This is the most complete list with facts regarding speed tests
- Google Fiber is the best speed test there is, according to the following tests: 2022 (details) and 2020 (details)
- The second best speed test is M-Lab
- When you Google speedtest you get the suggestion to perform a M-Lab based speed test
- Bing also shows a speed test in their search results when you search for speed test internet
- A 30 second knockout criterion is fatal for most speed tests, including Ookla's Speedtest and Fast
- The Ookla Speedtest is used or recommend by the majority of ISP's
- The exact worldwide number of ISP's is unknown
- A fairly safe assumption is that there are 5,000 to 10,000 unique ISPs worldwide
- There are probably thousends of custom speed tests
- There are circa 25 unique speed tests
- It is no coincidence that different speed tests give different results, they are programmed that way for a reason
- Speed tests can be divided into realistic, mainstream and conservative categories
- A mainstream speed test yields more or less the advertised speed
- In practice, the actual internet speed is 10-12% higher than advertised
- A realistic speed test yields more or less the actual speed
- A conservative speed test is often developed with the business goal in mind
- For most people, a mainstream speed test like Google Fiber is enough
- There are only 4 flawless speed tests (the rest is crossed out based on accuracy or usability)
- There is no recommended speed test to test your actual internet speed
- The best speed test to test your actual internet speed is SpeedOf.me, however SpeedOf.me takes a long time to complete
- Speed test loads a lot of data to measure your download speed
- Speed tests are one of the most used tools at the internet
- Speed tests contribute significantly to global CO2 emissions
- There is a simple rule of thumb for determining the carbon footprint of a speed test
- The carbon footprint in grams of CO2 is twice the download time in seconds
- Internet Speed at a Glance is by far the fastest, and most climate-friendly, speed test there is
- A real-world speed test is only negatively affected by two things, namely Wi-Fi issues and large downloads
- Typically, a real-world speed test measures the bandwidth of the home network, not the bandwidth provided by the ISP
- To measure the bandwidth of the ISP, the home network must be able to easily handle the expected bandwidth
- It is best to run a speed test with a wired network to rule out Wi-Fi issues
- Large downloads have a huge negative impact on a speed test, so it is often recommended to test on an updated system as the sole user