The best thing about this internet speed test service is that it works via HTML5, which is built-in to your browser, instead of Flash or Java, two plugins youll need to have installed already.

Internet Speed Test Free Broadband Speed

Test your internet speed with these free broadband speed tests.

He writes troubleshooting content and is the General Manager of Lifewire.

Michael Heine is a CompTIA-certified writer, editor, and Network Engineer with 25 years experience working in the television, defense, ISP, telecommunications, and education industries.

If your internet connection seems slow, the first step is often to benchmark it using an internet speed test.

An internet speed test can give you a fairly accurate indication of how much bandwidth is available to you at the current time.

Internet speed tests are great for proving that you are, or are not, getting the bandwidth from your ISP that youre paying for.

They can also help determine if bandwidth throttling is something your ISP is engaging in.

Test your bandwidth with one or more of these free internet speed test sites and then compare that information with the high-speed plan youve signed up for.

See our 5 Rules for a More Accurate Internet Speed Test for more advice.

Testing your internet speed between you and your Internet Service Provider is the best way to go if youre planning on making an argument to your ISP about your slow internet connection.

While its possible that some of the other more generic internet speed tests further down our list are technically more accurate, itll be a hard case to make to your ISP that your internet service isnt as fast as it should be unless you can show the same with the bandwidth tests they provide.

Heres more on the official internet speed test sites for a number of popular internet service providers.

Sprint no longer provides a hosted internet speed test for their service.

Sprint customers, and customers without an ISP-provided test, should use one of the independent bandwidth tests on this page.

Are we missing the official internet speed test site for your ISP or service Let us know the name of the ISP and the link to the bandwidth test, and well get it added.

These days, one of the primary reasons to test your internet speed is to make sure its fast enough for streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, HBO GONOW, etc.

At the moment, Netflixs Fast.com is the only major service-specific speed test available.

Internet Speed Test Download Speed By

It measures your download speed by testing your connection between your device and Netflixs servers.

Its important to note that Netflixs servers refers to the servers they use in their content delivery system called Open Connect, which is a way for ISPs to more easily deliver Netflix content to their customers.

Therefore, the results you see at Fast.com are probably pretty similar to results youd get with a speed test directly from your ISP.

However, Netflixs speed test is a bit different since the results are determined by pinging the speed youre getting from your ISP.

Internet Speed Test For Mac