- \n
- Download:<\/b> Your download performance, generally measured in megabits per second (Mbps), is the most important and determines how quickly your computer can receive data from the Internet for downloads and streaming video.<\/li>\n
- Upload:<\/b> Conversely, your upload performance, also measured in megabits per second, determines how fast you can send data to the Internet. It\u2019s almost always much lower than download performance, but sufficient upload bandwidth is essential for your audio and video to be clear and smooth in a videoconference.<\/li>\n
- Latency:<\/b> This number, which Speedtest calls \u201cping,\u201d measures the amount of time in milliseconds to send a single packet to the destination server and receive it back again. The lower the latency, the more responsive communications will be, which is all-important for online gaming. Very long latencies can also cause problems for VPNs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/if-your-internet-connection-is-slow-research-these-three-numbers.png\")
<\/p>\n(You can also use other similar services, such as Netflix\u2019s fast.com<\/a> or Google\u2019s built-in tester<\/a>. Apple even built a networkQuality<\/a> tool into macOS 12 Monterey\u2014run it at the command line in Terminal\u2014though it has an unusual Apple Network Responsiveness test that replaces the latency test.)<\/p>\n
What should these numbers be? When you signed up for a plan with your Internet service provider (ISP), you should have been quoted download and upload numbers, such as 200 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up. If you don\u2019t know what those numbers should be, ask your ISP. It\u2019s not uncommon for download and upload speeds to vary somewhat from what you were promised, but they should generally be close.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/if-your-internet-connection-is-slow-research-these-three-numbers-1.png\")
<\/p>\nLatency is trickier, and ISPs won\u2019t promise anything specific. The lower the latency number, the better. Speedtest suggests that times under 59 milliseconds are good for gaming, times between 60 and 129 milliseconds are acceptable, a range of 130\u2013199 milliseconds is problematic, and 200-plus milliseconds won\u2019t be usable. There\u2019s no way to know what latency numbers might cause other problems, but we\u2019d pay attention to anything over 100 milliseconds.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s assume your numbers aren\u2019t what they should be\u2014or at least what you\u2019d like them to be. Don\u2019t complain to your ISP right away. Instead, try these steps:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Run the test a few more times, preferably at different times of the day. (If you create an account with Speedtest, it will track your tests so you can see how they change.) You may discover that performance is slow only during peak usage hours.<\/li>\n
- Run more tests using different Speedtest servers or even different testing services. You\u2019re testing the performance between you and a particular server, and it\u2019s possible that server is having problems that others won\u2019t share.<\/li>\n
- If you have other devices, run tests from those as well. Don\u2019t assume you\u2019ll get identical results because different devices may have varying capabilities. If you notice differences between devices that use Wi-Fi and those connected via Ethernet, that might point to your Wi-Fi router as a bottleneck. That\u2019s not common with modern Wi-Fi routers, but if you\u2019re still relying on an old AirPort Express, it could be slowing you down.<\/li>\n
- Restart your devices, and if that doesn\u2019t make a difference, restart or power cycle your router and modem as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
If your performance problems persist through all those troubleshooting tests, the problem is likely in the physical connection, and only your ISP can address that. When you call, be sure to share the testing numbers and any commonalities\u2014times of day, for instance\u2014that you observed. With luck, they\u2019ll be able to confirm your issues and dispatch a technician to evaluate the physical connection for problems.<\/p>\n
(Featured image by iStock.com\/gorodenkoff)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As pandemic-related restrictions ebb and flow, many people continue to work from home at least some of the time. A key requirement for successful remote work is a fast, solid Internet connection. Unfortunately, it\u2019s all too common for Internet connections to degrade over time as cables endure a variety of insults ranging from water seeping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,69,106,112,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-apple-support-ct","category-mac-support-ct","category-mactech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8279,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8262\/revisions\/8279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- Upload:<\/b> Conversely, your upload performance, also measured in megabits per second, determines how fast you can send data to the Internet. It\u2019s almost always much lower than download performance, but sufficient upload bandwidth is essential for your audio and video to be clear and smooth in a videoconference.<\/li>\n