How to test your internet speed

Nothing is annoying as a slow internet and especially one with speeds that you didn’t sign up for. Most people are not aware of whether their internet providers are delivering the advertised speeds.

Internet providers use the catchy phrase of ‘up to’ when selling you internet service. But how can you tell whether the speeds come as advertised? The only sure way to find out your speeds is by doing a speed test.

A speed test is an internet speed test that one runs online via the browser or using an app to check your internet speeds. It measures the connection speed and quality of a device connected to the internet by running multiple tests consecutively and analyzing different factors including download & upload speeds, and the ping or latency.

Running a speed test is important because you not only get to determine your current internet speed, but you also get to know if these speeds match the expected internet speeds from the internet service provider (ISP). For example, when signing up for a subscription plan you signed up for and internet speed of 5 Mbps per second and then after running your speed test you notice that you’re getting an internet speed of significantly less than 5 Mbps/s, then you’ve got to find out from your ISP why is it the case.

How do I run a speed test on my device?

Running a speed test is free and straigtforward. There are many speed test service providers since most of them are either internet providers or provide streaming services. With ISPs, they want their customers to be in the know about their speeds especially when they call customer care to complain about speeds. With streaming services like Netflix, they have different video playback qualities that require certain bandwidth, or else they’ll keep buffering. You can first check with your internet provider and see if they have a tool for running speed tests online. Alternatively, if you use any streaming service like Netflix, check if it has a speed test service either online or on its app. You can also just open your browser and search for speed test and click on any of the links and run one. Some of the most popular speed tests are:

1. Fast.com – This speed test is a web service developed and ruby Netflix and runs on Netflix’s servers. It can be used by anyone even those that aren’t Netflix subscribers.
2. Speedtest by Ookla  -Speedtest is a web service developed and operated by Ookla. It’s one of the oldest and popular speed tests on the web with over 21 billion speed tests being run on it as of 2018.
3. Xfinity speed test – Xfinity by Comcast is one of the best internet providers in the US. The Xfinity speed test has a very friendly user interface which after running; the test will tell you what you can do with your current download speeds and how you can improve.

How does the test work?

Three things speed test measures include ping, download, and upload speeds. When you start a speed test, a lot of things occur. Since these tests run on servers, firstly, the client determines your location and gets their server nearest to your location. The speed test then sends a signal to that server and the server responds. The test then measures that round trip in milliseconds (ms). Once the ping is complete, the download test starts with the client opening multiple connections to the server and then attempts to download some data to test this speed. It then determines the download speed by how long it took to grab the piece of data and how much network resources this data used. The client then opens more connections to the server if it detects that you have more resources to spare and downloads more data. This helps it see how much your internet connection can handle simultaneously. The client completes this download test and presents you with the download speed once it determines that it had the right connections to test your internet service. The last test the client carries out is your upload speed which it does in the same way as download speed, except this time it uploads data from your device instead of downloading.

Interpreting the test results

After getting the results, you probably already have an idea of what the numbers mean. Despite the speed test service that you used, you should be able to see three numbers – Download speed, Upload speed, and Ping. The download and upload speeds are measured in Mbps while Ping is measured in milliseconds. The download speed tells you how fast you can download data or receive information on to your device from the network while upload speed tells you how fast you can upload data or content over the network. The ping measures latency which is the amount of time it takes for data to travel from one device to another on the network.

FAQs

How can I improve my internet speeds after running a speed test?

If the speeds are less than what you signed up for, then contact your ISP, if they’re OK but slow, then consider upgrading your plan.

How best can I measure my speeds?

Make sure you’re as close to the router as possible since distance affects the signal strength.