| It’s nice to know if you are getting what you are paying for. A broadband speed test will let you know if your internet service provider is really providing all that they promised you. |  |
Your ISP (Internet service provider) tells you it’s offering up to 3Mbps, but that’s the max speed, not necessarily what they will provide you with every day. How do you know if your connection is living up to par? Try out speedtest.net for free. It works by pinging a distant server: It shoots out and times a data request, like a sub using sonar, then show you the upload and download speeds. Give it a try a few times spread out over the day. If you get back a connection speed that is consistently slow, you should contact your ISP and ask if there is a problem. Or if they don’t satisfy you if possible just switch to a new one.