Frequently asked questions
Short, honest answers about speed testing — no jargon required.
Is this test really free?
Yes. No ads, no account, no app to install, no data sold. The site is a static page and the measurement runs against Cloudflare’s open network, so it costs almost nothing to operate.
What is a good internet speed?
For one person: 25 Mbps down is comfortable, 100+ Mbps is plenty. For a family that streams in 4K: 200–500 Mbps. For calls and gaming, latency matters more than speed — under 30 ms idle and a bufferbloat grade of A or B beats raw gigabit with bloated buffers.
Why is my result different from speedtest.net or fast.com?
Each test uses different servers, different numbers of parallel connections and different math to summarize samples. Differences of 10–20% between reputable tests are completely normal. Trends matter more than any single number.
Mbps vs MB/s — why does my 500 Mbps line download at ~60 MB/s?
Network speed is measured in megabits (Mb); file sizes in megabytes (MB). One byte is eight bits, so divide by 8: a 500 Mbps connection moves at most ~62.5 MB per second.
Why is upload so much slower than download?
Most home plans (cable, DSL, many fiber offers) are asymmetric by design: the line dedicates more capacity to downloading because that’s what most households do most. Symmetric upload is common only on business plans and some fiber providers.
What is bufferbloat and how do I fix it?
Bufferbloat is latency that balloons when your line is busy, caused by oversized buffers in modems and routers. It makes calls stutter whenever someone downloads. Fixes: enable SQM / Smart Queue Management (fq_codel or CAKE) on your router, or choose a router that supports it.
Does Wi-Fi really affect the result that much?
Often it’s the whole story. A weak or congested Wi-Fi link can cut a gigabit connection to a tenth of its speed and add jitter. If you want to know what your ISP delivers, test on a cable; if you want to know what your sofa gets, test on Wi-Fi from the sofa.
Do you store my results or IP address?
No. The site has no server, so there is nowhere to store anything. Results live only in your browser (you can clear them under “Previous tests”), and the IP shown to you comes from the test server’s response headers and stays on your screen.
How should I test to get reliable numbers?
Test wired if possible, close other downloads and video calls, and run the test at different times of day — evening congestion is real. Two or three runs give a better picture than one.
Why does the test server location matter?
Latency grows with distance. Because Cloudflare has datacenters in 300+ cities, your test usually hits a server a few milliseconds away, so the result reflects your connection — not the distance to some far-away test server.