Failed a work-from-home tech check? Here's what actually went wrong

You applied, you got through the interview, and then the connectivity scan failed. This is the most common way a work-from-home offer stalls, and in most cases it has nothing to do with how fast your internet is. Here is how to work out what actually failed and what you can do about it today.

First: find out which check failed

A tech check tests four separate things, and employers rarely tell you which one you missed. They are, in order of how often they are the culprit:

1. Connection type — are you wired, or on Wi-Fi, satellite or cellular?
2. Upload speed — almost always the one people miss, because nobody checks it.
3. Latency and packet loss — how fast and how reliably data makes the round trip.
4. Download speed — the one everybody checks, and the one that usually passes.

If you were not plugged into your router with an Ethernet cable when the scan ran, stop here. That is almost certainly your answer, and it is the easiest of the four to fix.

The failure that has nothing to do with speed

Most large remote employers write their requirement as a rule about how the connection is delivered, not how fast it runs. Satellite, mobile hotspots and 5G home internet are excluded by policy at nearly every employer we track. Arise states it plainly: wireless connections to any of its systems are prohibited at any time, even encrypted, and 5G, satellite, microwave and cellular hotspot services are not permitted.

If that is what failed, no speed test result will change the outcome. A faster dish is still a dish. The fix is a wired line — fiber, cable or DSL — with an Ethernet cable from the router to your computer.

The failure nobody sees coming: upload

Download and upload are not the same number, and on cable, satellite and most wireless plans the upload is a fraction of the download. You can have 300 Mbps down and fail a scan that wants 10 Mbps up.

Run a speed test and look specifically at the upload figure. Compare it to your employer's minimum — they range from 5 Mbps up to 40 Mbps download, and uploads range from 2 to 10 Mbps depending on the program. On fiber, upload matches download, which is why it clears this test without drama.

The failure that looks like nothing is wrong: latency and packet loss

Some employers publish a ceiling here and it is easy to miss. Arise sets a maximum of 120 ms. Teleperformance requires latency under 50 ms and no packet loss at all. Conduent asks for a ping of 175 ms or less.

Satellite routinely fails these even at high speeds, because the round trip is physically longer. Wireless fails them intermittently, which is worse — the scan may pass on Tuesday and drop your call on Thursday. Fiber typically runs under 20 ms.

What to do right now, in order

1. Plug in. Connect your computer to the router with an Ethernet cable. If your laptop has no Ethernet port, a USB-C adapter costs about fifteen dollars and is worth having regardless.
2. Turn off Wi-Fi on that computer. If Wi-Fi stays on, some scans still detect the wireless adapter and fail you even though the cable is connected.
3. Turn off any VPN. Several employers exclude VPN connections outright.
4. Clear the house. Pause streaming, downloads and game updates on other devices.
5. Retest and screenshot it. Note download, upload and ping. Many employers ask for proof.
6. Ask to re-run the scan. Most programs will let you retry. It is a normal request and it does not count against you.

If you are on satellite, a hotspot or 5G home internet

Steps one through six will not save you, because the problem is the connection type and not its configuration. What you need is a wired provider at your address.

That is worth checking properly rather than assuming. Fiber construction has been heavy across rural and semi-rural areas since 2021, and a lot of homes that went satellite years ago now have a wired option nobody told them about. A coverage map will not tell you — those are marketing estimates. A real network lookup at your exact address will.

Before you re-apply

Two things worth knowing. First, requirements vary by client program even inside the same company, so the listing you are applying to matters more than the company's general page. Second, some employers restrict which states they hire in at all — Arise is unavailable in fifteen states plus Washington DC, and Working Solutions contracts only in the US, Canada and Jamaica. A wired connection will not make you eligible somewhere they do not operate, so check that before you spend money on anything.

The full requirement for each employer we track, with sources, is on the employer requirements pages.