One of the best sites for testing speed lives at DSLReports, Karl Bode's venerable outpost devoted to broadband Internet. The speed test was recently overhauled with cleaner, HTML 5-based graphics and interesting metrics. As you'd expect, you see test results for both uploads and downloads, as well as something called "bufferbloat".
Here's a test I ran last week on my home connection to Comcast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVyGtTvKe2c
BufferBloat is the presence of larger than necessary temporary buffers in routers and cable/DSL modems. Although buffers can be anywhere along the chain, the most common over-buffering problem is your modem itself.
A latency test is also known as a ping test, checking how quickly a site acknowledges a request. The higher the number, the slower the response. High ping tests can be the result of many things, and over the Net it's often caused by distance to the server. But apparently it can also be affected by bufferbloat.
The page goes on to say that you can try to eliminate bufferbloat by switching devices or upgrading firmware, but it's hard to tell where the problem lies. I've got a Linksys WRT1900AC router and a Motorola SB6141 cable modem. Which is causing my upload issues? Who the hell knows?
Among the other interesting items the test surfaces:
The ping graph shows the quality of ping from a variety of sources. The point in the center is the farthest away, and you'll note that the closest point is indeed Texas. Streams indicates the number of sites used for uploads and downloads during the test - DSLReports' test looks at multiple servers at once. In the bottom chart, it's compared to other ISPs and other customers on your ISP.
Finally, you get some information about your operating environment and connection.
The site generates a link you can share with each test.
Give it a try, and link to your results in the comments.
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http://blog.chron.com/techblog/2015/05/new-speed-test-at-dslreports/
