Something I do is alternate between bitrates, I learned a while back that a higher bitrate ensures that the video is fairly future proof compared to those with really low bitrates. If I have many hours to upload a video I tend to render with a higher bitrate and if I need it uploaded asap then I go with a lower one but where the quality pretty much looks the same. It is the difference between a 3 hour upload for a 7 minute video and an hour for the same video, if I have the time though I always choose the higher bitrate and wait it out. Sadly my ISP throttles uploading from 4pm to 11pm which can double the upload time easily.