And as this guide was written over the course of several days, you’ll see a variety of speed results, all coming from the same network. Your bandwidth can fluctuate a lot during the day, as mine did while testing these methods.
These tests typically take under 30 seconds.Īdditionally, you’ll notice a lot of variation among speed test result shown below. We recommend testing your speed using a few different services. However, other services, such as Internet Health Test, actually test the amount of congestion on your ISP’s network to determine speed. Some sites, like, only check internet speed through a sample download and upload to one server. Most people opt for for these tests, but is not the only internet speed testing option, nor is it the best one available.
I used Internet Health Test for this report. Here’s one example what my mid-day speed test results look like: This will ensure you collect an accurate reading when determining whether the below methods work for you. All that matters is that you run your before and after speed tests around the same time, and that you use the same speed testing website to run both tests. However, it ultimately doesn’t matter when you run your speedtest. On weekends, it could be anytime during the day. For weekdays, that’s typically in the morning or evening hours. Ideally, you will want to run your speed test during the hours you would normally be using your internet. The more devices you have running, the slower your available internet speed (something we’ll get into later), so you’ll want to get as accurate a measure of your speed as possible. That includes pausing downloads, turning off online games, and turning off streaming videos or music. Running an internet speed testĪfter you’ve identified the speed you’re supposed to be getting, you should run a few internet speed tests.īefore running your speed tests, we recommend turning off any other data-intensive activities. At any given time, your actual speeds will vary as more or fewer people near you using the same ISP are also streaming Netflix videos or playing games online. But failing to achieve those speeds is also just a consequence of having to share the bandwidth with your neighbors. Advertising a theoretical maximum or minimum speed is a common tactic ISPs use to attract customers. However, you will likely never actually achieve the advertised maximum speed, and your speed may fall below the listed minimum. All ISPs will advertise a maximum or minimum potential speed you could get with what you pay. A quick method may be to contact the company either by phone or live online chat to figure out what your bitrate is supposed to be.Īlso, note the “up to” part. You may need to do some legwork to research what your service package offers if your ISP doesn’t have the speed maximums and minimums listed on your account. I only know my exact speed because I recently changed the terms of my account, however, I could use the service package name to look that information up on their website as well. It merely states the service package I’m using. Comcast doesn’t spell out exactly how much speed I’m getting anywhere on my account, however. For $89.95/month, I’m supposed to be getting up to 100 Mbps. For example, I currently receive internet access through Comcast. Prior to running a speed test, we advise that you check your ISP service account to see what kind of speed you’re paying for. How much speed you’re supposed to be getting from your ISP.Additional solutions to increase internet speedīefore doing anything to alleviate a potential internet speed problem, you’ll need to know two things:.Tips to speed up your internet connection.