When we want to use an Internet service, the internet service provider offers several plans with different bandwidths. These bandwidths are not always real due to several factors, you can check this by a speed test and evaluate how fast your Internet connection is. In this article you can learn how to use an internet speed test and how fast is Your Internet Actually speed.
What is the speed test?
A speed test of your Internet connection will show you a measurement of upload and download (data download in megabits per second (Mbps) and latency in milliseconds (ms).
When testing the speed of your Internet connection, the following tests are performed:
Latency test:
This is the first test that is performed, for this, the server that is located nearest to you is chosen. Once a nearby server is located, packets are sent through the PING utility to that server and the server responds in the same way to the user’s machine.
When this test is completed, the time of reception of the data from the server is calculated in milliseconds (ms), this is called latency.
Download speed test:
To check the download or download speed, the computer downloads small packets of data through several ports from a web server (the same one chosen for the latency test).
While the download is in process, the number of bytes downloaded in a second is measured and converted into Megabits per second, this allows you to give an estimate of the download speed at your connection.
Upload speed test:
This is the last test in the speed test. This test uploads several packets of data to the server and measures the bytes that have been loaded in a second. These are converted into Megabits per second and thus an estimate of the upload speed in megabits per second of your connection can be provided.[adsense]
Home Internet plans average around 20-250Mbps of download speed, and higher-level plans (such as fibre) reach up to 1,000Mbps, or 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). Download speeds are measured according to the time it takes to transfer data from the Internet to your computer. The upload speed is the speed at which data is transferred from the source computer to the destination.
How to test how fast the internet is in 2019
For this reason, if you have recently noticed that the speed of your connection is going too slow, we want to show you some of the options you have at hand to know if the problem is related to the service or not.
For that, we must say that there are many different speed tests, although we particularly like one called SpeedCheck, which has servers located all over the world, thanks to which they can measure both the exact Ping and Internet speed.
A detail that you have to take into account in this sense is that if you are connected to a WiFi network, then there will be important issues such as the distance to the router or modem in question. The logical thing is that, the further away we are from the modem, the lower the Internet speed we experience.
In turn, if you want everything to be more accurate, we always recommend testing using a computer connected via a network cable, as the network is more reliable than being connected by air.
If the contracted speed is lower than the speed test shows, then you should complain to the company that provides the service, to solve the problem as soon as possible.
Keep in mind that many things can end up affecting the speed of the Internet itself, depending on the time if there are many people connected can slow down. It is not the same to navigate at 19 PM to navigate at 4 AM. But leaving this aside there should always be an average speed, lower or higher, but an average.
To be able to measure your internet speed you must go to the website speedcheck.org and from there follow the instructions that the page is giving you to be able to measure the speed in question, what the web does is to measure the speed of rise and fall and from there draws a conclusion of the speed of your internet in general.
Remember as always that in the case of the Wifi, it also depends on how far away you are from the source of the signal. It is obvious that the further away you are from the router the worse the Wi-fi will work, so the ideal when measuring speed is to get as close as possible to have a real idea of the speed of Wifi that you have in your home.
Observations:
It is completely normal for your download speed to be higher than your upload speed, as some providers use ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology. This technology favours the download speed over the upload speed, as the download demand is much higher.
If your provider uses ADSL technology and you have contracted the 2 Mbps plan, an estimate of your download speed can be 1.5 Mbps and upload 0.5 Mbps, which when added together results in the total plan.
If your speed test results in a much lower sum of upload and download than the contracted plan, it may be due to different factors. For example, several people connected to your network, programs that use your Internet connection, a very congested network or one of your network devices may have problems. So it’s best to connect your computer directly to the router via an Ethernet cable.
Note that the speed tests are only approximate estimates. They involve downloading sample files and do not exactly mimic real-time data transfer and web browsing.
Some of the things you can do before starting an Internet speed test are:
- Restart the modem
- Suspend any online activity while doing the speed assessment
- Restart your computer
- Clean your browser’s cache
- Doing all this will help you get a more accurate reading of your Internet speeds.
