Internet: Testing Your Bandwidth Speed

Not too long ago, the speed of your Internet connection was determined by the speed of your modem and your ISP's modem, plus quality of the line you're using to connect. With today's new high-speed broadband connections (such as: DSL, Cable, Fiber, etc.), the speed of your bandwidth connection is only limited to your budget and the availability of the service.

Although, you may wonder how you can make sure your broadband connection is as fast as your ISP claims it is? There are bandwidth testing site that you can use to test how fast Internet connection really is. These sites work by downloading and uploading a single file to and from your computer and measuring how long it takes.

Below is a brief list of these sites that offer these services.

• Speedtest.net
  
• Speakeasy

Just remember there are a lot of real-world factors that determine how fast (or how slow) your connection is to the Internet. For example:

• The type of connection you're using.
  
• How far you are from your ISP
• How far you are from the web site or host you're trying to reach.
• How fast the remote host can process your request.
• And the list of other factor can go on and on.