Faisal Khan/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesYou might think that the speed of the connection promised in your home internet box is what you ‘re systematically getting — but that ‘s not normally true. For starters, your upload and download speeds will dip with range when you ‘re connected wirelessly, over Wi-Fi. Speeds can slow down or fluctuate during times of peak use, excessively, and they can come crashing down if your supplier enforces data caps or throttles connections to maintain overall network performance. fortunately, there ‘s an easy way to keep an eye on your home ‘s internet speeds, and that ‘s with an internet speed quiz. You ‘ve got lots of loose options online to choose from, and you might even be able to run one from the lapp app that you used to set up your router. In most cases, running a test is a comfortable as pressing “ Go, ” and wo n’t take more than a minute or so. Read more : Best VPN service for 2022
Reading: Best internet speed tests of 2021
A good rush test will make it easy to see your current download speeds, upload speeds and reaction time ( or ping ) for whatever device you ‘re running the test on — but with sol many options promising to do precisely that, which one should you trust ? Glad you asked — here are the ones we turn to first and why. Screenshot by Ry Crist/CNET
One of our favorites is the Ookla amphetamine screen, which has a firm repute for consistency and for being one of the first rush tests on the web. Popularity apart, we like Ookla for having everything a basic drug user needs from a accelerate quiz : accuracy, the ability to view your travel rapidly screen history ( when you create an account ), a wide array of servers to connect to, and even a handy app for accelerate testing from your Android or io device. Incidentally, Ookla ‘s accelerate test is besides the one we use when we ‘re testing Wi-Fi routers. Ookla ‘s done a good job of keeping up with the times by adding newfangled features and capabilities over the years. barely recently, the service released a video-specific speed test that measures your net ‘s ability to handle 4K video streams. It besides has apps that you can run on Windows or on Mac. You can even run the Ookla speed test on an Apple television receiver. All of that said, Ookla does display banner ads while you run basic speed tests. That ‘s not surprise, but it might make a slight affect on your results depending on the intensity 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 a elementary and straightforward as it gets. however, one of its biggest advantages is that it ‘s owned by Netflix. That might seem odd at foremost, but it ‘s actually what makes it a great clean for on-line streamers, because the test is structured around checking to see if your connection is strong enough to stream Netflix in maximal resolution without buffer. While Fast.com is a great tool for some, it wo n’t be the most helpful test for all users. The basic interface is easy to use, yes, but it besides lacks some of the progress settings and metrics you ‘ll find with early travel rapidly tests. Most notably, you ca n’t specify which server you ‘d like to connect with for your test .
Read more: How to Change Your IP Address
Screenshot by Ry Crist/CNET
none of these rush tests are unmanageable to use, but the M-Lab Internet Speed Test is probably the easiest one to find. Short for Measurement Lab, the open-source M-Lab examination was developed by a collection of computer scientists and academic researchers with Google ‘s back — and it ‘s the test that pops up whenever you type “ internet focal ratio quiz ” into the Google search bar. Just click the blue “ RUN SPEED TEST ” push button to see your download rush, upload accelerate and rotational latency within a matter of seconds. That ‘s about american samoa simpleton as it gets, because you wo n’t need to bookmark it or remember precisely what it ‘s called. There are no ads while you run the test, and the only data that gets shared with M-Lab is your IP address. equitable know that the M-Lab test does n’t let you pick which server you ‘ll use during the test, and it ‘s entirely designed for internet speeds of up to 700 Mbps. If you ‘re trying to speed test a gigabit connection, you ‘ll want to turn elsewhere .
Screenshot by Ry Crist/CNET
If you ‘re looking for a test that offers a attend not good at speeds, but at consistency, Speedof.me is the manner to go. Similar to Ookla, the quiz interface does a capital job of showing fluctuations in your upload and download speeds. Over prison term, that can make it easier to spot when something is imperfectly with your connection, particularly since Speedof.me lets you compare your results with previous tests. Its mobile-friendly web site is capital for running tests on your phone, besides, allowing you to do a immediate accelerate test on the travel without downloading an app. Speedof.me is n’t a perfect choice, though. For starters, there ‘s no option for manually selecting which waiter you connect with. And if home network is n’t your forte, the visualized data might seem more confuse or overwhelming than something like Fast.com, which barely gives you a total .
Screenshot by Ry Crist/CNET
Testmy.net is an internet travel rapidly test that runs wholly on HTML5 and PHP. What that means is that it does n’t require third-party software like Java or Flash to run your trial, which can make for more accurate results. That besides makes it a useful instrument for comparing performance between different browsers. You can besides create an account to track your internet speed for future reference point or comparison. It ‘s not the most user-friendly tool, however. With a good deal of in-depth data, you ‘ll have quite a bite of information to look through, much of which might not be relevant to you. The design is besides a short atrocious by focal ratio test standards, and it takes a few clicks before you actually begin a examination, which obviously is n’t ampere streamlined as other accelerate tests that feature boastfully “ Go ” buttons angstrom soon as you load the page.
