Speed Issue Troubleshooting

Understanding your internet speeds

Understanding speed & bandwidth

Internet speed and bandwidth is how much information can be transferred across the network to your device over a short period of time. The more bandwidth you have, the faster the connection, and the easier it is to upload, download, browse and stream.

Understanding your results

When performing speed tests, it’s important to understand the different techniques used to measure your connection. Typically, an application will test your upload and download speeds by measuring the maximum connection speed (Capacity) and its real world speed (Application).

Upload & download

There’s two ways data interacts with your Internet connection: downloading or uploading. When you stream videos, browse the web or buy music, this uses your download connection.

If you make video calls, send emails, or post things on Facebook, this uses your upload connection.

Download tests measure how much data your connection can receive over a period of time, while running an upload test will measure the connections ability to send data.

What affects my Internet speed?

There’s a number of factors that affect your connection speed. The amount of traffic on the network can slow connection speeds, as can your physical distance from an exchange. Connection speed is also limited by the speed of the computer you’re using.

Another factor is the quality of the equipment in your household. A router that can only send data at 20Mbps won’t be able to use an NBN fibre connection to its full 100Mbps potential. Additionally, wireless signals can’t transfer at the same rate as a network cable, so how you connect to your router in your home can greatly affect your speeds.

Internet technologies like Satellite and Fixed Wireless can be affected by environmental factors, including your dish being misaligned, heavy rain, or an obstruction in front of the dish.

Estimated Speeds

The charts below translate roughly how long it would take to download or upload a 100MB file over each connection type. These charts are based on theoretical maximum speeds for each connection type; actual speeds you will see are limited by factors discussed in the above section

Downloads

Uploads