Upload speed

My bill says I pay for download speed of up to 200 mbps.  I was getting about 95 mbps download and 12 mbps upload speeds, so I tried connecting my computer directly to the cable modem,  rather than through my router.  For some reason, I had no connection at all, but when I went back to connecting through the router, the download speed was around 235 mbps.  But the upload speed was still 12 mbps, which is making backups to the cloud last for days.  Is 12 mbps as good as it gets or is there something I might do to improve the performance?  The cable modem is an Arris TG862 owned by me.

Thanks.