How to Test Phone Line Speed for Internet Connections

Connecting to the world through the Internet

Both digital subscriber line (DSL) and dial-up Internet services utilize your existing phone line to access the Internet. While the download and upload speeds your Internet service provider quotes may seem impressive, you may want to test those claims and find your actual speeds. There are many phone-line speed-test services available online for free that will find out how quickly your connection downloads, and upload different kinds of data.

Instructions

1. Navigate you web browser to an Internet connection speed-testing web page such as Toast Net Internet Performance Test or McAfee Internet Speedometer (see "Additional Resources," below).

2. Click the option on the left side of the web page for the type of data you'd like to test sending and receiving, such as "Text." Select the specific web host that you'd like to send and receive data from on the right side of the web page.

3. Click the "Run Test" button at the bottom of the page to send a data packet to the web host and then receive a responding data packet back. Wait for the test to finish running and a new web page to load.

4. Check the chart in the new web page to see how fast your phone-line Internet connection uploads and downloads data in kilobytes per second (kbps).

5. Press the "Back" button on your browser. Select a different data type and a new web host. Run the test again and note the connection speed.

6. Run the test repeatedly with different web hosts to get your average phone-line Internet connection speed.

Tips & Warnings

• The layout and options may be slightly different if you use a different Internet-connection speed-testing service.

• You will notice varying speed results when you choose different types of data and different web hosts. This is because your Internet connection speed fluctuates depending on where the data is coming from and how many users are currently accessing the same Internet connection.

• While your Internet service provider may advertise speeds in megabytes per second (mbps), the speed test will show results in kbps. Keep in mind that 1,000 kilobytes is the equivalent of 1 megabyte.

References

• Internet Speed Test Results

Resources

• Toast Net Internet Performance Test
• McAfee Internet Speedometer