Internet-speed-test-150x150Judging by the amount of searches done for the term "speed examination" in that location seems to exist a bit of an obsession with Internet speeds.

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

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

  • What is a skilful download speed and upload speed?
  • What does Mbps mean?
  • Is a download speed of 10 Mbps good? How fast is x Mbps
  • Does Internet speeds vary throughout the day.
  • Is it worth changing providers to go a faster internet connection?

Understanding Cyberspace Speed Tests

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

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

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

This is ordinarily OK because for about people they download much more than they upload.

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

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

The upload speed is measured by uploading a file from your PC to the test server and again measuring the fourth dimension taken.

There are many online test tools y'all might want to effort these:

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

There are several factors that affect how fast your overall connection speed is:

  • The admission technology- 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 course a chain (communications link) . Every bit a comparing, If y'all imagine traffic driving down a half-dozen lane road, which becomes a 2 lane road and.then a iv lane road. (image Beneath).
.

Traffic-speed-comparisson

You can meet that the traffic will be restricted by the 2 lane road.

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

Note: You do non need to install any software on your computer to do a Cyberspace speed exam. Be very wary when using speed test sites as some with prompt you to install software to improve your computer speed. Some probably are genuine, simply it is incommunicable to tell, so I wouldn't do it.

Net Speed Factors

Several factors bear upon your internet access speeds:

  • Your Access engineering
  • Your ISP
  • Location of the remote resource
  • Time of Day

Net Access Applied science

This is the most important factor as far as cyberspace access speed is concerned.

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

Meet mutual Cyberspace admission methods. for an overview with pros and cons of each technology

Your (Internet service provider) Internet access provider

You connect to your ISP (using an admission method due east.grand. ADSL Broadband) and your Isp then connects to the Cyberspace.

Internet-connection-speed-1

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

In the United kingdom the connection to the home is almost ever a BT phone line and ADSL, but fibre is becoming increasing popular.

If that is the case then The access speed will be express by these BT lines regardless of the ISP yous choose.

Nevertheless that doesn't mean that all providers will provide the same overall connection quality as-.

The connection between the Internet access provider and the Cyberspace is usually over cobweb and is fast, simply it is shared by 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/southward but from you to the Cyberspace it could be merely 3 Mbits/s.

Hither is a quote from the BBC article on broadband speeds

Most half of broadband users are at present on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps but the boilerplate broadband speed is 6.8Mbps according to Ofcom.

The Location Of The Service/Server On The Internet

The Internet comprises a vast network on interconnected computers and networking equipment e.g routers (diagram below).

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 also affect the last connection speed.

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

Then y'all may accept a super fast connection to the Cyberspace, simply still take the same amount of time to download a file from the Cyberspace as someone with a much slower Internet connection.

Time of Twenty-four hours

You may accept noticed that the Internet appears to slow at certain times of day.

This is very similar to rush hour on the roads.

Here is a uswitch graph showing Cyberspace speeds in the Britain over the day.

speed-graph-uswitch

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

The worst time to be surfing the net is between 7pm and 9pm.

When doing speed tests it is a proficient idea to do 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 Internet.

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

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

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

T-broadband-downloadspeed

If you send email so that e-mail is uploaded from your PC to the Internet.

If y'all postal service pictures or videos on YouTube or Facebook then those pictures/images are uploaded to the Cyberspace.

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

Well-nigh broadband packages provide broadband over phone lines, and apply a technology chosen ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line ) which has a much faster download speed than upload speed.

If you have an existing broadband connection you can check your upload and download speeds using an online speed tester. Hither 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 take over 10 hours to upload to the Internet.

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

The newer fiber packages from the main Great britain broadband providers (BT, SKY, Virgin,Talk Talk) offer significantly faster upload speeds as well as faster download speeds

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

BT-Superfast-broadband

If you are because using the Internet for transferring large files then yous should look for a broadband package that offers fast upload speeds.

What is a Proficient Upload or Download Speed?

This really depends on what you desire to practice with the Internet connection.

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

If in that location are several people in your household that also spotter movies online and so you would desire a piffling more speed.

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

If you lot find that that spider web pages take a long fourth dimension to load, and movies take a long time to buffer, so you should bank check your speed.

An easier bank check is to bank check your Internet service provider advertised speeds against your own speed.

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

Net Speed Checkers

They are many websites that permit you to check your Internet speed like this online speed tester.

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

This Github page as the install and usage instructions

Summary

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

Notwithstanding your connection speed is merely i part of the overall Net connectedness, and you are unlikely to notice the deviation betwixt a 10Mbit/south connexion and a 6Mbit/s connection when watching, for example, a YouTube video.

The more people you lot take accessing the Internet through your connection the more important your connectedness speed becomes.

$.25 and Bytes Explained

A byte has 8 $.25. The size of files stored on your computer is measured in bytes.

iKB =1 kilo Bytes =1,000 Bytes and 1MB=1 Million Bytes.

When measuring data transmission speeds the measurement is $.25 per 2d or bps

Again

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

Find bits has small b and bytes a large B.

Common Questions and Answers

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

A- Yes. ISPs unremarkably quote the best speeds possible in theory, merely non in practice.

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

A- It depends on what you do, or want to exercise with the connectedness and how many people utilise the connection. Generally speeds higher up 6-8 Mbps volition be expert for most applications.

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

A- It is hard to say for sure. It could be your connection to your Isp or it could be the Internet. If you bank check your connection and find that your download speed is effectually 6Mbps or faster so it is likely to be the Internet.

Q- Is it worth irresolute providers to become a faster internet connexion?

A- Because of the way broadband is provided information technology is normally better to try irresolute the access method i.east. get to fiber instead of ADSL.

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

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

Q- I am using Deject storage for bankroll up data what should I check?

A- You demand to check your upload speed. More often than not only fibre broadband supplies good upload speeds.

Q- Is 6 Mbps fast?

A- You can gauge information technology's speed past how long it takes to transfer data. A vi MB file volition take 8 secs over a half-dozen Mbits/s. A standard 1GB pic will take about 22 minutes to download at 6Mbps.

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

A- For most people it volition be the download speed as most people will be browsing the spider web downloading movies etc.

Resources:

  • $.25 and bytes explained
  • Study reveals driblet betwixt height and off-peak surfing
  • Download time figurer

Related Articles:

  • Internet Connection Methods
  • Troubleshooting Internet Connections
  • Monitor Internet Speeds with Speedtest-cli and Node-Red
  • Home Networking Speeds

Please Permit me Know if you lot plant it Useful