Internet speed tests are great for proving that you are, or are not, getting the bandwidth from your ISP that you’re paying for. They can also help determine if bandwidth throttling is something your ISP is engaging in. Test your bandwidth with one or more of these free sites, and then compare that information with the high-speed plan you’ve signed up for. While it’s possible that some of the other more generic speed tests further down our list are technically more accurate, it’ll be a hard case to make to your ISP that your service isn’t as fast as it should be unless you can show the same with the bandwidth tests they provide. Here’s more on the official internet speed test sites for a number of popular internet service providers:
Astound Broadband Speed Test (RCN) AT&T High-Speed Internet Speed Test CableOne Speed Test (Sparklight) Cablevision Speed Test (Optimum) CenturyLink Broadband Speed Test (Quest) Charter Speed Test (Spectrum) Comcast Speed Test (Xfinity) Consolidated Communications (SureWest) Cox Internet Speed Test Fios Speed Test (Verizon) Frontier Speed Test GCI Speed Test Google Fiber Speed Test Grande Communications Speed Test Midcontinent Speed Test Optimum Speed Test (Cablevision, Suddenlink) Quest Broadband Speed Test (CenturyLink) Shaw Speed Test SKYBEAM Speed Test (Rise Broadband) Spectrum Speed Test (Charter) SureWest Internet Speed Test (CCI) TDS Telecommunications Speed Test Telus Internet Speed Test Time Warner Cable Speed Test (Charter) USI Wireless Speed Test Verizon FiOS Speed Test (Fios) WOW! (WideOpenWest) Speed Test Xfinity Speed Test (Comcast)
Are we missing the official internet speed test site for your ISP or service? Let us know the name of the ISP and the link to the bandwidth test, and we’ll get it added. At the moment, Netflix’s Fast.com is the only major service-specific speed test available. It measures your download speed by testing your connection between your device and Netflix’s servers. It’s important to note that “Netflix’s servers” refers to the servers they use in their content delivery system called Open Connect, which is a way for ISPs to more easily deliver Netflix content to their customers. Therefore, the results you see at Fast.com are probably pretty similar to the results you’d get with a speed test directly from your ISP. This means that the Fast.com speed test is useful not only for finding out how fast of a connection you have with Netflix but also other things you do online like download files. Let us know if you come across any more and we’d be happy to add them here. The best thing about this internet speed test service is that it works via HTML5, which is built-in to your browser, instead of Java or another technology that might require a browser plugin to be installed already. On most computers, this makes SpeedOf.Me faster to load and less of a burden on system resources… and almost certainly more accurate. SpeedOf.Me utilizes 100+ servers around the world, and your internet speed test is run from the quickest and most reliable one at the given time. HTML5 support also means that SpeedOf.Me works well in the browsers available on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Multithreading is supported to test your internet connection speed against multiple servers at once for a single result, or you can choose just one server out of the handful that are available. The results of a speed test can be shared as a graph, image, or text. One of our favorite things about TestMy.net is all of the comparison data it provides. You’re, of course, given your own download and upload speed but also how your speeds compare to the average of testers from your ISP, city, and country. Speedtest.net also keeps a log of all the internet speed tests that you perform and creates an attractive results graphic you can share online. Mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and Windows are also available from Speedtest.net, allowing you to test your internet speed from your phone to their servers! Other Speedtest apps are available, too, like for Apple TV and Chrome. The nearest internet testing server is automatically calculated based on your IP address. Speedtest.net is operated by Ookla, a major provider of speed test technology to other internet speed test sites. See more about Ookla at the bottom of the page. You can change the test server (over 100 are available), view your past tests, share results, see your IP address information, and check which countries provide the fastest internet speeds. You can run a test on this website from a desktop browser or the mobile app. Like speedof.me above, Bandwidth Place works via HTML5, meaning it would be a great choice for an internet speed test from your mobile browser. Don’t use Bandwidth Place as your only test, but it might be a good choice if you’d like to confirm the results you’re getting with a better service like SpeedOf.Me or TestMy.net. This one might be to your liking if you’re for some reason interested in testing your internet speed between yourself and a specific area of the US versus the closest server possible. Ookla provides the engine and servers for Speakeasy, making it very similar to Speedtest.net, but I’ve included it here due to its popularity. Some of these speed tests, however, like some of the ISP-hosted tests above, are powered by Ookla’s excellent software but use their own server as testing points. In those cases, especially when testing your internet speed against what you’re paying for, those tests are better bets than Speedtest.net. Many of these Ookla-powered bandwidth tests are essentially identically, meaning you’re better off sticking with Ooka’s own Speedtest.net.
