How to test your true download speed

Although, if you change your device settings to keep it awake display on, focused on the test and plugged into power it works great on mobile devices. TMN directly interfaces with your browser, without the need for additional software like Flash, Java or an app. This server-side approach not only makes TMN the most compatible speed test online it also makes for a much higher level of accuracy and enables TMN to passively detect computer issues that other speed tests fail to notice.

Note, your default system web browser is always recommended for testing. Although, TestMy. Simple as that. Some versions of Chrome are faster and sometimes Firefox is on top but usually one of those two browsers will be your best bet for performance.

Mac users, Safari also performs very well. This is a real world speed test. Unlike other speed tests that require third party applications, TestMy. This makes TMN's speed test more sensitive to browser misconfiguration and is an excellent way to highlight performance differences between web browsers.

Less between you and the test is a good thing. Our competitors speed tests that run through flash or java have a higher CPU overhead and users report throughput bursting. Our results are unbiased because TMN has no vested interest in the outcome of your speed test. Throughout the process, our tool measures a variety of data points, including the speeds of both your upload and download. Despite how useful this information can be, you will find that the speeds you see reported will almost always be a bit lower than you might have expected.

These variations are to be expected, and for the most accurate results, we recommend running the test times back to back to get a solid average. There are 1 billion bits in a Gigabit Gb. Bytes A byte is a common unit of measurement for determining how large a particular piece of data is. Each byte contains 8 bits. Since bits are such a small unit of measurement, it makes more sense to use bytes when discussing file sizes.

There are 1 billion bytes in a Gigabyte GB. Transfer Rate Simply put, transfer rate refers to how quickly data is transferred between two or more devices. Transfer rates are commonly described using a bits-per-second measurement. Kbps Kilobits per second. Only the slowest connections are measured this way. Mbps Megabits per second. The most common unit of measurement for modern internet connections. Gbps Gigabits per second. Faster connections are measured this way.

GBps Gigabytes per second. No currently operating consumer networks utilize this measurement. Bandwidth You can think of bandwidth as the total capacity a given network has in terms of data.

During certain times of peak traffic, you may experience slower speeds. Throughput Throughput is very similar to bandwidth, in that it is a measurement of the amount of data that passes from one point to another within a certain amount of time. Unlike bandwidth, however, this is a measurement of volume, not speed. Ping Ping simply refers to a signal that is sent from a given device to a server, and back again.

This measurement is reflected as latency on a network. It's calculated by dividing the total throughput of data in a given time frame by its duration. Therefore its unit is denoted by units of data over time. As opposed to download speed, upload speed characterizes the amount of data your device can send to the internet. It's calculated the same way and is therefore denoted in the same units. The ping or latency describes the delay of a signal due to the time it takes that signal to travel to its destination.

In this context, it represents the time it takes a data package to complete its roundtrip over the network and the acknowledgment from the server that it was received. As a value of time, it is denoted as such, most often in Milliseconds ms.

It's a value for the responsiveness of your connection. Because knowing about your connection speeds enables you to a ensure that you get what you pay for from your internet service provider and b help you adapt your expectations about what type of applications you can run without issues on your network. It's important to understand that different internet speeds are necessary for different usage scenarios. So when you test internet speed, keep in mind that the question "How fast is my internet?

While simply browsing the web can be achieved with low single-digit megabit per second speeds, streaming Netflix in 4K resolution will need at least a 25Mbps connection speed. Online gaming will primarily be influenced by your ping, with a smaller ping being better while publishing content on the web, like uploading large videos to Youtube will be primarily constrained by your upload bandwidth. This number has more than doubled since I performed 3 tests for every one of the 10 speed tests I used 30 total.

So I would maybe do more tests for each site, perform a couple of more tests on my own, compare results and find a site that looks as if they provide accurate and consistent results. But why?

The things that affect your test speeds are the same things that usually affect your actual internet speeds. From here I would look at your speeds and then your contract to see how much of a difference there is, if any, from the speeds your ISP says you should get.

If you can provide some concrete evidence, you might be able to get your internet speeds corrected. Security System Options for Apartment Renters. Testing Your Internet Speed You see it all the time.