Your online experience should always be a breeze since many of our everyday activities rely on an internet connection. Most of the content we consume on the internet requires a good connection. Understanding what makes an internet connection fast is important. One of the ways to check the speed of your internet connectivity is a speed test. But what exactly are speed tests? And what does it actually examine?
ALSO READ: Understanding UCC’s NetQ-Ug internet Speed Test app
One of the best ways to understand how fast your internet connection is currently is by using internet speed tests. One of the aspects that many users may not know is that internet service providers can often limit your upload and download speed depending on the specific plan you choose. They also do the same during peak hours and local congestion, throttling rules, and other things as well.
Internet service provider agreements and contracts typically include the phrase “up to”, which is a very open-ended statement. If users are promised “up to 20 Mbps”, but your internet download speeds are constantly at 12 Mbps, the provider is still staying true to their word. If you are seeing it drop very low like 2 Mbps, it might be time to contact your internet service provider.
What do Speed Tests Actually Test For?
This is where speed tests can be beneficial. Knowing how the current internet speed is good to know, and in some cases, it’s even crucial when uploading or downloading sensitive data. An internet speed test measures your ping, upload speed, and download speed. It’s good to know your upload and download speeds because internet service providers typically include guarantees for these aspects.
Many users don’t need to worry about upload speed tests unless they are creating content or uploading large files onto a platform. Because of this, download speed guarantees are more easily seen than upload speed guarantees, but you can find them in the details of your contract if needed. Because users typically download data more than they upload data—download speeds are faster than upload speeds. Average internet speeds will vary, but as I’m writing this, I measured the speed of my internet. My random download speed clocked in at 62.23 Mbps, and my upload speed clocked in at 2.06 Mbps on a 4G internet connection. Let’s break down the various aspects of what internet speed tests measure.
The ping measures the reaction time of your connection. Ping is how fast you get a response once you’ve sent out the request. The faster the ping, the faster and more responsive your connection is, in my case my ping was 28 milliseconds (ms). The ping is an important aspect for applications where timing is important. A good example of when ping is important is in video games.
The download speed measures how fast you can retrieve data from the server to your specific device. As mentioned earlier, internet speeds focus on download speeds because most internet users download more data than they do upload data. Loading websites and streaming music and videos are all forms of downloading.
The last aspect is internet upload speed, which is how fast you can send data from your computer device to the internet. Although most of what we do online pertains to downloading, uploading is also an important aspect of internet speed. Upload speed pertains to the uploading of files like photos and videos to social media, uploading research papers, online gaming, and even video conferencing. A video call uses both sides downloading data from the person you are on the video call with and uploading the data you are sending to other people. The upload speed affects the picture quality and sound quality of how others see you during a video conference and online gaming.
How to test internet speeds
NetQ-UG is an app developed by the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) for accurate measurement of the speed that users experience while browsing the internet. The app enables end-users of communication services to independently monitor and provide feedback on the quality of voice and data services provided by service providers in Uganda. The app is available for iOS, Android, and web users. It is similar to the popular speed test app and basically does the same thing
Users don’t have to use the UCC’s speed test to measure their internet service. A trusted third-party website that can test your internet speed is speedtest.net. Using different speed tests may give users better insight into how fast their internet connection is. In the above two images, we see a disparity in download speeds 62.23 Mbps vs 42.80 Mbps on Ookla’s speedtest.net and NetQ-UG respectively. The upload speed tests are relatively the same. Other popular apps include; Meteor, SpeedTest Master, V-SPEED, SpeedSmart Speed Test, Cloudflare Speed Test, FAST, and Speedof.Me.
Internet connectivity is an important aspect for many people, businesses, and governments around the world. Understanding how internet speed works and knowing how to measure your internet speed is an important tool. If the speed of your internet connectivity is important to you—test your internet speed today.
