What it actually means
Upload speed is the other half of a broadband connection. While download speed measures how fast data arrives, upload speed measures how fast data leaves. Every time your camera streams your face on a Teams call, every time iCloud or Google Photos backs up a new picture, every time you send a file in WhatsApp or post a video, you are using upload bandwidth.
For years, UK broadband was hugely lopsided. FTTC (the part copper, part fibre product most homes had through the 2010s) maxes out at around 20 Mbps upload, even when downloads are 70 or 80 Mbps. FTTP changes that. A full fibre line typically gives upload speeds in the hundreds of Mbps, often within touching distance of the download figure on the same package. That symmetry is the single biggest reason people who work from home notice such a difference when they move from FTTC to FTTP.
At home
What this looks like in the house
If you have ever been on a Teams call and a colleague said your voice was breaking up while everyone else sounded fine to you, that is upload. The audio and video you are sending out is struggling to leave the house, even though everything coming in is perfect. The same goes for cloud backups that run all night and still are not finished by morning, or a Ring doorbell clip that takes a minute to appear on your phone. Move to FTTP and those small frustrations quietly disappear.
In business
What this looks like at work
For a business, weak upload speed costs real money. A consultant on a client video call who sounds choppy looks unprofessional, even if the line is technically working. Architects, designers, and accountants who push large files to the cloud lose hours a week to slow transfers. A holiday park or hotel running CCTV and cloud booking software needs upload that holds up all day. A symmetric FTTP or leased line clears the bottleneck and the team simply stops thinking about it.