Speed Test: What Does It Measure?

Speed test is the main formula for estimating the speed of an internet connection. This test is vital for the users as they can ascertain the speed guarantees promised by the internet providers. An internet connection test measures various factors and provides the average results of the tests.

Online businesses depend on a viable and steady internet connection. Moreover, users who spend their time working from home also need a stable and fast internet connection. Therefore, all these users have to check the speed of their internet connection. If you don’t know what a speed test measures, we have got you covered as we discover all the measuring aspects of this test.

Setting Up the Trap (Key Points)

  • Speed test is an online tool for measuring the speed and stability of an internet connection.
  • A simple internet connection test measures three factors.
  • It measures PING (Latency) in milliseconds. PING is the responsive time of the internet connection.
  • This test measures the download speed using the test server and reports the average metrics in Mbps (Mega Bytes per Second).
  • The upload speed is the third parameter of this test and it determines the speed (Mbps) taken to upload files.

Speed Test – A Brief Intro

A speed test is a measuring test that is carried out online with the help of a test server. The test server will take a couple of minutes to go through the tests and provide the average results. The various factors measured by a test server will let you know the nearest estimate of your internet connection speed.

By going through an internet connection speed, you can compare the results with the speed metrics promised by your internet service provider. If the average results are far below as promised by the provider, you need to contact your internet manager to review the authenticity of your internet connection package.

Factors Measured in A Speed Test

A speed test measures three factors of an internet connection. All these three factors provide a comprehensive overview of the connection’s speed and stability. Below is a brief discussion of these factors:

PING: Latency Measurement in Speed Test

PING is the smallest measuring factor in a speed test. In technical terminologies, PING is also referred to as latency. It is the time taken by the internet connection to send and receive a request from the test server. PING measures the information sending and receiving period.

More precisely, latency is the measurement of a round-trip request from the internet connection to the test server. This speed factor is measured in milliseconds (ms). The lower the PING value, the faster will be the internet connection. The PING values between 20ms and 50ms are considered most exceptional.

While the PING speed between 50ms and 150ms is deemed as an average internet connection. Lastly, the PING values higher than 150ms depicts a poor and slow internet connection.

Download Speed

The download speed is an important measuring factor in a speed test. In this scenario, the internet connection sends a request to the test server for downloading binary files and calculating the download speed. The test server downloads multiple binary files and provides the average download speed in Mbps (Mega Bytes per Second).

Speed values ranging from 100Mbps to 200Mbps are the highest and fastest. Whereas, internet speed from 25Mbps to 100Mbps is considered good. Below 25Mbps, it is considered the average download speed.

Upload Speed

Upload speed is the time taken by the internet connection to upload different files to the web. It is a critical measuring factor in a speed test.  The upload speed is generally slower than the download speed. The test server runs multiple tests for uploading different files to estimate the upload speed of an internet connection in Mbps (Mega Bytes per Second).

The exceptionally good upload speed of an internet connection is one higher than 20Mbps. On the other hand, upload speed values below 5Mbps are considered relatively slow.

Final Thoughts

Speed test is a vital online test you can do for free to test the authenticity of the internet service provider’s claims. The internet connection test is done by a test server and provides the nearest accuracy to the actual values.

It is important to know the key factors being measured in an internet test. A connection test measures three factors; PING speed, download speed, and upload speed. PING is the initial response time of a request sent or received through an internet connection.

Whereas, the download and the upload speed values provide the speed for downloading and uploading files respectively.

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