A lot of people ask me about the high speed internet service they subscribe to. Usually focusing around a specific problem. When I ask what kind of Speeds they are paying for, they often have no idea.
How could you pay for something and not know what you actually getting?
Testing download and upload speed can be useful for a few reasons.
1. Make sure you actually getting what your ISP ( internet service provider) claims you paying for on your contract.
2. Determine if you have enough bandwidth if your going to be adding PC’s to your network. Or maybe you are purchasing a new internet based gaming system. Households with lots of teens often find their internet bandwidth insufficient.
3. If you at a Wifi hotspot, you could run this to make sure that work folder you are going to download will not take all afternoon.
Goto http://www.speedtest.net/ , choose closest server ( it will give you a few choices right away and usually the first one is fine), and just wait for results. Takes less than a minute.
It will also show you some other statistics. Your “ ping” or latency is listed which is important for online gamers.
Your IP address is also shown, which can be useful for setting up certain internal network applications.
It will also give you a graph of common file download times based on your tested speed. Also times based on you upload speed. Knowing how long file transfers will approximately take to finish can be useful in conjunction with shutdown timers for your PC. http://www.evermore707.com/2009/05/vista-shutdown-timer.html
You can also get a linkable widget that you can post to show off your nerd lust.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/469328337.png
Speedtest.net seems to be the most accurate and have the most features of all the testing sites i have tried out. You can also see what others have rated based on service or speed for any particular ISP. A good idea whe shopping for a new ISP.
It is not something you would do everyday perhaps, but defiantly something to bookmark and use every few months.
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