Broadband companies promise 2 Mbps speed. Can the speed be actually measured by the customer?

Answer 1

Yes, the customer can measure their internet connection speed. Note that the speed of the connection between your computer and the ISP (service provider) may not be the same as the speed possible between your computer and sites across the internet. Some service providers have direct connections to "long haul" or "backbone" routes across the internet while others don't.

The easiest way to measure your connection speed in a meaningful way is to download a large, compressed ( like .zip or .mp3 file ) file from a site you will use frequently. Just measure (yes, with a watch or timer) the total time it takes to complete the download. The speed (in bits per second) will be 8 x size of the file in bytes / time in seconds.

There are some nice automated tools to do this at http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest

Answer 2

So far nobody has got the grasp of the question. The queston: If you use a wireless router at home coupled with a 2 meg internet connection will this make my 2 meg faster. Short answer: no Whilst you can get TCP rate changing software that might boost your throughput (how much data you can send and receive) this WILL NOT increase your line speed, this is fixed by your ISP. The technique just crams more data down the same size "pipe". Whether you use this software or not, having a wireless or wired connection to your ISP will have little to no effect on your viewed line speed. Never forget, your overall maximum connection speed to the net is determined by the slowest link in your 'chain'. For example, if you are lucky enough to have a T1 style connection to your home you are likely to get internet speeds of up to 100meg. If you couple this fast ISP with a standard b/g wireless router the fastest possible connection speed to the internet will be 54meg as this is the fastest possible connection speed that that router will work with. If you have a 2meg connection with your ISP and couple that with the same b/g wireless at 54meg, your connection between your wireless router and the computer will be around 54meg. The connection between the wireless and your modem is still only 2meg meaning that even though you can move files at 54meg between 2 PC's at home on the wireless, when you send a file from your computer to the internet (or vice versa) you will only get a 2meg speed. To summarise, your fastest possible connection is determined by your slowest link in the 'chain' you use to connect to the internet.

Answer 3

well kinda...
try downloading a file (a rather big file), and when the download speed is stable (usually at the beginning it's inaccurate) and see if it matches the speed u should be provided!
note that 2 Mbps is not 2 MBps (2 Mbps: two mega 'bits' per second, not 'bytes') so it should be 0.25MBps (about 250KB/s)

Answer 4

There are serveral online speed tests available. They will tell you what they see your speed as being. (You need to run them at different times and get an average.) Rarely to ISP's promise a particular speed -- it will usually be "up to a speed".

Check the tests at
http://speakeasy.net/speedtest use the server closest to you. The further away the less the speed will be!

Answer 5

yes
go to dslreports.com
and use the speedcheck tool
you need flash 8 installed for it to work

Answer 6

yes you can test it
visit this site

http://www.auditmypc.com/broadband-speed-test.asp