Internet Speed Test:
What It Is and
Why You Should Do It

Why Should I Test My Internet Speed?

In a perfect world, your internet connection would always be at its top speed, and you would never experience any slowdowns and connectivity issues. Unfortunately, we don’t live in such a world. However, we do live in a world where increasingly many activities depend on a fast internet connection, and where internet service providers often promise one thing and deliver something completely different.

Here are our top three reasons why you should regularly test your internet speed:

1. Get what you’re paying for: Internet service providers fiercely compete for customers, and their marketing departments are known for promising more than they can deliver. Even if you select a reputable internet service provider, you might end up experiencing local connectivity issues. By performing an internet speed test, you can ensure that you’re getting what you’re paying for and have concrete evidence in case you’re not.
2. Select the best internet service provider: It’s very easy for internet service providers to promise fast internet speeds and low latency without guaranteeing anything. Often, they bury the real minimum download and upload speed deep in a novel-length contract, which most customers won’t ever read in its entirety. By using an internet speed test during a free one-month trial of an internet connection, you can easily evaluate whether the service lives up to its promises and choose a different one if it doesn’t.
3. Optimize your network: Most importantly, you should perform regular internet speed tests using the best internet speed test services listed further down in this article to learn more about your network so you can optimize it for top performance. Just because you’re able to achieve your maximum download and upload speed in the living room doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to achieve it in, let’s say, the kitchen.

The granddaddy of speed tests, Speedtest by Ookla has been helping users check their internet speed since 2006. With millions of tests initiated by consumers each day across all of Ookla's platforms, it's the go-to choice for many when they need to test internet speed, and there are multiple reasons why we can wholeheartedly recommend it.

Perhaps the main reason why Speedtest by Ookla is an excellent way to check the speed of your internet is its global network of servers, which guarantees that you always get highly accurate results unaffected by long physical distances.

There's also the fact that the tool is exceptionally easy to use, with apps available for all major platforms. All you need to do is click the Go button, wait a short while, and look at the results. You can then compare your internet speed against Ookla's Speedtest Global Index.

Believe it or not, but there's an even more straightforward way to check the speed of your internet than Fast.com. You can enter "speed test" into Google Search. The first result will be Google's own internet speed test free tool, powered by Measurement Lab (M-Lab).

To use the tool, you just need to press the Run Speed Test button right on the Google Search results page, and within moments, you'll be shown your download and upload speeds, as well as latency. The test typically transfers around 40 MB of data and takes less than 30 seconds to complete.

As convenient as web-based free internet speed test tools are, it's good when you don't have to depend on the web browser for everything you do. Fortunately, there are standalone free internet speed test apps that you can carry in your pocket. One great example is the NetSpot App, available for both iOS and Android devices.

NetSpot is actually a comprehensive WiFi analysis tool first and an internet speed app second, which is the main reason why we haven't recommended it earlier. What matters the most, though, is that you can use it to perform a comprehensive test with a single tap and without paying any money.

You can then take things a step further and use its other features to determine why your network isn't performing better.

How to Run a Wi‑Fi Speed Test with NetSpot

Open NetSpot ➔ tap Speed Test ➔ hit Start ➔ in under 30 seconds you’ll see your internet speed and ping along with a brief summary displayed as a short tip below the results.

For deeper insight, switch to Inspector mode in NetSpot for Android, watch the live signal level graph, and run a channel overlap scan — instant "latency checker plus spectrum analyzer" in one tool.

What Influences Internet Speed?

Several variables shape throughput: online activity, Wi-Fi channel congestion, distance from the router, radio type ( 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz vs 6 GHz ), and even client chipset drivers. The main thing that influences your internet speed is your online activity.

You might be surprised by just how much of your bandwidth a single 4 K YouTube stream or an HD Zoom session can swallow — enough to spark the long-tail question, “why is my internet so slow even with a high-speed plan?”

That one stream can leave little room for browsing or cloud backups and make a simple “speed test not matching my plan” result look suspiciously low.

The same can be said about the online activity of other people who are on the same network as you. If three roommates binge Netflix while you try to frag in Apex Legends, latency spikes are inevitable unless you’re on gig-fiber.

When it comes to wireless connections, router placement, wall materials, and the channel you choose are crucial. Unless you use a survey tool like NetSpot WiFi Analyzer to confirm full-home coverage and spot congested 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz channels, you can end up with dead zones and wonder “how to fix Wi-Fi speed drops in another room”.

Outdated firmware or a laptop stuck on 2.4 GHz can throttle a 1 Gbps plan faster than any ISP cap — keep drivers current to dodge hidden bottlenecks like bufferbloat and packet latency. Tackling these factors one by one is the most reliable cure for “slow Wi-Fi in a two-story house”.