Of course if you want single stream testing you can set that option in the handy preferences panel. It also represents the modern usage pattern: someone is streaming netflix, a console is downloading a game patch, a VOIP or Skype call is taking place. Multi-stream testing overcomes the need for the speed test server to be physically very close to your location.
It was a Java applet and did a simple staged download and upload. 15 years ago we launched the very first popular broadband speed test.
The closer to the server the higher speeds can be obtained by the client operating system. Generally the ultimate speed limit is not the server speed but the distance to the server. They are currently capable of running from 300 megabit for the smaller servers to over 2 gigabit for the faster servers. The servers are dedicated to speed testing and monitored for performance. This can be limited by several factors including the distance to the test servers, the operating system in use, the traffic en-route, and of course any congestion or wiring problems close to your location. The speed test attempts to take your network connection to its maximum speed. Speeds are quoted in megabits per second (1 million bits per second) or kilobits per second (1000 bits per second) of data. The test should take no longer than one minute to complete. It does a multiple stream download and upload to servers it determines may be closest to your location. That said, you will start to notice high ping if you're trying to make split-second decisions in an online multiplayer game, and it can also cause annoying delays during video call conversations.A speed test checks the maximum speed of your connection to a remote server on the internet. In most cases, ping differences are pretty minor, enough so that you won't notice them without running a speed test. Your ping might also rise slightly if you're connecting through something like a mesh router or a range extender, where your data needs to make multiple wireless jumps before reaching the modem. Ping will go up if you're connecting to a server that's very far away, or if there's some sort of interference somewhere in the connection. Think of it like a round-trip flight time for your internet connection. Simply put, the ping number is the time that it took for your device to send a signal to whatever distant server you connected to during the speed test, and then receive a response. In addition to showing you the current upload and download speeds for whatever device you're running the test on, most internet speed tests will also give you a figure called ping, which is a latency measurement measured in milliseconds. That's not surprising, but it might make a slight impact on your results depending on the strength of your connection at the time of the test. You can even run the Ookla speed test on an Apple TV.Īll of that said, Ookla does display banner ads while you run basic speed tests. In addition to the website and the smartphone apps, Ookla also has apps that you can run on Windows or on Mac.
Most recently, the service released a video-specific speed test that measures your network's ability to handle 4K video streams. Ookla's done a good job of keeping up with the times by adding new features and capabilities over the years. Incidentally, Ookla's speed test is also the one we use when we're testing Wi-Fi routers.
Popularity aside, we like Ookla for having everything a basic user needs from a speed test: accuracy, the ability to view your speed test history (when you create an account), a wide array of servers to connect to, and even a handy app for speed testing from your Android or iOS device.
One of our favorites is the Ookla speed test, which has a strong reputation for consistency and for being one of the first speed tests on the web.