We all know how it works. We see that cool ad on the television displaying how fast a particular broadband internet is, we get in touch with the ISP to ask about their packages and some of them even go as far as demonstrating the speed of their service to use if we want. We leave their office satisfied, believing we already have one of the fastest internet connections in the world, only to end up getting home to see something different. Sometimes, the internet connection even works fast when we get home, but we start to doubt the real speed after a few weeks.
Since internet service providers charge based on the service they offer it is very important for us to do our due diligence to ensure we are not paying for a service we aren’t using. The key to ensure you don’t pay for a service you aren’t using is to test your real internet speed compared to what your ISP promised and this article will be giving you a few tips to help you know your real internet speed.
Could it be something on Your Computer?
There have been situations where I have a friend of mine using the same ISP as I am using and the same package as I am using but getting different speeds from the one I’m getting even in the same location. The reality is that your ISP sometimes will promise, and deliver, great internet speeds but you just can’t get things to work right on your own computer.
The first step to take in a situation like this is to realize that sometimes the problem isn’t with your ISP; it might be something with your computer. It is also important not just to jump into conclusions – you don’t know what it is already, but try to test your internet connection on a friend’s computer to see if you are getting the same speeds.
Taking a Look at Peak Hours
Another thing about broadband internet speed is that there is nothing entirely certain. There are cases in which there are only a few people using the same internet service as you and there are cases in which there are a lot more people online. The more people online using your internet connection type the slower it is likely to be.
To get an idea of whether your ISP is really delivering on their speed make sure you try to observe which time the most people are online and which time a lot less people are online – if you’re still not getting your desired speed at both hours you might want to contact your ISP.
Some Great Speed Testing Services
Now that we’ve considered some major factors to help you determine your internet speed, there are also speed test services you need to try. These services will help you discover what your real internet speed is compared to what your ISP promised you.
BandwidthPlace.com
This is a great speed test service that has a clean interface. It shows you what your exact downloads and upload speeds are and also gives some tips about what kind of internet speed you are getting.
SpeedTest.net
This is also a very popular internet speed test service which has a lot of great options. It is also very reliable and accurate.
This guest article is written by Paul Tobis who is an expert at helping people speed test their internet connection.
Thanks for providing this information. Sometimes I also face these types of internet speed problem. This information really helps me.
Thanks, well worth testing internet speed at different times to pin down issues.
Re the 2 testing services: Outside of US I tried both services (one after another) 2 days running and got results of 5.02 and 4.95 from BandwidthPlace but 6.16 and 6.10 from Speedtest.
I suspect BandwidthPlace only use US test servers which would explain the slower speed outside US. However, Speedtest use geo-location to test from a server very near you (at least same country) which gives more accurate results to those outside US.
My connection dies when it rains. What could be causing that ?
I think it is your Wireless router which is causing the problem with your connection, or your ISP is bad, and can’t handle the amount of people using your internet since more people are probably using the internet when it rains, so your ISP might not be able to handle the extra amount of people using the internet at once. If you use Cable Broadband internet, switching to DSL internet might be better since you get a dedicated connection which uses phone lines to the internet instead of sharing one cable connection to internet via Cable Internet.
When it comes to wireless networking speed there is a big difference between the bandwidth and the real throughput. Wireless introduces a lot of overhead control information which causes the problem. Very true about the peak hours though. It can really slow the internet down.