Sites that I've used for such testing in the past include the following:
- BandwidthPlace
- CNET Internet Speed Test
- Digital Landing Internet Speed
Test
- Speakeasy - now MegaPath
- Speedtest
You shouldn't expect to get exactly the same results between speed test providers, since the number of network hops between your systems and their servers will vary, i.e., there will be a varying number of routers between your systems and their systems depending on the network path between your systems and their systems. E.g., as an example of different results, you can see the bandwidth test results I found several years ago when testing a Verizon network service using the above test services, including tests run using the same test provider, but at different times or with servers in different cities for a bandwidth test provider.
You can see the number of intervening routers, i.e., "network hops", between two systems by using the traceroute command; on Microsoft Windows systems it is tracert
, e.g., tracert www.speakeasy.net
. You may notice that the number of network hops varies even when running a test with the same provider from one day to the next, since the way networking works is that if one network path becomes unavailable or congested, another, if available, may be taken, just as you might choose a different route to drive from point A to point B if you know there is a congestion on a particular road between the two points.
You are unlikely to get exactly the same results even if you run several tests using the same Internet speed test provider, since there will be other traffic between you and the provider's test server and that traffic will vary from moment to moment. If there is more congestion on the path, your speed test results may be lower than when you previously ran a test.
As far as running a program on your computer to judge the available speed to a system outside of your local area network (LAN), Iperf is frequently used to test the available bandwidth between two systems. It is command line program available for Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, Linux systems, as well as iPhones and Android phones - see the download links at
Iperf.fr. To use the program to test the available bandwidth between two locations, you will need to install it on two systems at those locations - perhaps you could install it on a system at a friend's or relative's house if you don't have two systems of your own at separate locations or you could test from a phone or laptop to another system at your home location while outside of your home, if that is the location whose bandwidth you wish to test. You would need to configure your home router/firewall to allow the incoming connections and also might need to configure firewall software on the host system at home, if you are using host-based firewall software, such as Microsoft Windows firewall software. When using Iperf, one system is run in "server" mode and the other in "client" mode. You can find online tutorials on its use.
There are also public Iperf servers you can use to test your bandwidth to various locations throughout the world - see the list at Public iPerf3 servers. E.g., you could install the Iperf software on one of your systems and run the command iperf -c ping.online.net
- the -c
means your system would be acting as the client in a client-server relationship. Here is sample output from a test I ran showing the maximum speed achieved for the test was about 8 Mbs from the particular system I used for testing:
$ iperf -c ping.online.net
------------------------------------------------------------
Client connecting to ping.online.net, TCP port 5001
TCP window size: 22.5 KByte (default)
------------------------------------------------------------
[ 3] local 192.168.0.5 port 58224 connected with 62.210.18.40 port 5001
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 3] 0.0-10.1 sec 9.38 MBytes 7.78 Mbits/sec
1"would probably be more accurate than a service that is itself online." There is no way to test your Internet speed without one of the end-points being "online", whether you host it, or someone else does. :) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-12-31T13:40:28.090
2
Possible duplicate of Quick way to check my broadband speed, also see Automatically collect internet (broadband) speed metrics over time
– Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 – 2015-12-31T13:40:41.963