Make no mistake about it, speed is everything in this day and age. This fixation with speed has now transferred over to the Internet as well and it seems that nothing on the net now is ever fast enough. So how fast is your Internet service anyway? Is is up to your standards? These are a few of the questions that more and more web users are asking themselves and an Internet speed test is a great way to find out.

Download and Upload Data Transfer Rate

There are two components that actually determine your Internet speed and they are your upload and your download rate of data transfer. Both of these functions are measured in kilobits per second, but it is the download function that tends to be the most important, simply due to the fact that it is the function that is most often used by a person on their computer.

Newer is Better

The old way of testing Internet speed was pretty straight forward. A file of a known size was transferred and as it was done the time it took to do so was recorded and it was as simple as that. There is a new way however, that is far more accurate and also far less time consuming.

Increase Your Speed

It is done through an online service. What the service does, is to send your computer a package of data that your computer then sends back to them. In this way an accurate reading of your actual Internet speed is ascertained. Why do you need to know your Internet speed? Once you know your Internet speed then you can Begin to take actions to increase it. As you do these things, then you can go back to recheck your Internet speed to gage any improvements that have, or have not taken place.