FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) about Internet Speed Test
What is an internet speed test ?
In simple terms, an internet speed test is a test that measures the connection speed between your device and the speed test server. The main purpose of internet speed test is to check the performance and quality of your device’s internet connection by testing various parameters of your connection like ping (latency), jitter, download speed and upload speed. For the test results to be as accurate as possible the speed test server which is nearest to your device’s location is selected from the list of available servers. Since your internet connection’s performance depends on many factors, it is a tricky task to accurately calculate values for all the parameters. The value of all the parameters calculated by the test are approximate and may vary in between tests due to many factors.
Why should you use an internet speed test ?
It is important that you test your internet connection using an internet speed test to ensure that you are getting what you are paying for from your ISP (Internet Service Provider). When you choose any internet connection plan from any ISP then you are promised specific values for parameters like ping, download speed and upload speed. The internet speed test checks whether the values promised on paper by the ISP match with the values in real life. You can use the above internet speed test tool by findspeed.net to test your internet connection for free. Findspeed®’s internet speed test is a simple HTML5 based test which does not use flash and can be used to test various types of internet connection technologies like dial-up, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), broadband connections including fiber, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), cable, satellite and connection based on mobile (cellular) network technologies like 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G. The test can be used for any type of network communication medium used to provide internet connectivity like wired (twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, optical fiber cable) or wireless (Wi-Fi).
What is ping ?
Ping denotes how quickly your device receives a response after sending a request to the speed test server. The process of measuring ping starts by sending a request to the server and ends when a response from the server is received. Ping is calculated as round-trip time (latency) which is the total time taken to receive the response from the server and is measured in ms (milliseconds). Multiple ping signals are sent to the server and the final value of ping is the average of all the responses. The lower the value of ping, the better is your connection.
What is jitter ?
Jitter denotes the stability of your internet connection. Jitter is the measurement of fluctuations that arise in the measurement of ping. Like ping, jitter is also measured in ms (milliseconds). For a stable connection, the value of jitter should be as low as possible.
What is download speed ?
Download speed is simply the rate of transfer of data sent by the speed test server to your device. To measure download speed, a series of simultaneous connections are opened between your device and the server and a chunk of random data is generated on the server and then transferred simultaneously in each connection to your device until maximum transfer speed is achieved. The most popular unit of download speed is Mbps or Mb/s (Megabits per second) but for real-life usage MBps or MB/s (Megabytes per second) is easy to understand. Other units such as Kbps, KBps, Gbps, GBps are also used depending upon the speed of the connection. Higher download speed means better and faster internet connection. Both versions b/s (bits per second) or B/s (bytes per second) are supported in the internet speed test tool above. You can check the download speed in any version by clicking on the settings icon on the top and selecting the version.
What is upload speed ?
Upload speed is simply the rate of transfer of data sent from your device to the speed test server. Upload speed is measured by performing the process for measuring download speed in opposite direction which means that this time the chunk of random data is generated on your device and then transferred from your device to the server by establishing a series of simultaneous connections between your device and the server until maximum transfer speed is achieved. Like download speed, upload speed is also measured in Kbps, KBps, Mbps, MBps, Gbps, GBps depending upon the speed of the connection and higher the value of upload speed, better and faster is your internet connection. Also, if your download speed and upload speed are almost equal then it means that your internet connection is symmetrical otherwise if one is higher than the other means that the connection is asymmetrical. Usually, the value of download speed is higher than the upload speed.