When you ask for data from the internet, you are downloading data. An act of trying to reach a web page is a downloading act. You send a request (which is a small upload) to the page and it comes tumbling down the internet pathways to your device. Download speed is the rate at which you your device received data from the internet. Upload is the act of sending information to the cloud. Your sending the request to the web page was an upload act. However, the amount of data in such a request is negligible. You would be uploading far more data when you, say upload your photos and videos to a cloud storage.  In general, most consumers have a need to get information from the internet for which they have to access web pages. These are actions of downloading. Most ISPs focus on download speeds being good. However, with more people video conferencing, the need for good upload speeds is also being felt.