 1 to 3 Mbps of upload when it's actively streaming. One or two cameras plus a doorbell is fine on 10 Mbps. A household with four or more cameras plus a doorbell can start bumping into the ceiling, especially if other things are uploading at the same time.
Uploading 4K video to YouTube. Live-streaming to Twitch or TikTok. Sending raw footage to a collaborator. All upload, all the time, in large volumes. On 10 to 15 Mbps of upload, this is the difference between a five-minute task and a four-hour task. Anyone who does this regularly should be on symmetric fibre.
Why cable can't just add more upload
This is worth understanding, because it isn't a matter of any provider being stingy. Cable internet uses DOCSIS, a technology that runs over the coaxial copper cable that reaches most Nova Scotia homes. DOCSIS was designed decades ago on the assumption that homes mostly download from the internet, so the technology reserves most of the bandwidth for download and only a small slice for upload. Every provider offering cable internet, anywhere in Canada, is working within that same technical constraint. A cable plan can raise the download ceiling into the gigabit range, but upload is architecturally capped at a much lower number.
Fibre-to-the-home is different. Fibre-optic cable can carry symmetric traffic natively, upload can match download without a workaround. Purple Fibre runs on XGSPON, a next-generation fibre standard, and every Purple Fibre plan is symmetric by design.
Cable and symmetric fibre, side by side
10 Mbps up
The most popular plan we sell. Comfortably handles streaming, web, casual video calls, phone backup, and normal work-from-home for a typical Nova Scotia household. $60/month, flat pricing, no contract.
2000 Mbps up
Same $60/month. Symmetric. The right answer for heavy remote-work households, content creators, or anyone who wants the fastest experience Nova Scotia currently offers. Available at a growing list of addresses.
How to check your current upload speed
Two ways:
- Look at your plan. The upload speed is listed on your provider's plan page, usually in smaller text next to the download speed.
- Run a speed test. Use a site like fast.com or speedtest.net. For the most accurate result, plug your device directly into the router with an ethernet cable, Wi-Fi can cap the result artificially and make the connection look worse than it is.
The number you see is a snapshot of what your connection can do right now. If you regularly do the things in the second-bucket list above and your upload is 10 to 15 Mbps, that's your bottleneck.
What upload speed you actually need
- 5 to 10 Mbps up: Enough for a single-person or light-use household, streaming, web, occasional video calls, overnight backups. This is the standard for cable plans and it works for the majority of households.
- 10 to 15 Mbps up: Handles the same use cases plus one person on regular video calls, a couple of security cameras, and casual gaming. Also standard cable-plan territory.
- 25 to 100 Mbps up: Comfortable for a household with regular remote work, screen sharing, multiple simultaneous calls, cloud-file workflows, and more security cameras. Beyond what cable delivers, you're into fibre territory here.
- 1 to 8 Gbps up (symmetric fibre): Future-proofing plus every current upload use case handled with zero friction. Live streaming, content creation, heavy cloud workflows, multiple simultaneous calls, none of it competes for a small upload lane.
Common misconceptions
"Faster download will fix my slow uploads." No. Upload and download are separate. On cable, upgrading to a faster download tier gives you the same or only slightly higher upload cap. If upload is your bottleneck, only a plan that specifically raises the upload, which usually means symmetric fibre, will change it.
"Every household needs symmetric fibre." No. Most households don't push their upload lane hard enough to notice a difference. The households where it matters are specific: heavy remote workers, multi-person video-call households, content creators, security-camera-heavy homes. If yours isn't one of those, cable does the job.
"Wi-Fi is my problem, not upload." Sometimes true. If your video calls stutter, first test on ethernet to rule out Wi-Fi as the cause. If ethernet still shows fast download and slow upload, the classic cable pattern, the plan is the ceiling, not the Wi-Fi.
"5G home internet has good upload." Sometimes. 5G upload varies widely by tower distance and network load. It's a genuine option in some areas but the performance is much less predictable than wired fibre.
What Purple Cow offers, and how to pick
Purple Cow offers both cable plans and Purple Fibre plans. Which is available at your address depends on your specific street, some addresses have both, most have one or the other.
Cable plans (10 to 15 Mbps upload):
- 100 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up: $60/month
- 300 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up: $80/month
- 1 Gbps down / 15 Mbps up: $99/month
Purple Fibre plans (symmetric):
- 2 Gbps down / 2 Gbps up: $60/month
- 4 Gbps down / 4 Gbps up: $79/month
- 8 Gbps down / 8 Gbps up: $99/month
Every plan on either network is month-to-month with no contract, includes a wireless router at no separate fee, has no data caps, and has flat pricing that doesn't jump after a promotional window. Where Purple Fibre is available, the $60 plan delivers 200 times the upload speed of the $60 cable plan for the same monthly cost. If upload matters to you and Purple Fibre reaches your address, it's the plan.
Purple Cow was named the highest-rated ISP in Canada on Google, and PlanHub's Best Internet Plan and Best Value Plan for Halifax.
Frequently asked questions
What is upload speed?
Upload speed is how fast data travels from your home to the internet. It controls how quickly photos back up to the cloud, how clear you look on a video call, how fast files sync to cloud storage, and how well security cameras stream footage.
Is 10 Mbps upload enough?
For most Nova Scotia households, yes. 10 Mbps of upload comfortably handles streaming, web browsing, occasional video calls, overnight cloud backups, casual gaming, and a couple of security cameras. It's the standard on cable internet and it works for the majority of households.
When does upload speed actually matter?
Upload becomes the bottleneck when a household regularly does one or more of: full-time remote work with screen sharing, two or more simultaneous video calls, content creation or live streaming, four or more security cameras, or heavy cloud-file workflows. For those households, symmetric fibre changes the experience.
Why is my upload speed so much slower than my download?
Because cable and DSL internet are asymmetric by design. The technology was built assuming homes mostly download. Fibre-to-the-home doesn't have that limitation, modern fibre standards deliver symmetric speeds, meaning upload matches download.
What is symmetric fibre?
Symmetric fibre is a fibre-to-the-home internet service where the upload speed matches the download speed. Purple Fibre's entry plan is 2 Gbps down and 2 Gbps up. Cable plans are almost never symmetric.
Will faster download speed fix my slow uploads?
No. Upload and download are separate specifications. On cable, upgrading to a faster download tier usually gives you the same or only slightly higher upload cap. If upload is your bottleneck, you need a plan that specifically raises the upload, which usually means symmetric fibre.
Why does my video call look choppy on a fast internet plan?
Almost always upload congestion. The version of you that your call partner sees travels on upload. If you have a 10 to 15 Mbps upload cap and anything else in the house is uploading at the same time, a phone backup, a security camera, another call, your video quality drops. Symmetric fibre eliminates this because upload has effectively unlimited headroom.
Does Purple Cow offer symmetric internet?
Yes. Every Purple Fibre plan is symmetric, from 2 Gbps at $60/month to 8 Gbps at $99/month. Purple Cow's cable plans, like all cable internet, are asymmetric with upload speeds of 10 to 15 Mbps.
How can I test my current upload speed?
Use fast.com or speedtest.net. Connect your device to the router by ethernet cable for the most accurate result, Wi-Fi can artificially cap the result. The site will report both download and upload speeds.
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