speed internet
Why should I test my internet speed using Fast Internet?
An internet speed test measures the connection speed and quality of your connected device to the internet. It does so by running multiple consecutive tests that analyze different aspects of your internet connection, namely ping (latency), download speed, and upload speed. Each of these values represents the connection's specific qualities, which you can read more about in the paragraph after the next. These should help you understand the final speed test results. But before we get to these, we first want to discuss how to perform each test.
Wi-Fi Speed internet
For most people, running a WiFi speed test is the right solution when experiencing connection issues, as these issues are usually related to internet speed. The reason is simple. Most devices on a home network no longer connect via a wired connection. They all connect via WiFi. To find out if your connection issues are due to your ISP, your wireless connection, or a local router problem, a Wi-Fi test will give you the insight you need. Simply run multiple tests, one near your Wi-Fi hotspot and one at the location where you are having issues due to signal strength drops. If the internet speed is the same for weak and strong signals, there may be an issue with your ISP. However, if the internet speed is different on your connected devices, the poor connection may be due to a local misconfiguration or device functionality. Perhaps your device is not connecting to the right Wi-Fi hotspot and therefore has to go through a thick wall. selectively enabling and disabling Wi-Fi hotspots, you can quickly identify problematic devices. You can run a WiFi speed test on all your devices to identify which ones have a strong WiFi signal and which ones don't. In addition, you can check your internet speed with a network speed test to compare wireless and wired connections.
Test my internet speed?
To learn more about the specific requirements of the bandwidth speed test, we've prepared the sections below that will explain the details of what is actually happening during the speedtest.
How to test download speed?
To test the internet speed when downloading data, the test is performed by opening multiple connections to the server and starting the download of a large data file on all connections simultaneously. This approach ensures that the entire bandwidth of the internet connection is utilized so that the maximum data throughput can be measured. Recording the data throughput in relation to the measurement time ultimately gives the available internet speed for downloading the data.
How to test upload speed?
The upload speed is tested by reversing the order of the download analysis. Here too, multiple connections to the test server are opened. Instead of downloading a file, a large random data file is created on your device and sent to the server via all connections. Sending the data to the server via multiple streams over the network ensures that the maximum throughput is measured. Likewise, recording the data throughput over time gives the available internet speed for uploading data.
How to test ping?
During the ping test, the device sends a small data package over the network to the test server on the internet. This test doesn't focus on upload speeds but on response time. When the server receives this package, it will send it back to the device, completing the roundtrip. The time it takes the data package to complete the roundtrip is called latency, also known as ping. To achieve an accurate reading, multiple ping tests are conducted consecutively, with the final result being the average of all these tests.
All these are automatically handled for you when you use speed internet to test internet speed. But you should take one crucial aspect into account to test speed accurately. Choose the right tool. This depends on the device you want to use, being a phone or tablet, or a computer. To check internet speed on a computer, use your browser and the app on this website. To achieve accurate results on mobile devices, you should download our iOS or Android app, respectively. This is especially important when running a WiFi speed test. Because browsers on mobile devices have poor performance, we suggest using a mobile app written in native code to ensure the most accurate test results.
🚄 Internet Speed Metrics
What is download speed?
Download speed determines the transfer rate of how fast data is transferred to your device from the internet. 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. Most often, download speeds are denoted in Megabits per second (Mbps or Mb/s), although other forms like Kilobits per second (Kbps or Kb/s) or Megabyte per second (MBps or MB/s) are also common.
What is upload speed?
Upload speeds as opposed to download speeds characterize 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. Upload speed is very important for online gaming and video calls, where you need as much speed as possible.
What is a ping (latency)?
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 that also correlates with packet loss. A high latency will lead to more packet loss while a low latency will ensure almost none.
Why should I test my internet?
I can test my internet speed to learn about my connection speeds. This enables me to a) ensure that I'm getting what I'm paying for from my internet service provider and b) helps me adapt my expectations about what type of applications I can run like online games or video calls without issues on my network.
How fast is your internet?
It's important to understand that different internet speeds are necessary for different usage scenarios. Both download and upload speeds determine what's possible. So when you test internet speed, keep in mind the question "How fast is my internet?" can only be answered in relation to what you want to use the connection for. While simply browsing the web can be achieved with low single-digit megabit per second speeds, streaming Netflix in 4K resolution will need a maximum speed of 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. To download files especially large files at a good speed you should aim for a download speed with a transfer rate of at least 10Mbps.