Broadband Speed Test Guide

Following are two basis categories of broadband speed test tools.

1. Tools for testing your broadband connection for using VoIP. These are the most comprehensive tools when testing your current internet speed to use with VoIP.
2. Tools for testing the time that it takes to download and upload files.

Tools for testing your broadband connection for using VoIP.

MySpeed VoIP by Visualware I believe is one of the best and most accurate VoIP test tools. Why I like this test. MySpeed VoIP tests the Quality of Your VOIP Circuit by looking at the download and upload speed which is obviously, two key factors for VoIP quality. However, the quality of the user experience with VoIP, and other real-time streaming applications for that matter, are largely dependent on the amount of packet loss. And not the speed of the Internet connection. In fact, a VoIP call doesn't need a really high speed Internet connection at all - a 100kbps connection or less is just fine.

Packet loss ratio is defined as a ratio of the number of lost packets to the total number of transmitted packets. High packet loss will greatly degrade a VoIP call. MySpeed VoIP factors in packet loss to it rating score in addition to other important factors like latency, jitter and speed.

MySpeed VoIP tool then calculates and reports the Quality of Service (QOS) for your connection, which represents the level of consistent download capacity provided by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The higher QOS percentage, the higher the overall quality of the connection - which results in better connections for high traffic applications, such as streaming content (audio, video, VoIP calls, etc.)

The MySpeed VoIP tool also calculates the MOS, or Mean Opinion Score. This is the numeric measure of the sound quality at the receiving end of a communication circuit. Although the score is subjective it provides a widely-used method to rate the quality of voice communication in a simple way that meaningful to end users. The score is normally between 1 and 5 with 5 being the best.

The MOS value is reported in the Summary tab once a connection test completes, a VoIP simulation that drops below 3.5 is considered poor quality, a measure of 4.2-4.5 is considered good quality.

To try the MySpeed VoIP tool click here.

Bandwidth.com also provides a broadband speed test tool that gives you the inside track to understanding how many VoIP phones you can support and evaluates the quality of your Internet connection. Simply click on the broadband speed test tool VoIP test link and type your zip code into the field below and click BEGIN TEST.

TestYourVoIP.com will make a call from wherever you are to one of our U.S. or international test locations and report the results for free. It'll only take about 20 seconds if you have Java installed. It will literally compare your overall score to...

Pony Express

Tin cans and string

A bad cell phone call

As good as a decent cell phone call

Like calling next door

Better than being there!

To try TestYourVoIP.com broadband speed test tool click here.

Tools for testing the broadband download and upload speed.

Speakeasy.net broadband test tool measures the download and upload rate from several major cities in the US. You are able to accurately judge your current line throughput or internet connection speed. To take the speed test, choose the server nearest you. To try Speakeasy’s broadband speed test tool click here.