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How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 6:24 pm
by ken
Hi all,

This week my internet at home is noticeably slow. How do I test it to see what the speed is? What other things should I check out? I swear it was fine last week. Nothing should be different this week. Thanks!

Ken

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:15 pm
by Chumpy
Go to speedtest.net, they have a little flash widget on their site that will test both your upload and downloads speed. If you want to test the speed on a mobile device, you can download the speedtest.net application from your mobile app-store, if not, just hit the speedtest.net site on a browser.

Warning: The site is going to spam with with ads try to sell you software to 'clean' your PC. That software is bullshit, use the free service and get out of dodge.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2016 9:03 pm
by roymond
Keep in mind that Speedtest.net is provided by cable companies and provides the absolute fastest detected results in order to make said cable companies look good. It is not a good indicator of actual transfer speeds, but it is handy and HTML5 so it works on mobile devices as Chumpy said.

When I feel the home speeds sagging I do a complete shutdown of all the related internet boxes (cable, network breakout box, router, switch, etc.) wait a minute (to drain capacitors) then switch them all on again. Often this will fix whatever was choking bandwidth.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 4:16 am
by AJOwens
It might be your computer. In Windows 7, you can check Network I/O using the Resource Monitor.

Right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select Task Manager. On the Performance page, click Resource Monitor.

I thought I just posted this information, but I don't see it, so I'll try again.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 5:36 am
by jb
Fair to assume you've checked with your provider about outages in your area? The worst thing ever is doing three hours of troubleshooting only to learn that there's an outage.

JB

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 6:58 am
by ken
Ping - 63ms
download - 4.93
upload - 1.49

I'm pretty sure I'm paying for 25Mbps, so this ain't right. I'm going to try Roymond and AJOwens suggestions next.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:52 am
by Lunkhead
I'm not sure if it's still this way, but, it used to be that you'd be paying for "25Mbps 'peak'" speed, meaning that you are paying for the possibility of peak download speeds of 25Mbps, but your normal average downloads speeds will generally be much lower. Also it used to be that you'd be paying for 25Mbps downstream but much less upstream.

http://www.livescience.com/6076-adverti ... ality.html
http://www.dslreports.com/faq/15643

Neither of those things mean you're not having a problem, but they're something to keep in mind. Speedtest.net is unlikely to ever show you "download - 25mbps".

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 7:54 am
by Lunkhead
You're probably having a problem of some kind though as I just got 20/5 on my DSL and your cable internet should be faster than that. :/ One more thing to check is to try speedtest.net again but do it from a computer plugged in to your router or cable model, to try to eliminate your Wifi network as a source of the slowdown.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2016 11:40 am
by Chumpy
roymond wrote:Keep in mind that Speedtest.net is provided by cable companies and provides the absolute fastest detected results in order to make said cable companies look good. It is not a good indicator of actual transfer speeds, but it is handy and HTML5 so it works on mobile devices as Chumpy said.
I'm afraid this isn't entirely accurate. Speedtest.net is owned and operated by a company called Ookla. Ookla partners with various ISPs, including cable companies, who provide endpoints for the bandwidth test. The speedtest widget will pick a random endpoint near you, which may indeed be hosted by your ISP, but isn't always. The widget that performs the test on the speedtest.net page is implemented using Flash, and not HTML5, so it won't work on mobile browsers that do not support Flash, which is why I suggested downloading the app on mobile. There are a number of reasons why results on speedtest.net may differ from real world performance, but in the context of this discussion they are largely irrelevant.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 7:57 am
by ken
Thanks for all your help.

This morning, when connected directly to my wireless router via ethernet cable I get:
Ping - 14ms
Download - 33.89
Upload - 6.09

Connected via wifi:
ping - 19ms
download - 5.15
upload - 1.51

I've shut everything down and let it rest before turning it back on. I checked the resource manager, but I'm unclear what I'm looking for there.

Thoughts for a next step?

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:08 am
by Lunkhead
Maybe try changing your wifi channel, if you can? It could be there are too many networks crowding your wifi.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:23 am
by roymond
Chumpy wrote:I'm afraid this isn't entirely accurate. Speedtest.net is owned and operated by a company called Ookla. Ookla partners with various ISPs, including cable companies, who provide endpoints for the bandwidth test.
Oh yeah, speedof.me is the html5 test. I stand corrected. My concern with these tests, though, are that they use averages that often don't reflect real world usage. Of course they have to do this as they can't predict what we're looking for, be it light web browsing or heavy downloads/uploads and speedtest has modified its methods over the years to better assess things. I'm often moving very large files and clients running a simple speedtest have difficulty comparing results with even a 2GB download. Main point being: take it for what it is. Secondary point being: don't listen to me again.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 8:26 am
by roymond
Lunkhead wrote:Maybe try changing your wifi channel, if you can? It could be there are too many networks crowding your wifi.
Also compare 2.4Ghz vs 5Ghz settings.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 9:02 am
by jb
Eat more kale, I think. And maybe like, a bran muffin in the morning. That always helps my internet speed.

JB

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:01 am
by ken
Thanks for all your help. The kale thing seems to really be working. Unfortunately, it seems that my wireless router is not. The modem is fine, and if I connect my computer via ethernet, everything is fine. However, no matter how many times I unplug it and plug it back in, it won't show up as a network. The lights are on, but it seems like no one is home. Any suggestions on a replacement? I don't know much about these things and a friend set this whole thing up years ago.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 11:19 am
by Lunkhead
I think I have an extra router I could loan you. I bought one but then I upgraded my DSL and AT&T installed a combo modem/router, so I haven't been using the one I bought.

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Wed May 18, 2016 8:52 am
by AJOwens
According to a story on Slashdot, Netflix has set up a site for measuring your internet speed.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/05/1 ... -really-is

Re: How do I test my home internet speed?

Posted: Mon May 23, 2016 10:45 am
by ken
In case anyone is interested, I just replaced my old modem and wireless router with a combo deal: NETGEAR N600 Wi-Fi DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Router (C3700) on Amazon for $99. It was easy to install, and despite having to register it with my Cable company (Comcast), it has been a simple process and seems to be so much faster.

the Fast.com site says I'm getting 74mbs.

Speedtest.net says 41mbs download, 6mbs upload.

Problem solved for now. Next up, renaming and changing the password!