I know why your calls keep dropping. In fact, I know why your Youtube videos won’t load fast enough. I know this because I’m using SpeedTest for iOS, a utility that lets me benchmark how fast data is being transferred over either Wireless or 3G. Within seconds, I can tell if my internet service provider is giving me the speed I’m paying for. I can also use SpeedTest for iOS to see exactly how fast AT&T’s 3G data network is, instead of just taking their word for it.
SpeedTest for iPhone is a version of SpeedTest.net, a trusted website in pinpointing how fast your internet speeds are versus the speeds of other users. SpeedTest is a fantastic tool when you’re trying to figure out why your videos load slowly, or why the internet just seems to feel laggy. Whether you are streaming a Netflix movie and not getting the speed that you’d like or playing an online game and noticing that your game is lagging alot on multiplayer, with the push of a button, you have the real results of your network speed.
SpeedTest makes it easy to get results on your network speed.
The Three Crucial Factors
When using sites like Youtube, uploading photos to Flickr, or generally browsing the web; you are depending on three different speeds to deliver a fast connection. The first factor is ping, which is used to measure how long it takes for a packet of data to travel from your computer to the selected internet server. The smaller the ping time, the better.
The next factor in your overall web speed is download speed. This is by far the most advertised number by your Internet service provider. Internet service providers like Comcast and Verizon usually offer tiered Internet, which is based on the download speed that you get. The higher the speed, the faster your computer will download files. The average speed for a high speed internet provider is around 20Mbps. Mbps means Megabits per second, which translates to your computer downloading 2.5MB of a file (Megabytes) every second. That means a 1GB file will take almost 7 minutes to download.
The last factor in overall speed is upload speed. Upload speed determines how fast your computer can send information to a remote server. This is important for when you’re uploading large files like pictures or movies to a website. This is usually significantly lower than your download speed. Most service providers have slower speeds for upload which might be the cause of extremely long waits when uploading a video to YouTube.
Running a test from SpeedTest will allow you to pinpoint the speed of your Internet. A 5Mbps Internet connection will take about 30 minutes to upload a 1GB file. A 10Mbps connection will only take 15 minutes to download a 1GB file.
SpeedTest Wherever You Are
View other information such as Internal IP, External IP, or geological location.
Now that you know how extremely useful speed tests can be in troubleshooting a slow Internet connection, you probably want to run a few! Now, you could just open SpeedTest.net on a computer, but what if you want to easily compare results and always be able to run tests without depending on a computer? Then look no further than SpeedTest for iOS. It uses the same powerful features as the SpeedTest web interface, formatted for a portable device.
To begin, open up the app and tap “Begin Test” and it will start calculating your Ping, Download Speed, and Upload Speed. Within a minute, you’ll have real results on how fast your network is currently transferring data. SpeedTest saves your results, making it easy to look back and compare speeds. It even can display two different icons for whether you tested it over WiFi or 3G.
Using Speed Test, I was able to determine that AT&T is giving me 1.77Mbps download and 0.75Mbps upload. SpeedTest also lets you know your current Internal IP, External IP, as well as your approximated location. Finally, SpeedTest lets you convert from Kilobytes to Megabytes so you can accurately determine how long it will take for you download a large file.
View previous tests results and even export them to a CSV file for later use.
Conclusion
SpeedTest is an amazing tool to have on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Its simple interface makes it incredibly easy to start a speed test and troubleshoot your network. The next time a neighbor complains about their Internet being too slow, show them SpeedTest for iOS and start testing away.
With hundreds of available servers for testing, you can always find the closest server that gives you an extremely accurate result for your Internet speed. SpeedTest works efficiently and looks great while doing it.