Internet-speed-test-150x150Judging by the amount of searches done for the term "speed test" at that place seems to be a scrap of an obsession with Internet speeds.

There are many online test tools that allow you to check your upload and download speeds.

In this tutorial I will endeavor to explicate how speed tests work and what they are really telling you. We look at.:

  • What is a adept download speed and upload speed?
  • What does Mbps hateful?
  • Is a download speed of 10 Mbps good? How fast is 10 Mbps
  • Does Internet speeds vary throughout the twenty-four hours.
  • Is it worth changing providers to get a faster internet connection?

Agreement Cyberspace Speed Tests

Cyberspace speed tests volition give yous an upload speed and download speed.

Uploading refers to the process of transferring information from your computer to the Internet, and downloading refers to transferring information from the Internet to your computer.

Usually the download speed is much greater than the upload speed (ADSL).

This is normally OK because for nearly people they download much more than they upload.

Download speed tests piece of work past transferring a file of a known size from a exam server located on the Net to your calculator, and measuring how long it takes.

A 4 MB file will accept 8 secs over a four Mbits/due south link and 2 seconds over a 16 Mbits/s link. (see Bits and Bytes).

The upload speed is measured past uploading a file from your PC to the examination server and again measuring the time taken.

In that location are many online test tools you might want to attempt these:

  • http://www.speedtest.net/
  • http://diagnostics.bt.com/login/?workflow=Speed
  • http://www.bbc.co.britain/iplayer/diagnostics

There are several factors that bear upon how fast your overall connectedness speed is:

  • The access engineering science- e.g. ADSL,4G/3G mobile, Satellite etc
  • Your Internet service provider.
  • The location of your destination server or service.

They all combine together to form a chain (communications link) . Every bit a comparison, If you lot imagine traffic driving downward a 6 lane road, which becomes a ii lane route and.then a 4 lane road. (image Beneath).
.

Traffic-speed-comparisson

You lot can encounter that the traffic will exist restricted by the ii lane route.

On the Net, just like on a normal road, your final speed volition be limited by the slowest link in the chain.

Note: You do not need to install whatsoever software on your computer to do a Net speed exam. Exist very wary when using speed exam sites as some with prompt you to install software to improve your estimator speed. Some probably are 18-carat, but it is impossible to tell, so I wouldn't exercise it.

Internet Speed Factors

Several factors affect your internet access speeds:

  • Your Access technology
  • Your Internet access provider
  • Location of the remote resource
  • Time of Day

Internet Access Engineering science

This is the most important factor as far as internet admission speed is concerned.

All technologies have limitations. The connexion speeds of fiber broadband is far superior to 3G mobile.

Meet common Net admission methods. for an overview with pros and cons of each applied science

Your (Internet Service Provider) ISP

You connect to your Internet access provider (using an access method east.g. ADSL Broadband) and your Internet service provider then connects to the Internet.

Internet-connection-speed-1

ISPs advertise the connectedness speeds to the subscriber, and non the speeds between the subscriber and the Internet.

In the UK the connection to the dwelling is nearly ever a BT phone line and ADSL, but fibre is becoming increasing popular.

If that is the example then The admission speed will be express by these BT lines regardless of the Internet service provider you choose.

Even so that doesn't mean that all providers will provide the aforementioned overall connectedness quality as-.

The connectedness between the Internet access provider and the Net is usually over fiber and is fast, just information technology is shared past many subscribers.

Therefore if the ISP overloads the link to the Internet it slows the connectedness from subscriber to Internet.

So your Connection to the Internet service provider could be 6Mbits/s but from you to the Net it could exist just iii Mbits/s.

Hither is a quote from the BBC commodity on broadband speeds

Almost one-half of broadband users are now on packages with advertised speeds higher up 10Mbps but the boilerplate broadband speed is half dozen.8Mbps according to Ofcom.

The Location Of The Service/Server On The Internet

The Internet comprises a vast network on interconnected computers and networking equipment east.thou routers (diagram beneath).

Internet-Routing

The number of routers/servers that the data must travel through on the way to and from the destination service/server will touch on the overall speed.

In add-on the speed and chapters of the network that inter-links these computers/routers volition also impact the final connection speed.

In general the Net itself will often be the limiting factor that affects your overall internet speed.

So you may have a super fast connection to the Internet, but still accept the aforementioned corporeality of time to download a file from the Net as someone with a much slower Internet connexion.

Fourth dimension of Day

You may take noticed that the Net appears to irksome at certain times of day.

This is very similar to rush hour on the roads.

Hither is a uswitch graph showing Internet speeds in the UK over the day.

speed-graph-uswitch

Notice how the average speed drops from almost 10Mbps to around 6Mbps.

The worst fourth dimension to exist surfing the net is between 7pm and 9pm.

When doing speed tests information technology is a practiced idea to do several over the form or a normal day.

Download vs Upload Speeds

When you view a website with a web browser you are downloading information from the Internet.

Near people spend most of the time surfing the Internet, and downloading information, which is why the download speed is usually more important than the upload speed.

It is the speed that broadband providers usually brandish, and what people compare.

Hither is a screen shot of the standard BT broadband package, and observe at that place is no mention of the upload speed.

T-broadband-downloadspeed

If you lot ship electronic mail then that email is uploaded from your PC to the Internet.

If you post pictures or videos on YouTube or Facebook then those pictures/images are uploaded to the Net.

How long that takes will depend on the upload speed of your connection.

Most broadband packages provide broadband over telephone lines, and use a applied science called ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line ) which has a much faster download speed than upload speed.

If you have an existing broadband connection you tin check your upload and download speeds using an online speed tester. Here are my results:

upload-download-speed-test1

Detect that the upload speed is 21 times slower than the download speed. This means that a file that could be downloaded from the internet in 30 minutes would take over ten hours to upload to the Internet.

Nearly Internet users aren't currently interested in uploading files to the Internet, but with the growth in popularity of online storage there could exist a increase in demand for much faster upload speeds.

The newer cobweb packages from the main Great britain broadband providers (BT, Sky, Virgin,Talk Talk) offering significantly faster upload speeds as well every bit faster download speeds

The screen shot below shows the BT Infinity packet with a download speed (76Mb) , which 4 times faster than the upload speed (19Mb).

BT-Superfast-broadband

If you are considering using the Internet for transferring big files then you lot should look for a broadband package that offers fast upload speeds.

What is a Good Upload or Download Speed?

This really depends on what you lot desire to do with the Internet connectedness.

If you want to download and stream movies then a minimum of 4Mbps is needed.

If at that place are several people in your household that also lookout movies online then you would want a little more speed.

The all-time indicator of slow network speeds is obtained past using the Internet.

If yous notice that that web pages take a long time to load, and movies take a long time to buffer, then you should check your speed.

An easier bank check is to check your ISP advertised speeds against your ain speed.

You might find that you are paying a premium for a bundle because of the advertised speed but it is impossible for you to get those speeds because of your location.

Cyberspace Speed Checkers

They are many websites that allow yous to check your Internet speed like this online speed tester.

Nonetheless if you want to monitor your Internet speed on a regular basis so I recommend the command line to;; called speedtest-cli.

This Github page every bit the install and usage instructions

Summary

Speed tests are useful for checking that you aren't paying for a connection that y'all aren't getting.

However your connection speed is just 1 part of the overall Internet connection, and you are unlikely to notice the departure between a 10Mbit/s connection and a 6Mbit/s connection when watching, for example, a YouTube video.

The more than people you have accessing the Internet through your connection the more of import your connectedness speed becomes.

Bits and Bytes Explained

A byte has viii bits. The size of files stored on your reckoner is measured in bytes.

1KB =ane kilo Bytes =1,000 Bytes and 1MB=i Million Bytes.

When measuring data manual speeds the measurement is bits per second or bps

Again

1 kbps =1 thousand bits per second and 1Mbps= 1Million bits/sec

Notice bits has small b and bytes a big B.

Common Questions and Answers

Q- I measured by upload and download speeds and they are very unlike to what the broadband provider advertised. Is this normal?

A- Aye. ISPs normally quote the best speeds possible in theory, but non in practice.

Q- I measured by download speed and information technology is XMbps is it fast enough?

A- Information technology depends on what you do, or want to do with the connection and how many people use the connection. Generally speeds to a higher place 6-8 Mbps will be good for most applications.

Q- My Internet connection is boring what is the reason?

A- It is hard to say for certain. It could be your connexion to your Internet access provider or information technology could be the Internet. If you check your connexion and find that your download speed is around 6Mbps or faster then it is probable to be the Cyberspace.

Q- Is it worth changing providers to get a faster internet connection?

A- Because of the way broadband is provided it is usually improve to try irresolute the access method i.e. go to fiber instead of ADSL.

Q- Can my Wi-Fi be responsible for my low speeds?

A- Yep if y'all are using one-time Wi-Fi adapters in your laptop/PC. For example the erstwhile 802.11a standard peaked at around 5Mbps. See this Yahoo answer and this about google support tip for details

Q- I am using Cloud storage for backing up information what should I check?

A- You demand to bank check your upload speed. Generally just fibre broadband supplies good upload speeds.

Q- Is half dozen Mbps fast?

A- You can gauge it's speed by how long it takes to transfer information. A half dozen MB file will take 8 secs over a half-dozen Mbits/southward. A standard 1GB flick will accept about 22 minutes to download at 6Mbps.

Q- What is more important upload speed or download speed?

A- For most people information technology will be the download speed as most people will be browsing the web downloading movies etc.

Resource:

  • Bits and bytes explained
  • Written report reveals drop between peak and off-peak surfing
  • Download time calculator

Related Articles:

  • Cyberspace Connectedness Methods
  • Troubleshooting Internet Connections
  • Monitor Cyberspace Speeds with Speedtest-cli and Node-Cerise
  • Home Networking Speeds

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