How to read your speed test results
Download speed is how fast data reaches you, and upload speed is how fast you send it; both are in Mbps. Download covers streaming and page loads. Upload matters for video calls and cloud backups. Ping and jitter, in milliseconds, describe delay, not capacity.
Ping is the round trip of one small request; jitter is how much that time varies. This page treats them as side figures. To run a full ping test with jitter and packet loss, use the dedicated tool.
Mbps vs MBps trips up a lot of people. Plans use megabits per second (Mbps), while browsers show megabytes per second (MB/s). One byte is 8 bits, so divide by 8: 300 Mbps to MB/s gives 37.5 MB/s at most. A 100 Mbps line tops out at 12.5 MB/s, and 1 Gbps at 125 MB/s, so a 1 GB file takes at least 8 seconds even on gigabit.
Upload is usually lower on cable and DSL lines, which split capacity unevenly by design. The "A" in ADSL stands for asymmetric. Many fiber plans are symmetric.
What is a good internet speed?
For a typical household, 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload is a good internet speed. That's the benchmark the U.S. Federal Communications Commission set for fixed broadband in March 2024. One person who browses and streams needs far less.
The FCC figure comes from its March 14, 2024 announcement, which raised the benchmark from 25/3 Mbps. Services publish their own minimums:
| Activity | Download | Upload | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix in HD (720p) | 3 Mbps | Not listed | Netflix |
| Netflix in Full HD (1080p) | 5 Mbps | Not listed | Netflix |
| Netflix in 4K (UHD) | 15 Mbps | Not listed | Netflix |
| Zoom 1:1 call, 720p video | 1.2 Mbps | 1.2 Mbps | Zoom |
| Zoom call, 1080p video | 3.0 Mbps | 3.8 Mbps | Zoom |
Figures come from Netflix's internet speed recommendations and Zoom's system requirements. For a household, add up what runs at once: two 4K streams plus two 1080p Zoom calls need about 36 Mbps down and 7.6 Mbps up.
What is considered good Wi-Fi speed? Good Wi-Fi gets close to your wired result. Run a wifi speed test next to the router, then one with a cable. If Wi-Fi halves one room away, the problem is coverage, not your ISP.
Why is my speed test slower than my plan?
Most results below the plan speed come from inside the home: Wi-Fi, other devices using the line, old hardware or a VPN. The advertised figure is a maximum. Test over Ethernet first: if the wired number is close to your plan, your ISP is delivering.
- Wi-Fi band. 5 GHz is faster near the router, while 2.4 GHz reaches farther through walls but carries less. Routers that show two network names put each band on its own Wi-Fi network name (SSID). To rename or split them, log in to your router to change the Wi-Fi band.
- Other devices. A cloud backup or a console update takes its share during your test.
- Old ports and cables. A 100 Mbps Ethernet port caps even a gigabit plan below 100 Mbps. Gigabit needs gigabit ports at both ends and Cat5e cable or better.
- VPN. Traffic detours through the VPN server and gets encrypted, which costs speed.
- Distance to the test server and the number of connections. Several parallel connections to a nearby server report more than one connection to a distant server. That's why CheckIP, Ookla and Fast.com can disagree on the same line in the same minute.
Bandwidth throttling is the other cause: an ISP slows certain traffic on purpose, such as video, or slows everyone during peak hours. To check, test at 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., then repeat with a VPN on, for diagnosis only. If speed rises with the VPN, the ISP may be shaping traffic it can identify.
How this internet speed test works
This internet speed test runs in your browser over HTTPS. It downloads test data from our server and times it, then sends data back and times the upload. Ping and jitter come from a series of small HTTP requests, so it's an HTTP ping, not the ICMP ping of the command line. HTTP ping includes the web server's handling time and can read higher.
The method decides how much a result can tell you. RFC 6349, the IETF framework for TCP throughput testing, explains why: a TCP connection starts slow and speeds up. A short test on one connection can end before it reaches full speed. Tools built for gigabit lines open several connections at once and measure for several seconds in each direction. Many websites also load over the QUIC protocol, which runs on UDP instead of TCP.
A light test fits a quick check on mobile data or a before-and-after when you move the router. On a line above about 500 Mbps, or far from our server, compare with a tool that lets you pick a nearby server.
How to get an accurate result
Use a cable, stop background downloads and run the test three times at different hours. One run is a snapshot. Runs at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. show whether speed drops at peak time, which is what ISP support will ask about.
- Plug in an Ethernet cable. Testing Wi-Fi? Stay in the router's room.
- Close streaming apps and pause cloud sync on every device.
- Turn off the VPN.
- Write down each result with the date and time.
If wired results stay well below the plan for several days, restart the router and check which devices are on your network first.
Then contact your ISP with your notes. Include your public IP address, since support can trace your line from it.
Frequently asked questions
How many Mbps do I need to work from home?
A 1080p Zoom call needs 3.8 Mbps up and 3.0 Mbps down, according to Zoom. Then add the rest of the household. If someone streams Netflix in 4K (15 Mbps) during your call, that's about 18 Mbps down in total before phones and updates join in. Sending large files every day needs more upload.
Is this speed test accurate?
It's accurate for the path it measures: your device, your Wi-Fi, your ISP and our test server. It doesn't measure speed to every website. On very fast lines or from far away, results can read lower than your plan, so compare two tools. If Steam fails to load from Vietnam while this test looks normal, check Steam's block status in Vietnam.
Does a speed test use my mobile data, and how much?
Yes. A speed test moves real data, so on 4G or 5G it counts against your mobile allowance. How much depends on the tool and your speed. Tools that measure for a fixed time use more data on faster connections. Test on Wi-Fi when your data plan is tight.
Why does my speed test show my IP address and ISP?
Your IP address and ISP show which connection was tested. With fiber, mobile data or a VPN in play, the ISP name tells you which one the result belongs to. To see the location and network owner behind that address, look up your IP address and ISP.
Is ping part of internet speed?
Ping is delay, not speed. A 1 Gbps plan can still have high ping to a distant server, and a 50 Mbps line can have low ping to a nearby one. Speed decides how fast a large file arrives. Ping decides how quickly a game or call reacts. Use a ping test when lag is the problem.