How Fast is Your Internet Connection?
- Posted on: August 26, 2008
- Those Who Had Their Say: 10
First off, congratulations to UBD’s first year anniversary. If you haven’t entered our contest, follow that link to win some awesome prizes! We’re giving away an iPod Touch and our new Citrus Theme!
So, as the title inquires, how fast is your internet connection?
Bandwidth is everything.
If I can’t connect and move files, thoughts, money, etc. around quickly I begin to lose my marbles. Have you ever lost a cell phone and gone without it for a day or two? I have that similar feeling when my internet goes down for 30 seconds…
I strongly recommend testing your internet bandwidth for a few reasons:
- You’ll get to see if you’re getting what you’re paying for.
- If your speed is slow, you can consider upgrading to a better service package from your provider.
- If your speed is fast, you can brag to all of your friends and colleagues.
- You can rank your connection against the rest of the world’s population.
Albeit those aren’t the best of reasons to check your speed, if you’re a nerd like me, you’ll be testing your bandwidth daily.
The Test
There are several test providers (speakeasy.net, cnet, speedtest.net, etc.) and they all do a relatively good job of metering your speed. I personally enjoy speedtest.net because of the cool flash interface. Bells and whistles are always a big factor for me when choosing products and services.
I’ll briefly explain speedtest.net to you, being as that is my recommended test provider.
- Simply go to their page, and the flash program will load.
- Next, choose the pyramid that is highlighted in yellow. This is your recommended test server.
- Sit back and monitor your bandwidth!
- Gloat to your friends and family about how fast your connection is. Alternatively, wallow in shame at how inferior your interweb connection is.
That’s it, really. Now go out there and analyze that data, you nerd. ^_^
Josh Mullineaux
Nate Whitehill
I always used to use Speakeasy Speed Test…but not being in Vancouver now, I need more server selection!
I just left a 1.25MB/s connection (up and down) to this 500kb/s down / 60kb/s up :’(
I think you can find a better server to test from on speedtest.net
what kind of connection is it? dsl?
sometimes speedtest.net can’t show real my connection. I have connection up to 1mbps down / 384kbps up, but sometimes speedtest.net show me up 35mbps / 99kbps
sounds freak eh ?
Cool 13 mbps, nice have high speed connection like that, my best speed only 1,3 to 2 mbps
On the go just about all the time, believe it or not, I use my 3g network with at&t. Teathering my phone to my laptop brings enough bandwidth to do my work, watch movies, and etc., but it is not the same as high speed. I don’t own a cable subscription but believe me, what I got works for me – although not as fast – and keeps me happy.
It is fibre optic something or other…from http://www.novusnow.ca …they pre-wire most of the new buildings in Vancouver and got some sweeeet speeds!
Thanks for the great tips … Comcast does seem to slow down at times and this is going to make me do some investigating on what I’m paying for vs. what they are saying.
I am not a techie. The time that I notice the speed of the internet is when I am doing large downloads or uploads. It makes a big difference. I am in the midwest and have had good experience with cable for speed. I had used DSL and it was too slow and too unreliable.
Hi Matt,
I use this site too and found my service sucked so I switched to a better service.
Definitely can’t take the word of the sales team for Broadband services.
LOL
What a help this was! I was definitely overpaying! My ISP claimed they were providing a certain speed for the cost and I was definitely not getting what I was paying for. I think ISP should moniter their bandwiths for you and charge you less if you aren’t getting what you are paying for….