How does internet speed test work

Even with fast Internet, at some point you might want to check up on your delivered speed and see where your own Internet connection clocks in on the speed spectrum. But if you were to check on one website and then again on another, you might see some discrepancy. That was certainly our experience. We tested our office connection using speedtest. A little while later we opted for speakeasy. What gives? Most of them give you an upload and a download speed, which they calculate by sending sample binary files to your computer with instructions to send them back again.

Ping is measured in milliseconds ms. Packet loss : Packet loss occurs when a packet of data being sent over the internet is not received or is incomplete. This is described in percentage of packets lost compared to packets sent. Packet loss testing is available with Speedtest desktop apps. Jitter is not usually noticeable when reading text, but when streaming and gaming a high jitter can result in buffering and other interruptions.

Technically, this is a measure of the average of the deviation from the mean. Jitter testing is available with Speedtest desktop apps. Mbps : Megabits per second. A megabit is 1 million bits of information.

This is a standard measure of internet speed, not to be confused with megabytes MB which is a measure of size rather than bandwidth. Kbps : Kilobits per second. A kilobit is 1, bits of information. This older measure of internet speed is used only when needed to describe slower connections, and not to be confused with kilobytes KB which is a measure of size rather than bandwidth.

Then aim for the best possible conditions. Use an ethernet-connected device, select the nearest test server, and turn off anything that could be demanding your internet connection like a streaming service. Before doing a speed test, you might wish to restart your router. Instead of doing a browser test, see if your router has a built-in speed test.

This eliminates some of the hurdles that the procedure must overcome. Use a browser or app test instead if you want more realistic results. Bypassing the router test, you should be able to choose a server that is further away. Start before beginning the internet speed test if you have one or two video or audio streams running regularly. I hope you found this information helpful. Please fill out the form below if you have any queries or comments.

Others argue that multithread tests, such as those employed by Ookla Speedtest. A good internet speed is 25 Mbps or more. Fast internet rates, such as those of megabits per second Mbps , are often preferable, especially if you want your internet plan to handle several devices and users simultaneously. Because wifi connections are slower and less consistent than ethernet connections, your tests via wifi will not tell you the full speed.