How to Test your Cable Internet Speed

Cable Internet refers to using a cable television network used to connect to the Internet. Cable Internet takes advantage of the unused bandwidth of cable television networks. Coaxial cables are the type of cables often used in cable television. This same cable is also used by for cable Internet.

Most cable television companies in the United States provide this Internet access too. This service is usually bundled with cable television, though a person can avail of only Internet access. Cable Internet does not interfere with the operation of cable television, which means they can be used at the same time. In order to connect to the Internet using this type, a computer must be connected to a cable modem. Cable modems are usually provided by the service company. This is a broadband type of connection as is one of the most popular connection types in the United States alone.

Just like any Internet connection, testing a cable Internet connection is done the same way. Theoretically, cable Internet is much faster than DSL connections and is typically a little bit more expensive than DSL access depending on the speed.

A typical cable connection will have speeds ranging from 384 kilobits per second (kbps) to as much as 20 megabits per second (mbps) for end user speeds. Business-class connections start from 2 mbps to more than 50 mbps.

Since cable Internet should be faster than DSL, testing its speed may be a logical thing to do just to know if you are paying the right price. Most broadband Internet Service Providers (ISP) charge their subscribers based on how much bandwidth they have. This means a 1mbps cable connection will have to cost more than a 384 kbps one.

Testing your cable Internet speed will reveal if your ISP provides you with the right bandwidth. There are some ways to test your connection's speed aside from simply downloading files from the Internet. The easiest way is to use free services provided by many websites to test your speed.

Search for these websites and use a couple of them. To find them , you can use "Internet Speed Test" as your search keyword. Use a couple of these sites, do not just use one website.

There is usually 2 parts of an Internet Speed test. The first part usually tests your download speed, and the second one will test your upload speed. Check the results of the test if it is somewhere close to what your service provider claims.

You must know that there are several factors that affect a connection's speed. The quality of the cables and the current web "traffic" are the top factors that affect it.