What Are the Main Things I Should Learn about My Broadband Connection and My Broadband Speed?
What is my broadband speed?
In the internet world, the term broadband describes a network connection with a high bandwidth, capable of transferring data, music and videos from a computer to another that also share the same broadband connection.
There are three main types of broadband network connections:
1. 10 Base T – with a maximum speed of 10 Mega bits per second, which is capable of transferring 1.25 Mega Bytes of data per second.
2. 100 Base Tx – with a maximum speed of 100 Mega bits per second and a transfer rate of 12.5 Mega Bytes per second.
3. 1000 Base T or gigabit connection – with a maximum speed of 1000 mega bits per second and able to transfer data with a speed of 125 Mega Bytes per second.
Each broadband connection has three main characteristics:
1. Download speed – describes the speed in megabits with which a user is able to transfer data to his computer from a server.
2. Upload speed that is the speed a user is able to send data from his computer to a server.
3. Latency – the period of time a small packet is sent from a computer to a server and then back to the computer.
How to check my broadband speed?
Many modern operating systems have an application that tells you with what speed you are currently connected to the network. This depends on your network card and other devices like routers, switches, hubs etc.; so, if you have an Ethernet 10 Base T network adapter and you are connected to broadband line of 100 Base Tx, you will only be able to use a speed of 10 mega bits, which is the maximum speed of your network adapter. On the other side, if you have a gigabit network adapter and you are connected to a broadband line of 100 Base Tx you will only use a speed of 100 mega bits that is the maximum connection of the broadband line.
Are there any other ways to test my broadband speed?
There are numerous applications and websites that I use to measure my broadband speed. The most applications and websites test the maximum download and upload speed, but there are some that can test latency as well. These have a database with addresses of servers specially designed to allow broadband speed tests.
The download speed test consists in requesting from the server a large amount of data. The data is sent by the server at a very high speed and it’s received by the computer at its maximum download speed.
For the upload speed, the computer is sending data at its maximum possible speed and the server measures the amount of data received per second.
The latency test is done usually at the beginning of the first two tests to measure the time a packet travels from a computer to a server and back on.
There are many ways to check my broadband speed, but results may vary from one to another; so I usually try several tools, to make sure I get the most accurate results, and I suggest you to do the same.