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

In that location are many online test tools that allow yous to bank check your upload and download speeds.

In this tutorial I will try to explicate how speed tests work and what they are actually telling you. We await at.:

  • What is a good download speed and upload speed?
  • What does Mbps mean?
  • Is a download speed of 10 Mbps good? How fast is ten Mbps
  • Does Internet speeds vary throughout the day.
  • Is information technology worth changing providers to get a faster internet connexion?

Understanding Internet Speed Tests

Internet speed tests will give you an upload speed and download speed.

Uploading refers to the procedure of transferring data from your computer to the Internet, and downloading refers to transferring data from the Internet to your calculator.

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

This is usually OK because for most people they download much more than than they upload.

Download speed tests work by transferring a file of a known size from a test server located on the Internet to your computer, and measuring how long it takes.

A 4 MB file will take eight secs over a iv Mbits/s 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 test server and again measuring the time taken.

There are many online test tools you might want to try 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 on how fast your overall connection speed is:

  • The access engineering science- e.g. ADSL,4G/3G mobile, Satellite etc
  • Your Internet access 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 imagine traffic driving down a 6 lane road, which becomes a ii lane road and.then a 4 lane road. (image Beneath).
.

Traffic-speed-comparisson

You lot tin can see that the traffic will be restricted past the 2 lane road.

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

Note: You lot do not need to install whatever software on your computer to do a Internet speed test. Be very wary when using speed test sites as some with prompt you to install software to improve your calculator speed. Some probably are genuine, but information technology is incommunicable to tell, and then I wouldn't do information technology.

Internet Speed Factors

Several factors affect your net access speeds:

  • Your Admission technology
  • Your Isp
  • Location of the remote resources
  • Time of Day

Internet Access Technology

This is the almost of import cistron as far as internet admission speed is concerned.

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

See mutual Internet admission methods. for an overview with pros and cons of each engineering

Your (Internet access provider) ISP

You connect to your Isp (using an admission method e.g. ADSL Broadband) and your Isp so connects to the Internet.

Internet-connection-speed-1

ISPs advertise the connection speeds to the subscriber, and not the speeds between the subscriber and the Internet.

In the UK the connection to the home is near always a BT phone line and ADSL, only fibre is becoming increasing popular.

If that is the instance then The access speed will exist limited by these BT lines regardless of the ISP you choose.

Notwithstanding that doesn't hateful that all providers volition provide the aforementioned overall connection quality as-.

The connectedness between the Isp and the Cyberspace is usually over cobweb and is fast, only it is shared by many subscribers.

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

So your Connection to the ISP could be 6Mbits/s just from y'all to the Internet information technology could be but 3 Mbits/s.

Here is a quote from the BBC commodity on broadband speeds

Almost half of broadband users are at present on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps only the average broadband speed is 6.8Mbps according to Ofcom.

The Location Of The Service/Server On The Cyberspace

The Net comprises a vast network on interconnected computers and networking equipment due east.g 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 affect the overall speed.

In addition the speed and capacity of the network that inter-links these computers/routers will too bear upon the terminal connection speed.

In general the Net itself will often be the limiting cistron that affects your overall cyberspace speed.

Then you may have a super fast connectedness to the Cyberspace, but yet take the same corporeality of time to download a file from the Internet as someone with a much slower Net connection.

Time of Day

Yous may have noticed that the Internet appears to slow at certain times of twenty-four hour period.

This is very like to rush hour on the roads.

Here is a uswitch graph showing Internet speeds in the UK over the twenty-four hours.

speed-graph-uswitch

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

The worst time to exist surfing the cyberspace is between 7pm and 9pm.

When doing speed tests it is a good idea to practise several over the course or a normal day.

Download vs Upload Speeds

When y'all view a website with a web browser y'all are downloading information from the Net.

Most people spend almost of the fourth dimension surfing the Internet, and downloading information, which is why the download speed is ordinarily more than of import than the upload speed.

It is the speed that broadband providers unremarkably display, and what people compare.

Hither is a screen shot of the standard BT broadband package, and notice there is no mention of the upload speed.

T-broadband-downloadspeed

If y'all ship email and so that electronic mail is uploaded from your PC to the Internet.

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

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

Most broadband packages provide broadband over telephone lines, and use a technology 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

Notice 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 accept over x hours to upload to the Internet.

Virtually Cyberspace users aren't currently interested in uploading files to the Cyberspace, but with the growth in popularity of online storage at that place could exist a increment in demand for much faster upload speeds.

The newer cobweb packages from the main United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland broadband providers (BT, SKY, Virgin,Talk Talk) offering significantly faster upload speeds likewise as faster download speeds

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

BT-Superfast-broadband

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

What is a Good Upload or Download Speed?

This actually depends on what y'all want to practice with the Internet connection.

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

If there are several people in your household that also watch movies online then y'all would desire a little more speed.

The best indicator of wearisome network speeds is obtained by using the Internet.

If you find that that web pages take a long time to load, and movies have a long time to buffer, and so yous should bank check your speed.

An easier cheque is to check your ISP advertised speeds confronting your own speed.

You might find that you are paying a premium for a package because of the advertised speed but it is impossible for y'all to go those speeds because of your location.

Internet Speed Checkers

They are many websites that allow you to check your Cyberspace speed like this online speed tester.

However if you lot want to monitor your Internet speed on a regular ground and so I recommend the control line to;; chosen speedtest-cli.

This Github page every bit the install and usage instructions

Summary

Speed tests are useful for checking that yous aren't paying for a connection that yous aren't getting.

However your connection speed is only one role of the overall Internet connexion, and you are unlikely to notice the departure betwixt a 10Mbit/s connection and a 6Mbit/s connection when watching, for example, a YouTube video.

The more people yous take accessing the Net through your connexion the more important your connection speed becomes.

Bits and Bytes Explained

A byte has eight $.25. The size of files stored on your computer is measured in bytes.

1KB =i kilo Bytes =1,000 Bytes and oneMB=1 1000000 Bytes.

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

Again

1 kbps =1 thousand bits per second and 1Mbps= 1Million $.25/sec

Notice $.25 has small b and bytes a large B.

Common Questions and Answers

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

A- Yes. ISPs usually quote the all-time speeds possible in theory, simply not in practice.

Q- I measured past download speed and it is XMbps is it fast plenty?

A- It depends on what you do, or desire to exercise with the connection and how many people use the connection. Generally speeds above 6-eight Mbps will be practiced for most applications.

Q- My Internet connexion is slow what is the reason?

A- It is difficult to say for sure. It could be your connection to your Internet access provider or it could be the Internet. If you check your connection and discover that your download speed is around 6Mbps or faster then it is likely to exist the Net.

Q- Is information technology worth changing providers to get a faster internet connexion?

A- Because of the style broadband is provided it is normally better to endeavor irresolute the access method i.e. become to fiber instead of ADSL.

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

A- Yes if you are using quondam Wi-Fi adapters in your laptop/PC. For example the old 802.11a standard peaked at effectually 5Mbps. See this Yahoo respond and this about google support tip for details

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

A- Y'all need to check your upload speed. Generally only fibre broadband supplies proficient upload speeds.

Q- Is 6 Mbps fast?

A- You can judge information technology'due south speed by how long information technology takes to transfer data. A 6 MB file will take 8 secs over a 6 Mbits/southward. A standard 1GB movie will take virtually 22 minutes to download at 6Mbps.

Q- What is more than of import upload speed or download speed?

A- For nigh people it will be the download speed as nearly people will exist browsing the spider web downloading movies etc.

Resources:

  • $.25 and bytes explained
  • Written report reveals drib between peak and off-acme surfing
  • Download fourth dimension reckoner

Related Articles:

  • Internet Connectedness Methods
  • Troubleshooting Net Connections
  • Monitor Cyberspace Speeds with Speedtest-cli and Node-Cherry
  • Dwelling Networking Speeds

Please Allow me Know if y'all found it Useful