If you’re living in Portugal and relying on MEO’s top-tier fiber plan for remote work, cloud storage, or content creation, you might want to run a few international speed tests—then brace for disappointment.
On paper, MEO’s 1000/400 Mbps fiber internet sounds like a dream. And it can be—but only if you’re uploading to servers within Portugal. The moment your data leaves the country, things change dramatically.
The Illusion of Speed
I recently ran a series of SpeedTest.net measurements using MEO’s 1000/400 Mbps fiber line. First, I tested against a local server in Gaia, Portugal:
✅ Download: 933 Mbps
✅ Upload: 400 Mbps
✅ Ping: 4 ms
This is exactly what you’d expect from a premium fiber connection.
Then I tested several international servers:
| Server | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) | Ping (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands (KPN) | 911.24 | 21.67 | 44 |
| UK (Vodafone) | 880.87 | 26.70 | 37 |
| Spain (Orange) | 786.73 | 9.61 | 62 |
| France (Paris) | 329.69 | 11.63 | 46 |
As you can see, upload speeds outside Portugal plummet to 10–30 Mbps. That’s a 90% performance drop compared to local tests.
MEO’s Response: “It’s Not Our Problem”
After reporting the issue to MEO support, their response was predictable:
“The service is working as expected. We only guarantee performance to national servers.”
This means you’re paying for 400 Mbps upload, but in practice, only getting it when you stay within their walled garden.
Why This Matters
For regular browsing and streaming, you might not notice the bottleneck. But if you:
- Upload videos to YouTube
- Use cloud backups (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox)
- Host remote meetings
- Transfer files to international servers
…you’ll be painfully aware of the cap. You’ll wait 5–10x longer than your fiber connection suggests.
The Real Fix: VPN Tunnel Bypass
By using a high-quality VPN (like Mullvad or Proton VPN), you can tunnel your traffic to another country before it hits MEO’s throttled international gateways. Many users report regaining 200–400 Mbps upload this way.
This isn’t ideal, but it’s the only way to escape the artificial limits.
Final Thoughts
MEO’s infrastructure is capable. Their marketing is compelling. But their international routing policies are deeply misleading for anyone who relies on the open internet for productivity.
If you’re signing up for fiber in Portugal and depend on consistent international performance, test everything before you commit. Otherwise, you might just find your 400 Mbps upload capped at 20 Mbps—without warning, without recourse.
⚡ Pro Tip:
Try the same test with a VPN exit node in Germany or Finland. You might be surprised how much better your “real” upload speed becomes.