Essentially, it is one of the elements of connection speed that measures any lag you might experience while online. Ping is the measure of latency from your device to the server and then back to your device. Each speed test may have slightly different features, but many of them measure ping and jitter. While the speed test runs, it also measures several other aspects of internet speed. That means information can pass into and out of your devices at the same super-fast rate. With high-speed fiber internet, for instance, you can get speeds up to 940/940 Mbps. This is leading to more internet plans that have what they call “symmetrical speeds” or equal download and upload speeds. One of the awesome advancements in internet technologies is the increased capacity for upstream bandwidth. These “asymmetrical” speeds put the “A” in ADSL connections, which have higher downstream bandwidth than upstream bandwidth. This is shorthand for 40 Mbps of download bandwidth and 20 Mbps of upload bandwidth. On your internet plan, you may see something like 40/20 Mbps (or “40 by 20 Megs” in the industry lingo). Similarly, 1 Gbps is 1,000 times faster than 1 Mbps. One megabit is roughly equal to 1,000 kilobits, which means 1 Mbps is 1,000 times faster than 1 Kbps. When the test is done, you’ll see your results as two numbers reflecting the download and upload speeds. The test will automatically select the closest server, which will typically be in a nearby city. Then that same file is transferred back to the server again to measure the upload speed. When you run an internet speed test, the testing site transfers a file from a nearby test server over the internet to your computer and measures how long it takes. Which device you run the test on, and how old it is or what its speed capacity is.How many devices are running on your home network (and how intensive your online activities are at that moment).Whether you’re testing over WiFi or over an Ethernet (wired) connection to the router.The results tend to fluctuate depending on a number of factors: The speed test measures the flow of data at one moment in time. In that case, the information below would not apply, as the results would not change based on these factors. Note that another type of speed test, such as those offered by certain modem manufacturers, measures the speed from the network directly to the modem. In this case, you have to take a few things into consideration before you can determine if the test results are “good” or “bad” for your situation. Many internet speed tests out there, including the one we provide here, on the CenturyLink site, measure internet speed on a particular device. That’s because once the connection is divvied up by the devices in your home and sent over WiFi, some of that network speed is lost. From the router to your devices, then, the speed you see will typically be a bit lower. So, if your internet plan has an advertised bandwidth of up to 20 Mbps, this is the highest volume of information that can be sent over the network to your router. The speed, then, is how fast that water comes out of the tap when you turn it on. Think of bandwidth as the width of a water pipe, which determines the volume of water that can flow through the pipe at any given moment. There’s a plumbing metaphor that can help us understand these two concepts. Speed is the rate at which information or content reaches your device (tablet, laptop, smartphone, etc.) from the internet.Bandwidth is the maximum volume of data that can be transmitted over an internet connection, measured in Megabits per second (Mbps).You may hear “bandwidth” and “speed” used interchangeably, but they do refer to slightly different aspects of internet service. What’s the difference between speed and bandwidth? To really answer that question, you must understand a bit more about internet speed, WiFi speed, and network connections. You may have run a speed test, or you may have no idea what your internet speed is.Įither way, if you’re like a lot of people, you simply want to know: “Is my connection fast enough?” Chances are good you’ve spent at least a moment or two thinking about your internet speed - especially if you’ve experienced a slow or spotty connection.
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