Upload time calculator
Works out how long an upload takes. The number to use is your upload speed, which on most connections is a small fraction of the download figure that gets advertised.
How to use the upload time calculator
The arithmetic is the same as for a download; what differs is the number you put in. Most consumer connections are asymmetric by design; cable and ADSL allocate far more capacity downstream because that is what most people use. A "500 Mbps" cable package commonly uploads at 20 or 50, and the advertised figure is the download one. Full-fibre connections are often symmetric, which is the practical reason they matter for anyone who sends large files.
That asymmetry is why a video call degrades when someone else in the house starts a backup: the upload path saturates first, and it is the direction your own camera needs. It is also why uploading a few gigabytes of photos can take hours on a connection that downloads the same amount in minutes.
One practical note: cloud storage clients often throttle uploads well below your line speed by default, sometimes to a quarter, so that the connection stays usable. If an upload is much slower than this predicts, the client’s own bandwidth setting is the first thing to check.
Questions
Most consumer connections are asymmetric by design. The advertised speed is the download one; upload is often a tenth of it.
A speed test measures it. It is rarely the number on your bill.
The upload path saturates first, and that is the direction your camera needs.
Almost always the factor of eight: connections are sold in megabits and files are measured in megabytes. A 100 Mbps line downloads at about 12.5 MB/s at best.
Cloud storage clients often throttle uploads by default to keep the connection usable. Check the client’s bandwidth setting.