Testing Broadband Speed

I find that it is occasionally useful to test the upload and download speeds that my ISP (Internet Service Provider) is actually providing to me. My plan is an ADSL Broadband 512/128 (download/upload), but that is never achieved in real life. (The 512kbps is still significantly faster than the 56kbps of a typical dialup)

The current place that I use to test is www.speedtest.net, which has a clean interface and seems to work well.

These are the actual results from my ISP. The website also allows you to compare your results to others in your general area (comparing ISPs), as well as others using the same ISP as you.

It is good to check the performance of your ISP occasionally, keep them honest!