Speed Test absolutely free and accurate. Internet speed check for Australia to test ADSL internet, mobile broadband, Wireless Broadband and all other connections. The internet speed checker tests download speed and upload speeds.
The most accurate results available can now be obtained from the Broadband Expert Speed test. Reports using the speed check show the actual download and upload speeds your internet provider gives you on your current connection. Cable, ADSL and mobile broadband are just a few of the connection types that can be tested using the speed check. To test your broadband speeds simply follow these instructions:
The two types of broadband speed from the results are shown in the definitions below:
Broadband Download speed: This is your broadband connection speed for downloading data on your internet connection and is used for receiving things like files, email attachments, music and video
Broadband upload speed: This is used to describe the speed that your internet connection sends data back across the internet and is important for both games played online and using internet phone services like Skype.
You will need to consider a number of possible reasons why your internet connection speeds are slower than they should be. For ways to get the speed of your internet connection higher you can check the getting faster broadband guide.
Distance from the phone exchange: This is often an important reason for speed issues on your ADSL line (most providers offer ADSL broadband connection although there is also cable broadband offered by providers like Virgin Media). This is due to the ADSL cabling from the phone exchange point up to your door being provided using the copper wire used for normal phone services. This copper wire can cause the signal strength to get weaker the further it has to travel. This means that if you live quite a distance from the nearest phone exchange you may find yourself getting a lower speed connection due to the signal strength being poor.
Contention Ratio: This ratio is used to define to amount of people that are using the same line you are to access their internet. This would mean that a contention ratio of 50:1 would mean that if everyone in this group was online at the same time your would be sharing your connection with 49 other people. For this reason a lower contention ratio of 20:1 for example would be a much faster option as there will be fewer people sharing your connection
Bandwidth Throttling: This is currently highly controversial and is a measure employed by some of the broadband service providers. Its purpose is to intentionally limit the connection speed of users that it considers to be heavy users that download data in large quantities. One provider who was found to be throttling users' bandwidth was Virgin although the company has since reduced the limits it imposes on users.
For a quick fix to slow internet speed Onspeed is a software package that is worth taking a look at. This software reduces the size of the data you are downloading from the internet by compressing the data as it downloads. This has shown increases of up to 5 times for broadband users and dialup users could see a speed increase of anything up to 10 times on their connection.
Slow access to the internet can usually occur for many different reasons. The most likely problems that users may come across have been listed here and solutions have been provided. One of the quicker ways to improve your connection speeds is to subscribe to Onspeed, as this innovative system could increase your broadband connection speed by a up to a factor of 5 and for the dialup user could offer speeds increasing by up to a factor of 10.
If you would like to know what your current internet speed is like you can run the speed tester and this will give you an accurate idea of your current speeds.
Browser: Something that has a big impact on your speed of access to the internet and at the same time is the quickest one to optimise is your web browser. The most mainstream of the web browsers used today is Internet Explorer but because some users are still running older versions of the browser they will find that access to the internet can often be quite slow. Anyone who is running Internet Explorer version 6 or lower would find that they could experience much faster access to the internet by upgrading to version 7. Another option would be to try a different web browser like Firefox or Opera.
Users who have changed to broadband from a dialup connection may discover that their web browser is still set up to use the dialup configuration, which means it will attempt to dial whenever a user tries connecting to the internet. To remedy this problem users running Internet Explorer may just need to make the following changes:
Don’t share your internet connection: If you connect to your broadband wirelessly these days you should make sure that your router is set up to be secure. If a router is not secure it is highly probable that other people may be accessing your broadband connection without you knowing. This may cause considerable slowdown on your broadband connection and may also leave you open to huge breaches in security on any system you have connected to the router
Routers: changes can be made to your router configuration to get better connection speeds but it might be worth contacting the router manufacturers or taking a look at the manual to allow you to make changes that will be of more benefit. Many providers offer basic routers when you take out a contract or you may just have bought an entry level router but either way it is worth replacing this with a higher quality router that will allow you to increase your broadband speed and get better security protection for the systems you have on broadband. You can get a new router either by looking online or from a number of IT Equipment stores.
Position your wireless router in the right place: The correct positioning of you router can offer significant improvements in signal strength and moving it away from metallic objects and walls or placing it above ground level can make a huge difference in the speed you get.
Removing unwanted applications: The removal of many applications running on most systems that users either don’t use much or never use like BBC iPlayer, Realplayer, Messenger, internet call software like Skype (VoIP software) and others can make your internet much faster. This is because these applications all take up bandwidth on your broadband connection and freeing this bandwidth can not only make your internet access faster but may also help to speed up your computer generally.
Call your internet provider: to see if they can provide assistance in making your broadband connection faster, and if not look around for better providers.
Onspeed: Onspeed is one of the easiest ways to boost your internet speed and is usually much cheaper than upgrading to a faster broadband package. Onspeed is a yearly subscription service that compresses data allowing your broadband connection to increase up to 5 times and dial up connection up to 10 times. More information on Onspeed can be found at the Onspeed website.
