Want to check your internet speed from wherever you are? A fast internet can be the difference between a home and a temporary living space.
With that in mind, let’s talk about the easiest and fastest ways to check your internet speed.
Speedtest.net
The easiest and most popular way to check internet speed is to use the ever-popular Speedtest.net, which is the Ookla speed test that has been common on the internet for over a decade.
PCMag’s parent company actually just purchased that speed test website, although the base functionality still remains the same.
PCMag, by the way, is also the company that regularly publishes its fastest ISPs in America feature, which tests ISP speeds all over the country in small towns and big cities.
Speedtest.net works in a very simple way:
-It measures the time it takes for data to transfer between your computer and a remote server using your local ISP connection
-The website identifies your location when you visit the site (you may need to accept access to your location data before you begin)
-You choose a server closest to your location for the most accurate possible results
-The test never takes more than a minute to finish, and you can watch the test complete in real-time with some fancy graphics
-After the test is complete, Speedtest.net will spit out your upload and download speeds measured in megabits per second, or Mbps.
-You can share that setting information via social media by clicking the big “Share this result” button, although you probably only want to brag if you’re living in South Korea or the Netherlands or somewhere else with famously fast internet.
Finally, you can also compare your internet speeds to users around the world. These speeds are graded on the following scale:
-A= 80 to 100%
-B= 60 to 79%
-C= 40 to 59%
-D= 20 to 39%
-F= 0 to 19%
If you get a 90%, then that means that 10% of all Ookla speedtest.net takers were faster than you in your category (categories can be either national or international).
Don’t have you laptop or desktop handy? Speedtest also unveiled apps for iOS, Android, Windows, and even Amazon operating systems.
