Testing Internet Speed

When we sign-up for high speed Internet, one of the decisions that we’re making is what speed we want.
 
The problem is that what an Internet Service Provider will quote with their plan is the optimum speed that can be expected.  The actual speed can vary – and will vary – depending on numerous factors.
 
This causes a problem as we don’t always know if there is a chronic problem that is impacting the actual access speed.  

In my own case, I had suspected that I wasn’t getting the speed that I was expecting, but I just wasn’t so sure and I didn’t really have time to investigate. I then recalled about a website which measures the speed of one’s connection. I ran this utility http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ and noticed that I was consistently only getting a download speed of 8 megabits per second, despite paying for 18 megabits per second. The ISP had investigated and determined that there was a physical problem with my line but seeing that I was in the process of moving, I didn’t deem this to be something that I needed to contend with.  Interestingly enough, since I moved, I’ve rerun the test and it’s now reporting a more reasonable speed. 
 
Why does this matter to you?  Well, first of all, if you’re paying for a specific speed, you’d like to (by and large) get the speed that you’re paying for.  The other thing is that if you’re consistently getting much slower speeds, it can be an indication of other more serious problems. It could be an indication of a hardware/line problem, but it could also indicate a problem with your computer as well.