On this page there are reasons and tips about why your internet speeds may vary or perform unexpectedly. There is also OpenSpeedTest by openspeedtest.com. This is an open source piece of code to check your internet connection by clicking the Start button. There is also a collection of other sites with speed test links in the Further reading and useful links section. Bear in mind there are several factors that affect the validity of the tests, including:
* WiFi running on 2.4 GHz vs. 5 Ghz. 2.4 GHz has been around the longest so it is usually the only frequency on old routers. Do not interpret that as bad! Its frequency allows for more distance, but at the cost of slower speeds. 5 GHz is much faster, but because it is a higher frequency it does not penetrate walls as well as 2.4, nor does it have the distance. It is highly recommended to test both frequencies on your devices at the location they will be used the most.
* The percentage of your link that is in use by other computers on the network. Example, if you have a slow DSL link to begin with, one other computer downloading files, listening to Internet Radio, or watching videos will make a noticeably slower link.
* How the Internet connection is made; is it a direct link? Through a router? Is the router’s firmware up to date? Is the router’s WAN/Internet facing port as fast as your Internet provider’s link? Older routers only had a 100Mbs (or worse) link to your internet provider.
* Even the computer used to run the tests can change the test results. If it is loaded with adware/spyware, making background updates to the operating system or program files, running programs that check the weather, listening to Internet Radio, all of these examples are consuming Internet bandwidth. Cached pages also affect pages loaded.
* The testing site itself might be congested.
Something else to consider is using various browsers for testing. BHO’s (Browser Helper Objects), toolbars on any browser, Firefox add-ons, and so forth can slow a browser. They might be reaching out to their “mother ship”, scanning pages (though that’s not really a bad thing), reporting to indexing sites, and more.
Having said that, these tests are but one method of troubleshooting Internet connection problems or checking if your provider is giving you what you are subscribing to.
Further reading and useful links:
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ one of the more accurate upload and download tests
http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
http://performance.toast.net
http://www.voipreview.org/voipspeedtester.aspx Test your connection for VOIP capabilities