How fast is our Internet connection "> What slows down the network speed (wifi or wired) and the internet connection First of all, to check the connection speed and obtain the most accurate results it is important to make sure that no program on the computer is using the internet band.
Therefore, file transfer programs such as BitTorrent must not be active, streaming video sites and other communication applications must not be opened, this applies to both the PC and the smartphone (because internet speed can also be measured from a mobile phone, to check the mobile network).
In addition, you must disconnect every smartphone or other PC connected to Wifi from your internet, or at least be sure that they are not downloading data.
On a smartphone or any other type of mobile data connection, just make sure that the device is not downloading or loading data in the background.
Furthermore, the measurement must be done more than once, preferably at different times during the day and on different days.
This is because the Internet connection speed is faster during the night, when everyone is asleep, and slower in the evening, when neighbors are using the internet to download or watch movies, or faster on Sunday if you measure in a neighborhood with many offices.
On a smartphone or any other type of device that connects to a 3G or 4G network, the speed depends on how many people around you are using it and on the signal quality in your area.
An excellent and reliable test to measure internet speed is that of nPerf, which can be done directly from here
The most popular site to check the connection speed is still, after years, Speedtest.net, which can be used from a computer, connecting to the site and pressing the button to take the test, or even from Android and iPhone smartphones using the mobile applications of Speedtest.
The Speedtest.net test can also be done using the new tool, currently in beta phase, on the beta.speedtest.net/ website, which does not use the Flash plugin.
Speedtest is very fast in its measurement and it is easy to understand even for those who are not experts.
- Upload speed means how quickly our connection loads and sends data to the reference server.
- Download speed means how fast your connection is to download data from the internet.
Both of these measurements are expressed in Mbps, that is Megabit per second .
- Ping means how long it takes to establish the connection with the server, that is, to load and download a data package that comes and goes.
This is measured in milliseconds, the fewer they are, the more responsive the connection is.
READ ALSO: Difference between Megabyte (MB) and Megabit (Mb) in ADSL speed calculations
To check the connection speed, you can also use other tools including:
- Fast.com, by Netflix, which measures the maximum download and upload speed.
- SpeedOf.Me, with a modern site in HTML5, which shows the connection speed through a series of graphs relating to download and upload speeds.
- TestMy.Net, to make an automatic and periodic test every X hours or minutes, and to have an average of the speed during the whole day.
- SourceForge speed Test, also in HTML5.
Other ways to do the ADSL speed test are explained in another article where we also talk about the official AGCom software, called Na.me.sys.
READ ALSO: Why the internet is slow and how to fix it
