Testing how fast my internet connection is

We have a few more tips you can try to get your network back to working as it should. The answer isn't as easy as calling your service provider and informing them of the subpar service. It's a frustrating fact, but ISPs are allowed to throttle your connection speed. However, there are steps you can take to determine if that's the case, or if there's another issue at fault by following this guide. You can also check your provider's app or website for an outage.

The first thing I do when my Comcast connection is acting flaky is open the Xfinity My Account app and look for any service issues. When there is one, the app will give you an estimated time of restoration. Knowing that the issue isn't anything on your end means you can forgo any troubleshooting. Finally, you can call your provider to ensure your modem supports your plan's speed, or to see if there are plans or promotions that will be worth an upgrade, so you can get the speeds you need to have a stress-free day of work and play.

CNET editors pick the products and services we write about. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. How we test ISPs. Jason Cipriani. July 12, a. It only takes a few seconds to check how fast — or slow — your internet is. Edit Address Address. There was an error initializing the test. Please reload the page and try again. How does it feel to be on top? You can stream live sports in UHD in every room, download huge files in minutes, and connect tons of devices.

The internet world is yours. There's not much that can slow your connection down. With speeds like this, several people can stream at the same time. You also have the bandwidth for intense online gaming, if that's your thing. Not too slow and not too fast—that's how you roll. Most online activities work great for you, but things might slow down if too many people start streaming in 4K or downloading large files.

Your connection qualifies or almost qualifies as the FCC's definition of broadband: 25 Mbps. That's good! But if you need faster load times, there's plenty of room to upgrade. Your connection is fast enough to get the job done—just as long as the job isn't too big. It works best if you stick to doing internet research, sending emails, and checking the news.

Basic video streaming also works on one device. Jump to: What is a good internet speed? How to make sense of your speed test results How to test your Wi-Fi speed Fastest internet providers.

A good internet speed is at least 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload. These internet speeds are the bare minimum for a broadband connection as defined by the Federal Communications Commission FCC. That said, no one wants to overpay for internet speed.

Tool to generate a personalized internet speed recommendation based on how your household uses the internet. Find Your Ideal Internet Speed. We suggest fiber internet because it supports equally fast upload and download speeds, but its availability is currently limited. Cable is your next best connection with broader availability and fast downloads. According to the FCC, both connections are better than DSL and satellite internet in consistently delivering promised speeds.

While satellite internet, DSL, and fixed wireless internet can reach speeds up to Mbps or more, speeds that fast are more of an exception than the typical experience with these connection types. There are several reasons why your speed test results might not be as fast as you expected.

Try these tips to see if you can get a more accurate reading:. If you see inconsistent results, there might be a bottleneck on your end. You can troubleshoot poor internet speeds with our guide on how to fix slow internet. But your internet connection may just be slow either from your plan or your internet type. The speeds promised by your internet plan are the max speeds you can expect. Most of the time, your internet speeds will fluctuate within a small range of that max speed.

What you see on the speed test is simply where your internet speeds are currently. Roots may be growing into the cable buried in your yard. Download speed is the amount of data your internet provider transmits to your device each second. 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 With over million subscribers Verizon Wireless is the second largest telco in the United States. In earliy T-Mobile and Sprint merged their businesses with 86 million and 54 million respectively. The merger made the 3rd and 4th biggest telcos a similar size as their two bigger rivals.

If you're looking for the best internet providers in your area you can do so here, e. WiFi 6 - What did consumers say in our Survey?

Starlink Performance How to test download speed? How to test upload speed? How to test ping? What is download speed?