Internet Speed Test
Every month thousands of Aussies come to our site to test their internet connection. Is yours up to speed - find out now...
The difference between download and upload speeds
Download Speed measures the speed that data travels from the internet to your device. For example if you access a website on your computer the download speed is the rate at which the information needed to load the pages travels from the server to your computer. The kinds of activities that require fast download speeds include:
- Streaming high quality video content
- Video game downloads
- Software downloads
Upload Speed is the opposite, it is how fast information travels from your device to a set remote location on the internet. For example if you want to upload a photo on your phone to Instagram, the upload speed is the rate which the data goes from your phone to Instagram's server. The kinds of activities that require fast upload speeds include:
- Video chat
- Online gaming
- Sharing large files to cloud storage
Most internet plans have a faster download speed than upload, because we're more reliant on upload. In the case of the NBN, plans are often expressed as figure like 25/5, which means 25Mbps download and 5Mbps upload.
Internet Speed Tests for Providers
Choose a suppler below to find out more about their specific speeds and how they might affect you.
Who is the fastest internet provider?
How Many in Your Household?
- 4K video streaming
- Online gaming
- Multiple users at once
- 4K video streaming
- Working from home
- Large downloads
- Online gaming
What internet speed do I need?
There are three main considerations when choosing an internet speed to suit your household.
- How many people use the internet in your home?
The more people the faster the speed you should consider. - How many devices connect to the internet?
The more devices that are connected the more speed you need. This could be the normal suspects like laptops, phones and tablets but increasingly smart devices like TVs, security systems, lights and even fridges. - What kind of activities the people in your house do when they are online?
They key here is to consider the things that have a major impact on the upload or download speed. Things like streaming HD or 4K video, music, using video chat like Skype or FaceTime or online gaming.
Think about the next 12 months and anything that may change that could have an impact on your speed requirements. For example, will you be working from home more or do you have children that will be using the internet more for school work. A bit of planning can help you avoid those annoying problems like video calls dropping, buffering while you are part way through a movie or lagginess when you are playing a video game online.
How can I find a faster internet plan?
To give you a staring point the NBN plans in the table are the fastest NBN 100 plans based on the provider's typical evening speeds. An NBN 100 plan is the fastest widely available NBN connection type, offering download speeds of up to 100Mbps.
You may have noticed that that providers now advertise their plan's evening speeds, which tend to be slower than the maximum. For example, a typical evening speed of around 80Mbps is common on an NBN 100 plan. So what is an evening speed?
Much in the same way that traffic on the road can slow down during peak hours, the NBN can too. And for pretty much the same reason. NBN connections tend to slow down in the evenings, when everyone in your neighbourhood is jumping online to stream, surf, download, and more.
Evening speeds indicate how fast your connection will be at the times you use it most. They are a measure of the typical speeds a provider delivers to its users nightly from 7pm - 11pm.
Despite the name, evening speeds are applicable to any time when a whole heap of people are hammering their NBN connection at once. While this is typically at night, the definition of peak hours has somewhat changed thanks a large increase in people working from home.
The amount of slow down can vary from provider to provider, so it's worth paying attention to this when shopping for a plan. One NBN 100 provider might report typical evening speeds of 80Mbps, but another might report typical evening speeds of 90Mbps. The same hold true whether you're looking for an NBN 50 plan, and NBN 25 plan, or even an NBN 12 plan.
If you would like to do your own research, we can help figure out the connection type at your address. Enter your address below and select how much data you'll want. You'll then get results that show you plan features, pricing, deals, and typical evening speeds. By default, results are sorted by price, but you can also sort by speed if that's your primary consideration.
What you need to know about testing your internet speed
How do internet speed tests work?
Internet speed tests work by measuring the speed at which you computer downloads a small amount of data from a server and sends it back. The result is how fast it can download and upload the data. Speed tests should always just be used as a guide as there are a number of things that can impact an internet speed test, including:
- Location of the server that is sending and receiving the data can change the result considerably. The closer the server the faster the reading
- Number of connected devices
- Peak periods when more people are online at the same time in your local area will likely result in a slower speed if there's congestion
- Your home network setup and the types of devices you are using can impact the speed. For example if you run the test on your computer that is connected via a cable to your modem, you may get a faster speed than if you use a Wi-Fi connection.
The main point is that speed tests should only be used as a guide and to get a more accurate picture you need to be testing at regular intervals using a consistent setup to understand your average performance.
What can I do if my speed is slow?
Once you have run multiple tests and you have determined that your speed is slow, your best course of action is to talk to your internet provider. They deal with these kind of issues every day and should be able to give you some options if any. There are however some things that you can do yourself to try to improve that situation:
How fast should my internet speed be?
The results will depend on the type of internet connection you are using.
What download speed should you see?
| Plan Type | Maximum Download Speed | Typical Download Speeds* |
|---|---|---|
| NBN 12 | 12Mbps | 5 - 10Mbps |
| NBN 25 | 25Mbps | 15 - 22Mbps |
| NBN 50 | 50Mbps | 30 - 45Mbps |
| NBN 100 | 100Mbps | 60 - 90Mbps |
| NBN 250 | 250Mbps | 150 - 215Mbps |
| NBN 1000 | 1000Mbps | 250Mbps |
| ADSL2+ | 24Mbps | 5 - 10Mbps |
| Cable w/ Speed Boost |
30Mbps 100Mbps |
20 - 25Mbps 70 - 80Mbps |
* Typical Speeds are a rough estimate of what the speed you might experience during peak hours but your experience will vary.
Internet speed terms and definitions
FAQs
Broadband Plans by State
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