You can check your actual connection speed through an online service such as speedtest.net. Before visiting the site, you’ll need to pause or close any programs which are using the internet, such as peer-to-peer services, file downloads, iTunes and the like. You’ll likely find the speed you get is slightly slower than that quoted by your internet provider, but if it’s significantly lower you may have a problem. It’s worth running these checks every so often just to check what your ‘normal’ speed is.
Your speed may well drop at busy times. This is because most broadband connections are actually shared by a large number of customers and internet providers don’t allocate enough capacity for everyone to be downloading or uploading files at the same time (because that would mean a lot of wasted capacity at other times).
If your speed suddenly drops and stays that level continuously, it may be that you’re internet provider has ‘shaped’, ‘managed’ or ‘throttled’ your connection. This can be done if you breach the firm’s fair use policies which limit you to downloading a certain amount of data during particular hours of the day, impose a maximum monthly limit, or restrict certain types of internet use. You’ll have to check your firm’s specific policy; it’s worth using software such as that at www.dumeter.com to check how much you are downloading. Bear in mind that some firm’s restrict how much data you upload, which can be an issue if you use peer-to-peer software such as BitTorrent or uTorrent, or if you play on-line games.
