How to Check Your Internet Speed

Is your ISP delivering the data speeds you were promised? Is there even a way to find out? Should you just take their word for it? The answer to these questions, respectively, are “we’ll see,” “Yep!,” and “HELL NO!” We can say that because you have access to free tools that will clock your own personal connection.

Most ISPs also offer a speed test, usually a variation of something you’ll see below. Skip using them. If it’s your own ISP, you can’t know for sure that the connection between you and the ISP servers won’t be optimized for better speeds. Stick with a third-party test tool.

Before you run any of these tests, be sure to:

• Turn off any downloads or uploads you have going on your system. That includes streaming media or live video meetings. Rebooting the system is a good start.

• Log out of your VPN software for the duration of the test; it adds a lot of overhead to the connection.

• For real accuracy, plug your PC directly into the router via Ethernet. You’ll have a lot less network overhead than you would with a Wi-Fi connection.

• Skip testing at peak hours, like in the evening when everyone at home, or in the whole neighborhood, is streaming music or movies.

Run the tests multiple times. The conditions on your internet connection can be very different at different times of day. The more data you have, the better.

PCMag Speed Test

We have a PCMag Speed Test, which you can use any time, even on a mobile device. We use the data it gathers to determine the Fastest ISPs in the US and Canada, as well as the Best Gaming ISPs. Click it below to give it a try.

Ookla Speedtest

Ookla Speedtest measures the time it takes for data to transfer between your computer and a remote server by way of your local ISP connection. It determines your location and pairs you to a local Speedtest server. All you have to do is click the “Go” button. The whole process should take less than a minute to complete, and you watch it unfold in real time. Run the test a few times by clicking the “Go” button again and again—you will see fluctuations in the data speed from test to test, depending on the network congestion at any given time.

The real benefit in using Speedtest.net comes with creating an account. With that, you can change settings, like picking a server for testing, and make it permanent so it’s saved for every time you visit. You can view your entire test history to see how your internet connection changes over time. To put those numbers in context, click the “Results” link to compare your results to global average speeds. If you used more than one connection (say you went from a hotspot to home and ran tests in both locations on the same PC), or used more than one connection server, click “Filter Results” to narrow down which tests/servers you want to see.

Use the Speedtest mobile apps to test on your smartphone (iOS, Android) which includes an integrated VPN option that costs $4.99 per month. You can go ad-free for $0.99. Speedtest also has native apps for Windows, Mac, Google Chrome browser, even the Apple TV.

To compare your speeds with the rest of the world, go to the Speedtest Global Index, which offers average throughput for mobile and fixed broadband connections across the globe. Many ISPs run a version of Speedtest on their own servers for testing customer connections. Those tests become part of Speedtest’s dataset, which is used to create the Global Index and other things.

TestMy.net

TestMy.net tries to stand out from the competition by not tying its real-world broadband tests to any particular ISPs. The results are also always based on completed tests performed start to finish, not estimates, which it says other tests do regularly. It has servers in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

It’s all browser based using HTML5 so the same test works on mobile browsers as well as desktop—there’s no separate apps for iOS or Android. The site does have ads full of ad-traps however—lots of “Start” buttons intended to trick you into clicking the commercial rather than the speed test itself. Be careful.

You can run a download-only test, upload-only test, or do automatic to check it all plus latency. There’s an option to sign up for an account to get results emailed to you directly.

Fast.com

Netflix has a vested interest in making sure the internet used by its customers is lightning fast. So it has its very own speed test. Visit Fast.com and you don’t even have to click a button. It starts an immediate download speed test. You can click for more results, get latency and upload test results, and share data on Facebook or Twitter instantly. With Fast.com, however, you can’t pick the server you test against. There is also a FAST Speed Test app for iOS and Android.

Speedof.Me

Speedof.Me has a zippy little test that works on mobile devices and the desktop. It offers a history at the bottom if you run multiple tests, and provides an “instant look” graph as the test runs multiple passes for download and upload. It has 100+ servers in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and a couple in Australia—it picks the fastest (vs. the closest) one for you.

Search Engines

Go to your search engine of choice—if those choices are Google or Bing—and search the term “speed test.” Both will pop up a test in the top of the search results.

Bing’s test even looks like a speedometer. But it’s unclear who powers it, and you don’t get any options to change—you simply get quick and dirty ping (latency time in milliseconds—the time it takes for packets to travel from you to the server), download, and upload results.

Google’s test is run by Measurement Lab (M-Lab), but the results are the usual download and upload speed, with no tracking or adjustment to settings.

For even more, there are plenty of tests you can try, like Fireprobe, SpeedSmart, SpeedCheck, and Ubiquiti’s WiFiman. If you have a favorite, let us know in the comments.

Disclosure: Ookla is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis.