# A new way to test your Internet Speed **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 21, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271 "2016-05-21T01:52:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/1 "2016-05-21T01:52:19Z")
Netflix created a site to test the speed of your Internet connection: [fast.com](https://fast.com/). You don’t need to be a Netflix user to use it. It works great. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/2 "2016-05-21T01:57:16Z")
63 Mbps ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/3 "2016-05-21T05:04:45Z")
What was wrong with the old way? Which also gave me my Ping rate, which I would want to know if for any reason I suspect my speed being deficient. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/4 "2016-05-21T05:30:28Z")
Interesting. Fast and Speedtest give different results. Fast shows 1.0Mbps, but Speedtest shows 1.28Mbps. I suspect that Speedtest is more accurate. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/5 "2016-05-21T15:08:19Z")
For me, Fast showed 12 mbps and Speedtest showed 22 mbps. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/6 "2016-05-21T15:14:50Z")
My results on Fast and Speedtest were basically identical. Each showed 34 Mbps. (My “official” max speed is 50) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/7 "2016-05-21T15:17:19Z")
FWIW I got the same results from both [fast.com](http://fast.com) and speedtest but fast seems a cleaner site. Fast pings Netflix 's servers which I meant to mention in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/8 "2016-05-21T15:32:16Z")
I got 7.8 on Fast and 11.41 on Speedtest. StG ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/9 "2016-05-21T17:14:13Z")
Bragging time? 88 Fast. 90 Speedtest (12 upload). Might be interesting to check again during “prime time” tonight. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/10 "2016-05-21T17:18:08Z")
I suspect the point of this site is that you can compare with Speedtest to see if your ISP is throttling Netflix traffic. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/11 "2016-05-21T17:40:02Z")
I believe the ultimate idea behind Fast is that it is well, fast. Your streaming device hits Fast for about a second so Netflix knows if it can send you an HD stream, or if you’ll be limited to standard def. They’re serving up so much at any given moment that the extra 10-15 seconds for a “regular” speed test becomes inconvenient, and there’s utterly no need to know uplink speed to stream a movie. For me, the results were nearly identical. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/12 "2016-05-22T13:34:34Z")
760 Kbps. Note the K. Sadly, that’s much better than what I usually get. Satellite sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/13 "2016-05-22T13:43:27Z")
16 mbps on Fast. 17.72 mbps on Speedtest. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/14 "2016-05-22T13:44:01Z")
Fast told me 25 Mbps, Speedtest told me 45 Mbps. My ISP may be throttling Netflix traffic. That’s on the same laptop over a wireless network. Depending on a cable company to deliver streaming content from someone else may be naive. ATMC keeps threatening to run fiber optic to my neighborhood and I plan to switch as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/15 "2016-05-22T14:43:11Z")
36 - I know I’m paying for more than that… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/16 "2016-05-22T14:43:53Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > 760 Kbps. Note the K. > > Sadly, that’s much better than what I usually get. Satellite sucks. It wasn’t quite as bad but I sympathize. For a very long time I stuck with DSL which at the best of times gave me a little more than 3 mbs but when I was downloading things like games form Steam and stuff the download speeds would hover around 350 kbps. A few months ago I finally switched to Comcast. Now I get 180 mbps which is actually faster than what I was promised (both speedtest and fast agree on this so I guess I am not being throttled). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/17 "2016-05-22T16:31:20Z")
74 Mbps I’m in the UK with BT Internet. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/18 "2016-05-23T01:19:06Z")
The speed shown by Fast appears to be upload speed, which shouldn’t figure in here. When I use Speedtest, I get a correct figure of around 40mgs. Fast only showed under 4 mbs, the speed Speedtest showed for upload. Bob ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/19 "2016-05-23T01:46:01Z")
Hmmmm…I’m at work…at a data center…with several redundant 10Gb/s circuits. Speedtest reports 51Mbps down and 4Mbps up. Seems ok from my desk (I’m not going to try from anything in production tho). But fast is reporting 240Kbps…? ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271/20 "2016-05-23T01:49:25Z")
25mbps. But yet I still can’t tell a difference from back when it was 6 mbps. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-new-way-to-test-your-internet-speed/755271.md?page=2)