Testing DSL Connection Speed And Troubleshooting Your DSL Connection SpeedThe data that you upload or download using your DSL connection has a certain speed that is what actually measures your DSL connection speed. This upload or download speed is measured in bits per seconds or sometimes also in Kilobits per second. The bit is the smallest unit of measurement and 8 bits make up one byte. This bit is expressed as a binary digit either 0 or 1. Your dial up connection offers you 56 kbps that means that you are able to transfer at least 56 kilobytes per second in an ideal situation. With broadband connections like DSL, Cable, or Satellite internet services the bandwidth is very high and so is the data transfer rate. But how do you really test your DSL connection speed to determine whether you are really getting the optimum data transfer rate that your ISP has promised. Of course you can test your DSL connection speed using these two methods outlined below:
Manual Method You don't really need to buy any expensive testing software you can test your DSL connection speed based on the download speed of your DSL connection by calculating it manually. To do this, you can download any freeware off the internet and calculate the download rate in your download window that shows the size of the file and the time taken. Simply record this and you will have your download speed at the number of bytes/sec and compare this with what your ISP claims should be the top speed achieved. You can do the same for the upload speed and calculate your results. Perform this test a couple of times and average your results to be sure of your actual rate and to also see if there are connection speed fluctuations. Using a Third Party Test Most of the times your ISP should provide this service on their website but there is a possibility that some don't so the other way to test your DSL connection speed is via a website that offers free services of this kind. They have a script installed on their server that will let you upload and download to and from it a test file that will automatically calculate the results for you. Some services will also charge you a small fee and assure you of precise results even with high speed connections, without having to wait in a queue and are actually worth it if you are a business and need fast and accurate results. Troubleshooting your DSL connection speed You have run the speed test and you find that the results are giving you a problem. So if you see nothing wrong at their end and still you are not satisfied with the results of testing your DSL connection speed, you can simply reset your modem or router and mostly this should work as sometimes the memory of the modem is full which makes it run at a slower pace. If you have no problem at your end or your ISPs and repeated attempts at testing your DSL connection speed give the same result but the speed problem persists, it is probably due to a fault in your computer either a hardware problem, which is quite rare or a software problem in the form of viruses or malware and spyware. Check your PC for all this and definitely you will have your DSL connection speed back within no time. |