Almost everybody needs to use the internet these days, but no matter what the reason is, speed is the number one factor when it comes to choosing a broadband internet service. And as a result, the government, internet regulation organizations, and ISPs, have realized this and have created various forms of classification for broadband internet connections. Many people are guided by these classifications when choosing a broadband internet service.
The important question now is, whether you are really getting the internet speed you paid for. Since there are various classifications of internet speed all over the world, this article will only be talking about speed when it comes to going for “super-fast broadband internet”. If you are an individual or business that needs better internet service, this article will be giving you insights into whether your broadband internet connection can be classified as super-fast, or not.
What is currently the Standard “Super-Fast Broadband” Speed?
Before going into the question of whether your broadband internet connection is super-fast or not, we need to first understand which internet connection speed can be classified as super-fast. Until recently, super-fast broadband internet used to be any internet connection that is faster than 20mbps in the UK but, based on recent changes and declaration by the UK government, super-fast broadband internet is any broadband internet connection that is faster than 24mbps.
In other words, if you are from the UK and you are paying your ISP for super-fast broadband you should be getting nothing less than 24mbps internet download speed – if you are not getting such speeds then you need to get in touch with your ISP.
If you don’t know what your real internet speed is, below are ways to find out what your internet speed is.
How to Know if You Are Getting the Right Speed
It isn’t always easy to guess how fast your super-fast broadband internet connection is, because in most cases, no matter how slow, the internet connection will still be fast enough to help you get a lot of basic things done. As a result, a lot of great tools have been developed to make it extremely easy for people to track their broadband internet speed. Below are 2 of my favorite internet speed test tools.
1. Bandwidth Place: My favorite tool for checking what my real internet speed is, at the moment, is the speed test tool by BandwithPlace.com. This tool helps analyze both your download and upload speed and then gives you suggestions based on the speed you get to let you know what kind of service you can classify your broadband internet as. It also has a fancy interface, if that’s what you want.
2. Speedtest.net: The next internet speed test tool I will recommend is the tool at Speedtest.net. It does a quality analysis of your internet connection by using servers closer to you to determine you real internet speed. It is also very flexible and has a speed test option for mobile internet users.
I’m Paul, a broadband internet expert guest writer from Broadband Expert.