Like Tom Cruise in the movie Top Gun, most of us “feel a need for speed” when it comes to our home Internet and Wi-Fi network. However, achieving maximum speeds isn’t always as simple as restarting your modem or device. Sometimes there are other factors contributing to your network’s snail-like speeds in what should be a fast lane. In today’s blog, we will show you how to test the speed of your Internet and interpret the results so that you can continue to enjoy lightning-fast internet at home.
Test Your Internet Speed at the Source
Knowing the upload and download speeds of your internet source is an important step in troubleshooting connectivity issues. To check your speed at the source, plug your device into the ACE Fiber Residential Gateway (RG) router, using an Ethernet cable or a USB to Ethernet adapter, before you run a speed test.
Testing Wi-Fi Speeds
If you don’t have an Ethernet cable or adapter, you can still test the speed of your Internet on your device; just make sure you are as close to the RG as possible. When you bring your device closer to the RG, it receives a stronger signal, which results in it operating at peak speeds. Conversely, the farther you are away from the RG, the weaker the signal, which results in slower speeds. You can see evidence of this simply by testing device speeds at various distances from the RG throughout your house. To learn more about boosting your Wi-Fi speeds, check out our article filled with Tips to Keep Your Wi-Fi Running at Peak Performance Levels.
What Does a Speed Test Measure?
Most internet speed tests measure three things: download speed, upload speed and ping (latency).
- Download Speed is the measurement of the number of megabits of data per second it takes to receive data from a server. For example, when you watch a video on Facebook or Netflix, or receive a file via email or Dropbox, or you stream music through Pandora or Spotify, all of these activities require you to download data. The higher the number of your download speed, the faster you can download data from these sources.
- Upload Speed is a measurement of the number of megabits of data per second it takes for you to send data from your computer to another device or system. Examples of online activities that require you to upload data include sending emails, Zoom video calls, live gaming and saving files in cloud storage.
- Ping or Latency is a measurement of the time it takes for data to travel across a network and arrive at its destination. Ping is measured in milliseconds and the lower the number of milliseconds of latency you have – the faster your internet will be.
Ace Fiber’s One-Click Speed Test
To test the speed of your Internet, you can go to the Ace Fiber site and in the upper right corner, next to the orange “My Account” button click the words “Speed Test.” This will take you to a free Internet Speedtest® by Ookla®. Once you arrive on that page, click the big circle that says, “GO.” The results of your speed test will appear in 20 to 30 seconds.
Interpreting the Results of Your Speed Test
The FCC‘s standard for fast internet is 25 Mbps (megabits per second) for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. To put this in perspective: cable internet can reach speeds of up to 2,000 Mbps; DSL (digital subscriber line) reaches up to 100 Mbps; and fiber internet delivers a super-fast 10,000 Mbps.
As we mentioned earlier, your wi-fi speeds results will vary based on a few different factors including the location of the device and the number of devices running on your network at the same time. The maximum WiFi speeds that ACE Fiber has seen from our 2Gbps service is 850Mbps at a range of 10 feet from the router, with no walls or other interference, and utilizing a WiFi6 device.
Maximum WiFi speeds on our 1Gbps service is 600Mbps at a range of 10 feet from the router, with no walls or other interference and utilizing a WiFi6 device.
Google Fiber Speed Tests
Because fiber internet is so fast, many speed tests have trouble accurately approximating its speed. However, Google has developed a speed test specifically for fiber internet and you can take it by clicking here. Google maintains that the maximum possible speed that fiber internet providers can expect from their Wi-Fi network is between 180 Mbps–390 Mbps.
ACE Is Here to Help
If your internet speeds do not line up with your current plan when your device is connected to the RG, contact ACE at 662-331-8900, and let our technicians help you troubleshoot potential issues. After all, when it comes to super-fast Internet and Wi-Fi speeds, ACE is on a mission to ensure your “need for speed” is completely satisfied.
