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How to Test Your Internet Service
How to Test Your Internet Service
When you plunk down your monthly bill for Internet service, how can you be sure that you get what you pay for? For some reason, many people continue to pay for an Internet service that is unsatisfactory, sometimes because there are limited options in their area in terms of high speed web access and sometimes out of good old ignorance. The Internet is still a mystery to most people, who are simply satisfied to be able to send emails, check their social networking sites, or scan the latest news for celebrity gossip.
Unfortunately, many people are paying for what amounts to a sub-par Internet experience. Since the technology behind checking your email is still relatively new, many people are simply unaware how to test their Internet services. If your cable television connection blinked out fifteen times a day you would waste no time contacting the cable company to get better service. The same goes for anything you pay for — imagine getting an undercooked hamburger or receiving ruined clothes from the dry cleaners. Why should your web connection be any different?
Three Factors To Test Your Internet Service
Though you can use any criteria you want to test your connection to the Internet, there are three main factors to think about when determining if you’re getting a good deal from your high speed or other Internet connection. Look at the following three factors (and use the testing suggestions provided) to figure out if it is time to ditch your current ISP for a different and hopefully better service.
Connection Reliability
Ask yourself how often you have connectivity problems. Are there times that your Internet connection is simply “down” and there’s nothing you can do about it? That is simply unacceptable these days — gone are the old “dial up” days when connection reliability was a joke.
Since most people have “always on” high speed and wireless connections, reliability is not as big of a problem as it was even a decade ago. If you are having problems connecting to the Internet, you need a new Internet service provider.
Cost
Because most areas of the country have more than one ISP to choose from, there is just no reason to spend a ton of money connecting to the Internet. If you are spending more for your web connection than the following list, be aware that you’re probably paying too much.
56k — Between $19.95 and $25 bucks a month. You can often find low speed Internet connections as low as $10 a month.
DSL — Between $20 and $40 a month.
Cable Internet — Between $45 and $50 a month, though setup and equipment costs add to your bottom line.
T1 — Super fast Internet connections are naturally more expensive. You’ll pay between $150 and $250 a month for the massive speeds afforded by a T1 or higher connection.
Connection Speed
For many people, the “speed” of their connection is the most important factor when selecting an Internet service provider. Connection speed refers to the number of units of information transferred in a single second of web connectivity. These small units of information are called “bits”, and your connection speed is easiest understood as a ratio of the number of bits transferred in a single second — this is called Bps or Bits per second. Every unit of one thousand bits per second is shortneed to Kbps, or kilobytes per second. A unit of a million bits per second is called megabytes per second, or MBps.
As an example of how your Internet connection speed relates to you actual connection, an old school modem with a connection speed of 14.4 Kbps (14,400 bytes per second) is far slower than a cable modem connection that runs at 1 MBps, or a million bits per second.
It may seem impossible to figure out how many Bps your Internet connection is getting, but there are lots of places that offer free tests of your web speed. The popularity of Internet speed testing websites is evidence of the fact that consumers are starting to be concerned about the value they get for their monthly Internet bill. An example of these speed tests can be found at InternetFrog.com (http://www.internetfrog.com/mypc/speedtest/). Running this test on my Internet connection reveals the following information:
Verizon Internet Service Inc.’s average results based on 3730 tests nationwide
Average Download Speed — 5,702,093.59 bps
Average Upload Speed — 1,538,338.77 bps
Average results for others in your area based on 180 tests in your county
Average Download Speed — 1,267,605.39 bps
Average Upload Speed — 616,202.89 bps
Using this basic information about averages, it is easy to see that my county is extremely limited in terms of speed compared with the same service in other parts of the country. Once I run the actual test (and get over looking at mere “averages”) I find out that my specific Internet speed is a little above average for my county, rating a solid 2.54 MBps for a download and 1.37 MBps for an upload. My Internet speed is about double the average for my area, so I know I’m getting a pretty good product.
It is best to use a number of different speed tests, as the information you get from one Internet speed test may differ greatly from another source.
In the coming years, educated consumers will start to recognize the signs of a low value Internet service. As more and more providers move into the areas of the country previously affected by little or no competition, and as younger consumers more familiar with the Internet grow into adult buyers, the value of Internet service will simply have to increase. That means higher speeds, better wireless connections with a wider range, and more services available at lower costs. Until competition forces Internet service providers to improve their products, the only way to know if you’re getting the best deal is to test your connection yourself.
Don’t be a sucker — test your Internet connection and compare your ISP’s performance to your ideal Internet setup. Informed consumers make the web a better experience for everyone, so expect more from your ISP.
This entry was posted on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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