‎What is Upload Speed? | SimpliSafe Support Home

What is Upload Speed?

Updated 

Upload speed is the speed at which your camera can transmit data to your internet service provider (ISP), measured in megabytes per second (mbps). 

Is this the same as the upload speed provided to me by my ISP?

The upload speed which comes as part of your internet package is the amount of speed the ISP allocates to your house. However, the internet connection is then further transmitted by your router to internet-connected devices. This transmission process will degrade the amount of speed available to the device, depending on the quality of your router, the number of devices, and the strength of the Wi-Fi connection. As such, the upload speed the camera experiences can vary greatly compared to the total upload speed provided by your ISP.

Is Download Speed important too?

Generally speaking, the primary function of our cameras is to send video up to the cloud for viewing and storage, so we emphasize upload speed as crucial for our cameras. Our cameras do require some download speed to receive commands from our apps as well as to download new firmware, but these functions require only minimal download speeds.

My phone's speed test results is faster than the camera's

Your phone's Wi-Fi chip allows the phone to be an all-purpose internet browsing tool. It is designed to receive and send enough data to support multiple internet activities simultaneously. Our camera's Wi-Fi chips are designed specifically for streaming, which at most requires 2 mbps for 1080p, and so do not have as high capacity as the phone's Wi-Fi chip.