Yours home internet speed cannot be magically increased using a speed test. It depends on the specific internet plan you signed up for from your ISPBut there are many reasons why your actual Wi-Fi speeds may be lower than you expect. For example, the speed drops as you move away from yours router, especially if there are many walls and obstacles between them. Speeds can also fluctuate during peak hours of use or if your ISP enforces data restrictions or restricts connections helps maintain overall network performance.
If you are interested in the real internet speed in your home, there is an easy way to check it. Running an internet speed test is quick and easy and you have a choice of many free options. You may even be able to run one of the same applications that you used to set up router. In most cases, running the test is as easy as pressing the “Go” button and does not take more than a minute.
A good speed test will make it easier for you to find out the current download, upload and latency (or ping) for any device you test on – but with so many options that promise to do exactly which one you should trust?
I’m glad you asked. Here are the ones we address first and why.
Also read: How we test Wi-Fi routers
Screenshot by Ry Crist / CNET
One of our favorites is the Ookla speed test, which has a good reputation for consistency and is one of the first speed tests on the web. Leaving aside popularity, we love Ookla for having everything a basic user needs from a speed test: accuracy, the ability to view speed test history (when you create an account), a wide range of servers to connect to, and even handy application. for speed testing from Android or iOS devices. By the way, the Ookla speed test is also the one we use when testing Wi-Fi routers.
Ookla has done a good job and kept pace with the times by adding new features and capabilities over the years. The service recently released a video-specific rate test that measures your network’s ability to process 4K video streams. In addition to websites and smartphone applications, Ookla also has applications that you can run on Windows or Mac. You can even run the Ookla Speed Test on Apple TV.
All that being said, Ookla displays banner ads when you run basic speed tests. This is not surprising, but it can have a slight impact on your results depending on the strength of your connection at the time of the test.
Screenshot by Ry Crist / CNET
Fast.com is another great broadband test and the interface is about as simple and straightforward as it can be. However, one of its biggest advantages is that it is owned by Netflix. This may seem strange at first glance, but in reality this is what makes it a great choice for online streamers, as the test is structured around checking if your connection is strong enough to stream Netflix at maximum resolution without buffering. memoirs.
While Fast.com is a great tool for some, it will not be the most useful test for all users. The basic interface is easy to use, yes, but it also lacks some of the advanced settings and metrics you’ll find in other speed tests. In particular, you cannot specify which server you want to connect to during the test.
Screenshot by Ry Crist / CNET
None of these speed tests are difficult to use, but the M-Lab Internet Speed Test is probably the easiest to find. Abbreviation for Measurement Lab, M-Lab’s open-source test was developed by a collection of computer scientists and academic researchers with Google support – and it’s a test that comes up whenever you type “internet speed test” into the Google search box. Just click on the blue “RUN SPEED TEST” button to see the download speed, upload speed and latency in a few seconds.
It’s about as easy as it gets, because you don’t have to bookmark it or remember exactly what it’s called. No ads are displayed during the test, and the only data that is shared with M-Lab is your IP address. Just know that the M-Lab test does not allow you to choose which server to use during the test and is only designed for internet speeds up to 700 Mbps. If you are trying to test a gigabit connection speed, you will want to go elsewhere.
Screenshot by Ry Crist / CNET
If you are looking for a test that offers a view not only of speed but also of consistency, Speedof.me is the right way. As with Ookl, the test interface does a great job of displaying fluctuations in upload and download speeds. Over time, this can make it easier to find out if something is wrong with your connection, especially since Speedof.me allows you to compare your results with previous tests. Its mobile site is also great for testing on your phone, allowing you to perform a quick speed test on the go without downloading an app.
However, Speedof.me is not a perfect choice. For starters, there is no option to manually select the server you are connecting to. And if home networks aren’t your forte, visualized data can seem more confusing or overwhelming than something like Fast.com, which just gives you a number.
Screenshot by Ry Crist / CNET
Testmy.net is an internet speed test that runs exclusively on HTML5 and PHP. This means that it does not require third-party software, such as Java or Flash, to run the test, which can lead to more accurate results. This also makes it a useful tool for comparing performance between different browsers. You can also create an account to monitor the speed of your internet for future use or comparison.
However, it is not the most user-friendly tool. With a lot of detailed data, you will have quite a bit of information, many of which may not be relevant to you. The design is also a bit ugly by speed test standards and takes a few clicks to actually start a test, which of course isn’t as effective as other speed tests that include large “Go” buttons once you load the page. .
Frequently asked questions about the speed test
What is the good speed of the internet?
The Federal Communications Commission defines broadband speeds as download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 3 Mbps, but according to the FCC’s own speed guide, this is essentially the bare minimum for things like streaming 4K video and sharing large files over the web. .
Internet plans with multigig speeds of up to 2, 3 or even 5 gigabits per second (that is 5,000 Mbps) are beginning to emerge from a number of providers, including AT&T, Comcast, Frontier, Verizon Fios, Ziply Fiber and others, but plans like these are for Most households are exaggerated, at least for now. The most ideal is a symmetrical internet connection with uploading, which is as fast as downloading – 100 Mbps speeds would be perfectly fine for most households.
In addition to showing you the current upload and download speeds for any device on which you run the test, most Internet speed tests will also give you a data called ping, which is a measure of latency measured in milliseconds. Simply put, a ping is the time it took your device to send a signal to any remote server you connected to during a speed test and then receive a response. Think of it as a return flight to your internet connection.
Ping increases if you connect to a server that is very far away or if there is some interference somewhere in the connection. Your ping may also increase slightly if you connect through something like a network router or range extender, where your data needs to perform a few wireless jumps before it reaches the modem.
In most cases, the differences in ping are quite small, so much that you won’t notice them without performing a speed test. This means that you will start to notice a high ping if you try to make a decision in a fraction of a second in an online multiplayer game, and it can also cause annoying delays during video calls.
Like ping, jitter is measured in milliseconds, but instead of measuring the time it takes for a device to send data to a remote server and receive a response, jitter describes the latency differences between data flows to different client devices on your network. If the jitter is too high, it means that data is not flowing to your device as efficiently as it probably should, and this can cause issues such as caching during streaming and video calls.
Can speed tests help improve the speed of my internet?
Speed tests don’t change the speed of your home Wi-Fi network, but they’re a great diagnostic tool – a quick way to check how your network is performing in different places in the home.
The best way to use speed tests is to run them on your phone or laptop in different rooms around the house. If you find a dead zone where the speed drops, you may want to consider placing a range extender in the closest room to that dead zone where the speeds are high – from there it will retransmit your Wi-Fi signal and potentially speed. things up. If you find more dead zones in the places where you want to connect, it may be time to upgrade the router. For the best Wi-Fi coverage in your entire home, consider using a network router that uses multiple devices.