Get a perfect WiFi speed with NetSpot Don”t settle for a decent Internet connection, NetSpot ensures a consistent WiFi speed.
Get a perfect WiFi speed with NetSpot Don”t settle for a decent Internet connection, NetSpot ensures a consistent WiFi speed.
Just because your ISP advertises certain WiFi speeds doesn’t mean that you’re actually getting what you’re paying for. Network congestions occur when multiple clients use a single shared Internet connection at the same time, which often happens in apartment buildings and with less reputable ISPs.
Đang xem: 4 best wifi speed test apps in 2021
Of course, your WiFi speed may suffer even when your ISP delivers on its promises. For example, there could be a strong interference caused by other WiFi networks operating on the same WiFi channel as your network. Or your home router may be placed in a bad spot, causing the signal to reach only to certain parts of your home. A simple, quick WiFi speed test is often everything you need to check whether your WiFi is performing as it should.
Contents
How Do WiFi Speed Test Apps Work?
Virtually all WiFi speed test apps test the following components: latency, upload speed, and download speed. From the point of view of regular Internet user, download speed is the most important measurement as it dictates how fast websites load and how long it takes for websites to load, but latency and upload speed are also critical for having an enjoyable web browsing experience.
What Is Latency?
In computer networking, latency is the time it takes data packets travel from their point of origin to their destination. Let’s say you want to download a file from a remote server. You already have the download link, so you simply paste it into your web browser and press Enter.
Depending on your Internet connection, it may take anywhere from several milliseconds to several seconds for the download to begin because it takes a certain time for the server to fulfill the download request. The time it takes for the reply to arrive is latency, and WiFi speed test apps typically test it multiple times before determining the final result.
What Is Upload Speed?
In the simplest terms, upload speed measures how fast you can send data to others. By others, we mean your friends and family on instant messaging applications, remote servers hosting various websites and services, and also your peers on file-sharing networks.
When WiFi speed test apps measure upload speed, they establish multiple connections to various remote locations and send precisely calculated chunks of data. The apps then determine how much time it took before all data were received and use this information to provide you with your real upload speed.
What Is Download Speed?
As you can probably guess, download speed measures how fast you can download data from others. WiFi speed test apps measure it by downloading chunks of data from remote locations and calculating exactly how long it takes for each chunk to download.
What”s the Difference Between Internet Speed Tests and WiFi Speed Tests?
The purpose of internet speed tests is to measure the download and upload speed, as well as latency, between your device and a remote test server. Knowing these three numbers lets you evaluate whether your internet service provider is delivering the service you’re paying for.
However, the results of internet speed tests tell very little about your WiFi performance and coverage. You might be able to max out your wired internet connection but struggle to open a simple website or read your emails unless you’re close to your router.
NetSpot lets you test WiFi speed in an instant
To learn more about your WiFi network, its coverage, and performance, you need to do a WiFi speed test on one of your wireless devices. NetSpot is a great choice because its Active Scanning feature lets you test WiFi speed in an instant, measuring your upload rate, download rate, and wireless transmit rate via HTTP, TCP, or UDP.
NetSpot also provides a multitude of helpful visualizations that you can use to more closely analyze your WiFi network and discover all areas of signal weakness and high interference. All this functionality is wrapped in a well-designed user interface that makes the application accessible to everyone — not just experienced network administrators.
What’s Considered to Be a Good/Bad WiFi Speed?
What WiFi speed is good enough? This simple question is a lot more difficult to answer than it might seem. To start with, everyone uses the internet for something else, and certain WiFi speed may be enough for one person but completely unacceptable for someone else. There’s also the fact that our Wifi speed expectations are constantly evolving, and speeds that used to be unthinkable are now common.
Here are our general WiFi speed recommendations for common online activities:
Email and web: For email communication and casual web browsing, you need between 0.5 and 5 Mbps. The average website has around 2 MB, but some websites can be much larger than that. Keep in mind that web-based streaming services such as YouTube don’t have the same WiFi speed requirements as regular websites and should be treated as streaming services like Netflix or Hulu.HD streaming: For video streaming in high definition, at least 5 Mbps is recommended. If you plan on streaming from more than one device at a time, make sure to multiply this number by the number of streaming devices. If you would like to stream your own content for others to watch, your upload speed should match your download speed. 4K streaming: Netflix, one of the most popular streaming services in the world, requires its users to have at least 25 Mbps for 4K streaming on a single device. With the Premium plan from Netflix, it’s possible to watch on up to four screens at the same time, which would require at least 100 Mbps. Online gaming: For a smooth, lag-free online gaming experience, you don’t need an excellent WiFi speed, but you need a latency of less than 50 ms. To reduce WiFi lag, get as close as possible to your router, remove sources of interference, and, if that’s not enough, upgrade your router to take advantage of the latest WiFi technologies. Frequent downloading: For downloading, the faster internet connection and WiFi speeds you have, the better.
Keep in mind that these are just general recommendations that are guaranteed to be outdated in a few years. To future-proof your WiFi network, we recommend you get a slightly faster internet connection than what you currently need and spend money on higher-end WiFi equipment with support for the latest technologies, such as WiFi 6 (802.11 ax).
How Can I Increase WiFi Speed?
Signal strength is one of the most significant factors that influence the speed of your WiFi connection. A weak signal will result in slower data transmission speed. It may also be responsible for intermittently dropped connections. In order to reap the benefits afforded by a wireless network, maintaining signal strength throughout the coverage area is essential.
Distance is a key element in obtaining a strong signal and acceptable WiFi speed. The farther away from a WiFi router you are, the weaker the signal received by a connected device. Wireless networks that serve extended coverage areas usually employ signal extenders of some variety to provide connectivity to all of its users.
Sometimes your signal may be extremely weak, even when standing relatively close to your router. This can happen for a variety of reasons. You may be experiencing interference from nearby appliances such as a microwave oven or cordless phone that emits electromagnetic waves in the same frequency as your router.
The signal may also be impacted by walls or other impenetrable objects between you and your router. Where you place your router can have a tremendous impact on WiFI speed. A WiFi analysis tool such as NetSpot can help you find the ideal location for your router and enable you to increase your WiFi speed. You can use the application to test your WiFi signal strength from anywhere in your coverage area to identify the optimal placement of your router.
Xem thêm: Tìm Hiểu P2P Game P2P Là Gì ? Định Nghĩa Và Giải Thích Ý Nghĩa
TEST THE WIFI SPEED FROM A NUMBER OF LOCATIONS AND CONDUCT THE TEST REPEATEDLY.
There are many online tools available with which you can test your WiFi speed. Just Google ‘WiFi speed test’ and you will find a free utility that lets you check WiFi speed. These tests can be very helpful in identifying issues with your network’s speed. But they need to be used correctly in order to deliver useful information.
A single test is not sufficient to show you the true speed your network will deliver. You need to test the WiFi speed from a number of locations within your coverage area and conduct the test repeatedly at different times of the day. The speeds reported by the tool may vary widely depending on when and where the test was run. Averaging the speeds will give you the best sense of the speed of your WiFi connection.
WiFi speed can also be affected by the channel or frequency the network is using to broadcast its signal. This is another area where a WiFi analyzer tool like NetSpot can be instrumental in allowing you to identify and address network issues. You can use the program to survey the area and see any signals that may be impacting you from competing WiFi networks.
A SIMPLE CHANNEL CHANGE CAN DRAMATICALLY INCREASE THE PERFORMANCE OF YOUR WIFI NETWORK
The results of a survey will show you which channels are in use by other nearby networks. Using a busy channel will negatively affect your WiFi speed. The information provided by the survey can let you make an informed choice regarding which channel your network should use. A simple channel change can dramatically increase the performance of your WiFi network.
Similarly, the frequency that neighboring networks are using might slow down your WiFi speed. If all of the nearby networks are using the 2.4 GHz frequency, you might consider moving to the 5 GHz band to see if it improves your speed. One important factor to keep in mind is that the 2.4 GHz band is better at penetrating solid objects and may actually provide more speed in some settings that the alternative of the 5 5GHz frequency.
Best Apps to Check WiFi Speed
People often ask, “I want to test my Internet speed, but which WiFi speed test app should I choose?” The answer is simple: choose the app that best meets your needs.
As you’ll see, some WiFi speed test apps are extremely simple and designed to do just one thing, while others are more complex. If you’re a home user, you probably don’t want to spend long hours learning how to use a professional application that offers 100x as many features as you actually need. Instead, you should pick something that’s easy to use and comes with an intuitive graphical user interface.
Simplicity has its merits when you only need to check what your current WiFi speed is, but extra features come in handy when you decide to do something about it. Always select a wireless speed test app that supports the latest WiFi standards and the most commonly used WiFi frequency ranges. What may be even more important than features, though, is accuracy.
The last thing you want to do is accuse your ISP of not living up to its promises only to find out that the WiFi speed test app you’ve been using is inaccurate. There are many wireless speed test apps out there, but only a handful are mature, polished products that are ready for daily use. We recommend you to choose a wireless speed test app from a professional developer that knows how to develop world-class software and always stands behind its customers.
Xem thêm: All Abo Là Gì – Alpha/Beta/Omega
We’ve selected the top 4 best WiFi speed test apps that you can use to instantly check WiFi speed and picked our favorite.