Achieve the most accurate speed test for your network
There are a lot of factors that go into your speed test results. Although under perfect circumstances you would be able to send 2 billion bits of information per second using a 2 gigabit service, your actual data throughput will be a little smaller because, well, perfect only exists in the lab.
Please note that if you have a 2 Gig plan, only the newest devices are capable of testing up to that speed. You will get 2 Gigs into your gateway as we deliver that level of connection in to your building.
Here are some things you can do to help achieve the most accurate speed tests possible on your network:
- First, make sure you are conducting a speed test via the Fidium Attune™ or Attune@Work™ WiFi app. This is the most accurate place to test the speed of your network and of individual devices connected to it.
- You will also need to use Cat 5 or Cat 6 Ethernet wiring to connect your devices to your Fidium-provided WiFi gateway. For example, make sure you are conducting the speed test when you have a Cat 5 or Cat 6 Ethernet cable plugged directly into your computer. Speed tests over WiFi will not be as good as a direct connection since there is interference that can slow your connection. Also, speed test results over WiFi will vary widely between device types.
- If your laptop doesn’t already have an Ethernet port, you’ll need to get an adapter. Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 adapters are usually the best, but any adapter is also going to consume some available bandwidth to maintain its connection. This administrative overhead can consume 5 – 10% of overall bandwidth.
- Your Fidium-provided gateway can support gigabit speeds over the ports in the back. If you are providing your own modem-router device, you need to check to make sure that it is gig-capable.
- The speed test results you can achieve are limited by the slowest device or cable in the testing chain. Older laptops, for example, can only process speeds at 100 Mbps or lower. To test up to 2 Gig, you’ll need to be using a newer device with 2,000 Mbps (2 Gig) device capability, but even these devices are subject to consuming some available bandwidth for overhead to maintain a connection. We recommend that you use a computer built in 2019 or newer using an Intel i5 processor, or the equivalent, that has at least 16GB of RAM running Windows 10 or MacOS 10 or higher.
- If you have a Fidium-provided gateway, we’ll keep you up to date with all the latest software updates but if you are using your own device, you’ll need to proactively make sure you are staying up to date with any new firmware patches.
- If you’re testing directly from a computer, make sure to use the current versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Microsoft Edge. Internet Explorer is not supported. Make sure you also disable all browser plug-ins. If you have one, unplug the wireless adapter on your computer, and disconnect from any VPN connection.
- Make sure you disable all other network traffic while you are testing your throughput to produce optimal results. That means that you need to disable WiFi or shut down all other wired or wireless devices.
With our Fidium Attune™ or Attune@Work™ WiFi apps, you can see your speed test history over time. We also monitor this for you and will proactively let you know via the app or other methods when you might need to make some adjustments in your network to achieve the best speeds.