Check Your Internet Connection Speed
Check your bandwidth connection and fixes
Factors Impacting Speed
How to improve your speeds and results
- Devices (phones, tablets, PCs, etc…) can have very different Wi-Fi and cellular radio capabilities. This means you might get one Speedtest result on one device and a different result on another, even using the same provider. Some devices may not be able to measure the full speed of your internet service.
- Speedtest servers may perform differently. Generally, you will get faster speeds from servers closer to you. We recommend testing to a variety of test servers to get the most complete picture of your speed. Speedtest has the world’s largest testing server network, which means you will always have the benefit of testing to a server near your geographic location. Perform tests to different server locations to get an average idea of the connection speed.
- Other speed testing services use different servers in different locations than Speedtest, so differences in speeds between testing services are not uncommon.
- Browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc…) have different capabilities and may provide different results, particularly on high-speed connections.
- Background activities (such as downloading, streaming or software updates) can impact the speedtest. Always perform the speedtest whilst there is no other download or uploads occurring – otherwise the speedtest will only reflect that of the bandwidth left occurring in your local network
- Make sure you are not using a VPN (virtual private network) connection active. Performing a speed test whilst a VPN is active will only show the speed of the VPN connection you are using – not the Dreamtilt internet connection.
Understanding The Results
What the test shows and possible fixes
Ethernet connections will provide a more accurate result of the speed test as a wifi connection can have other factors that will affect your speed that are detailed below.
Also the type of router you have can also greatly affect your speed. If you are a heavy user and your router does not have the processing capacity for heavy traffic, you may have ping or latency issues during heavy usage periods, in which case upgrading your router may improve your connection. You can also try simply turning the router off for a few minutes and then back on (especially if the router feels very hot).
If you have high jitter results on an ethernet connection you should also check your ethernet cables and connections as this could be the result of a loose connection or poorly connected cable / interface socket connection.
Wifi Connection Speeds
Why wifi speeds can vary
Microwaves, Cordless phones and even baby monitors operate at a frequency which is incredibly close to the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi band. Make sure your router isn’t next to or blocked by other objects, especially devices that are electronic, as these devices could cause interference on your wifi. This will be seen by poor speeds, and high jitter results.
Some bluetooth devices, including speakers and soundbars, also happen to operate at 2.4 GHz, interfering with WiFi signal. Try to turn those devices off to see if this is the cause of your troubles — especially if they are older Bluetooth devices without channel management and are close to your router location.
If you have a wifi booster in the house, try running the speedtest without the booster connected. Incorrectly placed wifi boosters can drasticaly impact the quality of the wifi network and cause poor speeds and dropouts. Never place a wifi booster where the signal is bad as it will only propagate a poor signal and cause issues. Likewise do not place a wifi booster beside or near a router as it will compete with the original wifi signal. Wifi boosters should only be placed half way between where the signal is good and poor. Or better yet – purchase a MU-MIMO router that can improve the signal to some devices, or a powerline adapter which uses the power circuits to transport data.
To cover a greater area in the home – or a multiple story house then it may be best to use a MESH router, as these will drastically improve the wifi coverage in your home and provide a better wifi connection to devices that may be further away from a standard router.
You may need to change the 2.4 GHz channel in your router, or set it to automatic mode and let the router find the less noisy channel automatically.
Where possible and if the device allows, use the 5 GHz SSID as this frequency is normally much less congested. A 5Ghz channel is available on dual band routers. If your router does not have dual band, consider upgrading to a dual band router, or even a MU-MIMO or MESH router which will improve performance and sometimes signal to wifi devices.
These days every household has their own Wi-Fi network, which can cause issues with signal congestion due to channel overlap. This can be somewhat problematic in a townhouse but is especially problematic in large apartments blocks, where there can be many WiFi routers within close proximity.
If you live in an area with many wifi signals present, your router may be hopping around different channels trying to find the best one, and that can affect your signal and performance and cause brief drop outs as your router tries to battle against your neighbors wifi signal for the best channel.
In this instance you may need to login to the router and change the wifi channel manually and go through each channel to find the best wifi channel for your area.
You can also use this free Windows Wifi Analyser tool here which can scan your areas wifi and determine the best wifi channel for your home based on other interfering wifi in the area.
How Much Bandwidth
Each device uses bandwidth on the connection
If you have multiple devices connected, remember they share the total connection. Therefore if one device is downloading large files, other devices may not be receiving the same speeds resulting in poor speed performance across your home network.
