How to Test Your Internet Speed Properly (and What the Numbers Mean)

By the SAA Tool editor, an IT support engineer · Last reviewed 1 October 2026 · 6 min read

A speed test takes 20 seconds, but one run on Wi-Fi at 9 pm tells you very little. To know whether your connection is really slow, or whether the problem is your Wi-Fi, a device or the time of day, you need a few careful tests and a clear idea of what each number means. This guide covers both, plus what you can do when the results fall short of your plan.

What the numbers mean

Speeds are in megabits per second (Mbps); file sizes are in megabytes (MB). One byte is 8 bits, so a 100 Mbps line moves at most 12.5 MB per second. A 5 GB download at 100 Mbps takes 400 seconds (6 min 40 s) in theory, or about 7 min 24 s once you allow roughly 10% for network overhead.

How much do you need? The verdict our test gives uses these rough bands: 10 Mbps is fine for browsing, HD streaming and video calls on one device, 25 Mbps for HD calls and streaming on a few devices, and 100 Mbps or more for 4K, big downloads and several people at once. Australia's consumer regulator, the ACCC, uses similar steps for its evening-speed labels: at least 15 Mbps for HD streaming, 30 Mbps for 4K and 60 Mbps for its premium tier. For ping, lower is better; above about 100 ms, calls and games start to feel laggy.

Upload is often much lower than download on home and mobile plans, by design. Check your plan's upload figure before blaming the line.

How to test properly

1. Use a cable if you can. Plug a laptop into the router with an Ethernet cable. The UK regulator Ofcom gives the same advice, because Wi-Fi can slow the signal. If Wi-Fi is your only option, sit in the same room as the router.
2. Stop everything else: downloads, streaming, cloud backups, game and system updates, other people's devices if you can, and any VPN.
3. Restart the router if it has been on for months, and give it a few minutes before testing.
4. Run the test three times in a row and note the middle result, not the best one.
5. Repeat at different times: morning, afternoon and the busy evening. The ACCC treats 7 pm to 11 pm as the busy period, when shared networks carry the most traffic.
6. Then test on Wi-Fi from the rooms you actually use. The gap between cable and Wi-Fi tells you whether to fix the line or the Wi-Fi.

Your device can be the bottleneck too. An old laptop, a phone on an older Wi-Fi standard, or a network port or cable rated for 100 Mbps will cap the result whatever your plan is.

Why results differ between tests

• Where the test server is. A nearby server mostly measures your own line; one on another continent adds delay and usually lowers the speed. Our test runs to the nearest Cloudflare data centre, which is why its ping is usually low.
• How many connections it opens. Speed tests open several connections at once to fill the line, so a single download from one website can be slower than the test suggests. Ours uses four connections for download and three for upload.
• The time of day, and how many others share your street cabinet, mast or building network.
• Wi-Fi conditions: distance, walls, neighbours' networks, and the band. 2.4 GHz reaches further; 5 GHz is faster at short range.
• "Up to" figures. A plan's maximum speed is rarely what you get at busy times. The typical or minimum figure is the fair comparison.

How to test with SAA Tool

1. Pause other downloads, video and backups, open the Internet Speed Test and click Start test. Keep the tab open for about 20 seconds; the button becomes Stop if you need to end early.
2. Watch ping, then download, then upload being measured live. At the end you get download, upload, ping and jitter, the Cloudflare location used, your internet provider and a plain-English verdict.
3. To test one direction only, use the Download Speed Test or the Upload Speed Test. Both show ping and jitter too.
4. If downloads are fast but websites are slow to start loading, try the DNS Speed Test. Choose Quick, Normal or Thorough under Test and click Start test; it times Cloudflare, Google, Quad9, AdGuard, OpenDNS and NextDNS from your browser and names the fastest for you.
5. If one website or server seems slow or down, enter it in the Ping Test, pick a Port and the number of Attempts, and click Ping.
6. To turn a result into something practical, use the Network Speed Calculator: how long a file will take, or the speed needed to upload a 2 GB video in 10 minutes (about 30 Mbps, with overhead).

Some honest limits. Our test measures speed to the nearest Cloudflare data centre, not to any particular website or game server. Ping is the middle value of nine small requests made before the download starts, so it shows latency on a quiet line, not how far it rises while the line is busy. On a very fast connection a full test can use a few hundred MB, so take care on a capped mobile plan. The Ping Test runs from Cloudflare's network, not from your computer, and times a TCP connection, because browsers can't send real ping (ICMP) packets.

If you're not getting the speed you pay for

Keep a simple log: date, time, cable or Wi-Fi, and the three results. Take it to your provider first. What they have to promise depends on where you live:

• United States: providers must show a Broadband Facts label for each plan, and the FCC's label glossary explains the typical download speed, upload speed and latency it lists. Most providers had to comply from April 2024.
• United Kingdom: under Ofcom's broadband speeds code, providers that have signed up should give you clear speed information when you buy, including a minimum guaranteed speed. If your speed drops below it because of a problem on their network, and they can't fix it within 30 days, they must let you leave without an exit fee.
• Australia: the ACCC expects providers to advertise typical speeds in the 7 pm to 11 pm busy period, and the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman handles complaints the provider doesn't resolve.

Elsewhere, look for your national telecoms regulator's consumer pages. Rules change and differ by country, so treat this as general information, not legal advice.

Quick answers

• My phone is slower than my laptop. Phones often have fewer Wi-Fi antennas and sit further from the router. Test both in the same spot to compare fairly.
• Cable is fast, Wi-Fi is slow. The line is fine. Move the router somewhere central and high, use 5 GHz, or add a mesh or wired access point.
• Both are slow at every time of day. Restart the router, test with a cable again, then contact your provider with your log.
• Only evenings are slow. That points to congestion on the provider's network. Your log of evening results is the evidence you need.
• Will faster DNS raise my speed? No, but pages can start loading sooner.

Spotted a mistake or something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.