How to Test Your Internet Speed Accurately

The Truth About Speed Tests

If you pay for a 500 Mbps internet plan but your speed test shows 120 Mbps, who is to blame? Is your ISP scamming you, or was the test flawed? In many cases, user error or environmental factors heavily skew the results.

Follow these strict guidelines to obtain a 100% accurate measurement of the bandwidth entering your home.

1. Never Use Wi-Fi for an Accurate Baseline

Wi-Fi routers, especially older ones, physically cannot transmit data as fast as a modern fiber optic connection provides it. Furthermore, being far from the router degrades the speed. To test what your ISP is actually delivering, you must plug a computer directly into the router (or modem) using a Gigabit Ethernet cable.

2. Disconnect All Other Devices

If your smart TV is streaming Netflix in the living room and your phone is downloading an app update, that bandwidth is currently being consumed. If you run a speed test simultaneously, you will only see the remaining available bandwidth, not your total capacity.

3. Check Background Processes

Close all heavy applications, especially cloud backups (like Google Drive or OneDrive) and game launchers (like Steam or Epic Games), which aggressively consume background bandwidth.

4. Use a Reliable HTML5 Tester

Ensure you use a modern, multi-threaded tester like our Speedtest by Hmida. Multi-threaded tests open multiple connections to the server simultaneously to fully saturate the pipe, ensuring a reliable maximum output reading.