How do I work out my internet speed?

[geek84]

Good Morning Folks

How do I work out my internet speed?

At present, my provider (Virgin Media) states that I get a speed of 60mb per second. Is that good?

I only use the internet for browsing web pages and never download music. The only downloads that I do are some documents that are attached to emails sent to me by colleagues/friends.

If I downgrade to a lesser speed, would it make much difference?

Thanks

 

[lynxus]

Visit speedtest.net

Thats normally pretty damn spot on.

Also yeah, 60Mb is a little too much for just browsing webpages.

10Mb or even 20Mb would be plenty suitable.

All the values mean is:
60Mb means you can download 60Mbits in 1 second.
20Mb means you can download 20Mbits in 1 second.

All it means is that "larger files.." ( And i mean much bigger ones. like movies, mp3's etc ) would be downloaded faster.

Smaller files like websites, documents etc that are all only a few Megabytes would download in a few seconds and you are unliklely to see any difference

 

[Adam.Vause]

60mbit is a really good connection. For what you do it's over kill. But I think this is virgins basic package now for just over £27.00 without a phone line.

The majority of ISPs are rolling out fast broadband to all customers. So you will eventually be getting higher speeds even if you don't need it.

You could move to adsl broadband which may work out slightly cheaper but it really depends on what speeds you will get as some rural areas are far away from the exchange and end up having poor broadband speeds.

The demand for faster broadband is only getting bigger. People are not really concerned about how small they need to get a file to send via email or how compressed an image should be for a website as today's speeds allow these files to be downloaded quickly and easily.

Is love to browse the BBC with 56k dial up now. I bet you it wouldn't even load.

To find out your current connection speed you can use a website called www.speedtest.net

 

[nahosting]

http://www.speedtest.net/ is the goto website for speed testing your internet connection. A 10mb would be fine for browsing/emails and streaming Netflix or BBC iplayer. We get away with streaming these services, with it working fine 99% of the time, with 6-7mb connection in rural Devon!

 

[Banksbroo]

As above, alternatively:
<flippant>Take advertised maximum speed, divide by 3, and you have your actual speed. </flippant>

 

[Levi]

2mb - 3mb is fine for browsing - most website pages are only 600kb - 800kb.

60mb is an ok speed, not sure if you can currently down grade it with virgin?

 

[Alan]

Your 60mb is only at the router. If you use wifi the speed will degrade by distance and obstructions.

We have Virgin at home, the Virgin SuperHub Wifi router is far from super, and we had difficulty getting more than 1mb in the room after next door but 1. We quickly installed TP-link wireless router and just use the SuperHub in cable modem mode, as the SuperHub was frankly unusable as a WiFi router.

 

[qrcctv]

That is a very good connection.

But as with all ASPs that is what they claim the speed is and most probably none of their customers ever receive that speed even at the router level. Using WiFi reduces the speed further.

That is because they over-sell bandwidth.

Just try speedtest.net and let us know what speed you actually get. (Try at peak AND off-peak times)

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

Mine is a bit slow today

I normally get something like

Thats wireless and 2 rooms away from the Virgin hub. Never had an issue with the wireless connectivity.

 

[Bill1954]

Ah the good old days of dial up when it took 30 minutes to download a single song from Napster.
I can get a 3D movie as fast as that now. We're all spoiled these days.

 

[qrcctv]

That is a very good speed!

Are you on the VIP package? Where abouts do you live?

 

[tonitarzan]

There are websites like checkmyspeed, just type it in google and lots of websites will come up

good luck

 

[FantasticCleaners]

speedtest is probably the best, check for both
the automatic detection and choose manually the server

 

[Sparx]

Well Virgin's 'slowest' package is now 'up to 50Mb' so if you are currently on 60Mb there will be little point in downgrading if that's what you were thinking.

 

[sjr4x4]

Ah the good old days of dial up when it took 30 minutes to download a single song from Napster.

lol brought back memories, obviously not confessing to using Napster, in case the NSA or similar are watching and I get put on a plane to Washington

 

[Bill1954]

Can they do that for being an amateur historian ?

 

[The Wholesale Forums]

you could try testmy.net too. It gives a figure so you could compare your speed on the average speeds of your host, country etc. Good info so you could measure if you have a very speedy connection.

 

[Bill1954]

Best thing you can do is to load up a website and run downstairs and touch the front door and time it, here is the calculation:

(Website MB) x (Internet MB) / (How many stairs) x (How much you weight)

if you do this correctly then you would of succeed in calculating the internet speed

(Ps sorry I get annoying when Im really bored looks like your question had been answered others)

I tried that, slipped on the 5th stair, hit the front door really hard and wrecked it.
Please send me your email address so I can send you my medical and repair bills.

 

[lynxus]

Mine is a bit slow today

I normally get something like

Thats wireless and 2 rooms away from the Virgin hub. Never had an issue with the wireless connectivity.

Nice.

I have 30Meg Virgin Cable using a SuperHub that is upstairs and a few rooms away.

Seems about perfect to be honest. The last few meg may of vanished due to other apps running etc.

In all honesty, ISP's get a lot of bashing about speeds.
Virgin however, I have used in two houses and rarely have issues. Even when I do, its fixed fairly quickly.

Cable internet is much better in my opinion ( as a network engineer ), ADSL etc, Is rubbish and Id never use it . Any house I buy, rent whatever must have cable.

 

[S-Jack]

speedtest .net or broadbandspeedchecker .co.uk will tell you your speed!

 

[uk26]

Hows my connection

Virgin is not too bad for home use but i would not recommend for business. BT is much better and gives you so much more freedom to use your own kit.

 

[british steve]

The only effective way for us to measure our Vigin Media 50meg connection would be with a calendar! Sooooo Bloooooooody Sloooooooooooooooow - Virgin CS thick as pig **** Told my step daughter to take her 3 month old laptop to PC World and have windows re-installed!