How fast is my Internet Connection?
Internet connection speeds vary greatly from connection type to connection type and from location to location, so how do you know how fast you are connecting to the internet and how fast is fast enough?
Theoretical speeds vary from 65Kb/sec dial up through to high speed ADSL/Cable connections at 30 Mb/sec or more.
Some sample speeds are:
Connection Type Download/Upload Speed (Kb/sec)
Dial up 56/28
Slowest ADSL 256/64
Basic ADSL 512/128
Intermediate ADSL / Wireless Broadband 1,500/256
Uncapped ADSL 1 8,000/384
Cable (Optus/Foxtel) 10,000-30,000/1,000
ADSL 2+ 20,000/1,000
Wireless Broadband 3,500-7,000-21,000/1,000
Of course, these are all technical maximum speeds, with things like line quality and distance having huge effects on the speed you will actually achieve to your computer.
How do I test my real connection speed?
The easiest way is to visit www.speedtest.net* and once the flash has loaded/installed, click on the orange triangle that represents your nearest server or the button near the top that says “Start test to recommended server – Melbourne” in my case.
The system will do a ping test then test both the Download an Upload speeds:
How fast does it need to be?
that depends on what your usage scenario is. For basic use we recommend the 512Kb plans, though with many ISP’s you will find you can upgrade to the 1,500 Kb (three times the speed) for only about $10 per month more). The 1,500 Kb plan is the base speed for a small business, and many would reap the productivity improvements of a 8,000 Kb or 20,000 Kb connection.
* It’s worth noting that speedtest.net is an ad supported website. Don’t be confused by the ads, and don’t click on the ads, unless you want to.