Internet-speed-test-150x150Judging past the corporeality of searches done for the term "speed test" there seems to be a fleck of an obsession with Internet speeds.

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

In this tutorial I will try to explain how speed tests piece of work and what they are really telling y'all. We look at.:

  • What is a proficient download speed and upload speed?
  • What does Mbps mean?
  • Is a download speed of 10 Mbps skillful? How fast is x Mbps
  • Does Internet speeds vary throughout the day.
  • Is information technology worth irresolute providers to become a faster internet connexion?

Understanding Internet Speed Tests

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

Uploading refers to the procedure of transferring data from your reckoner to the Cyberspace, and downloading refers to transferring data from the Cyberspace to your computer.

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

This is normally OK considering for most people they download much more they upload.

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

A iv MB file will take 8 secs over a four Mbits/s link and two seconds over a 16 Mbits/southward link. (see Bits and Bytes).

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

At that place 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 affect how fast your overall connection speed is:

  • The access technology- east.g. ADSL,4G/3G mobile, Satellite etc
  • Your ISP.
  • The location of your destination server or service.

They all combine together to form a chain (communications link) . Every bit a comparing, If you imagine traffic driving down a 6 lane road, which becomes a 2 lane road and.then a iv lane road. (image Below).
.

Traffic-speed-comparisson

Y'all can run into that the traffic will be restricted by the 2 lane road.

On the Cyberspace, just similar on a normal route, your terminal speed will be limited by the slowest link in the chain.

Note: You practise not need to install whatever software on your computer to do a Net speed exam. Be very wary when using speed test sites as some with prompt you to install software to improve your estimator speed. Some probably are genuine, but information technology is impossible to tell, so I wouldn't exercise information technology.

Internet Speed Factors

Several factors bear upon your internet admission speeds:

  • Your Admission technology
  • Your Internet service provider
  • Location of the remote resources
  • Time of Twenty-four hours

Internet Admission Technology

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

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

Run across mutual Internet access methods. for an overview with pros and cons of each engineering

Your (Internet access provider) ISP

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

Internet-connection-speed-1

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

In the UK the connection to the home is well-nigh always a BT phone line and ADSL, but fibre is becoming increasing popular.

If that is the case then The admission speed will be limited past these BT lines regardless of the Internet access provider you choose.

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

The connexion between the Isp and the Cyberspace is usually over cobweb and is fast, but it is shared past many subscribers.

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

And so your Connectedness to the ISP could be 6Mbits/south but from you lot to the Net it could exist only three Mbits/south.

Here is a quote from the BBC article on broadband speeds

Almost half of broadband users are at present on packages with advertised speeds above 10Mbps but the average broadband speed is half-dozen.8Mbps according to Ofcom.

The Location Of The Service/Server On The Net

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

Internet-Routing

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

In addition the speed and chapters of the network that inter-links these computers/routers will besides bear on the last connection speed.

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

And then you may have a super fast connection to the Internet, merely nonetheless take the same corporeality of time to download a file from the Net as someone with a much slower Internet connexion.

Time of Day

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

This is very similar to rush 60 minutes on the roads.

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

speed-graph-uswitch

Notice how the average speed drops from nearly 10Mbps to effectually 6Mbps.

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

When doing speed tests it is a good idea to practise several over the class or a normal twenty-four hours.

Download vs Upload Speeds

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

Most people spend nearly of the time surfing the Cyberspace, and downloading information, which is why the download speed is commonly more of import than the upload speed.

Information technology is the speed that broadband providers usually display, and what people compare.

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

T-broadband-downloadspeed

If you transport e-mail so 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 Cyberspace.

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

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

If you take an existing broadband connection you can 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 take over 10 hours to upload to the Internet.

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

The newer fiber packages from the master UK broadband providers (BT, Sky, Virgin,Talk Talk) offering significantly faster upload speeds equally well as faster download speeds

The screen shot beneath 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 considering using the Internet for transferring large files and then you should look for a broadband package that offers fast upload speeds.

What is a Practiced Upload or Download Speed?

This actually depends on what you want to practice with the Net connection.

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

If in that location are several people in your household that likewise watch movies online and then you would want a little more than speed.

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

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

An easier check is to cheque your Internet access provider advertised speeds confronting your ain speed.

You lot might find that you are paying a premium for a package because of the advertised speed but information technology is incommunicable for you lot to get those speeds considering of your location.

Internet Speed Checkers

They are many websites that allow you to bank check your Internet speed similar this online speed tester.

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

This Github page as the install and usage instructions

Summary

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

However your connexion speed is just i part of the overall Cyberspace connection, and y'all are unlikely to notice the difference between a 10Mbit/due south connexion and a 6Mbit/due south connexion when watching, for case, a YouTube video.

The more people you have accessing the Internet through your connexion the more important your connection speed becomes.

$.25 and Bytes Explained

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

1KB =1 kilo Bytes =1,000 Bytes and aneMB=i One thousand thousand Bytes.

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

Over again

i kbps =1 thou $.25 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- Yeah. ISPs usually quote the best speeds possible in theory, simply non in practice.

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

A- Information technology depends on what you exercise, or desire to practice with the connection and how many people utilize the connection. More often than not speeds higher up six-8 Mbps will exist good for near applications.

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

A- It is difficult to say for sure. Information technology could be your connectedness to your Internet service provider or it could be the Cyberspace. If you check your connection and notice that your download speed is around 6Mbps or faster then information technology is likely to be the Cyberspace.

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

A- Considering of the mode broadband is provided it is usually better to try changing the access method i.eastward. go to fiber instead of ADSL.

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

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

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

A- You need to check your upload speed. Generally but fibre broadband supplies skillful upload speeds.

Q- Is 6 Mbps fast?

A- Yous can judge it's speed past how long it takes to transfer information. A 6 MB file will take 8 secs over a 6 Mbits/south. A standard 1GB movie will take most 22 minutes to download at 6Mbps.

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

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

Resources:

  • $.25 and bytes explained
  • Report reveals drop between peak and off-peak surfing
  • Download time calculator

Related Manufactures:

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

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