How do I check the internet speed at home and how do I know how much I really need

Intermittent images when watching a movie or long waits when downloading content from the Internet are no longer part of everyday life for the majority of Internet users in Spain. From home you can watch series online or work and play daily over the network and this requires a fast connection, but did you know What is your internet speed and is it enough? For what use do you give it?

Internet connection speed basically refers to the speed at which data is being transferred from data centers in Spain and your routers. The problem may be with the device you’re using, however Measure your home connection speed It is a way to find the root of the problem that does not allow you to watch TV series at night comfortably.

Next, you have the guidelines that you must follow to measure the connectivity in each room of your home and How much do you need depending on what use you are doing This technique with recommendations for a more accurate result is from Devolo, a company that specializes in home network solutions.

How do you measure speed at home?

On the net there are a large number of tools and applications that help to quickly measure the speed of the Internet in every part of the house, even creating a connection map where we can indicate the weakest areas. Some of the most recommended are the web Speed ​​test from Ookla.

Operators also usually have their own speed test on their pages eg Movistar or Vodafone. or services like Netflix. Just search Google speed test to find more options. However, you need to be careful with the applications that are downloaded to the phone, such as Usually, many of them are fake and hide malware.

These tests send data between the server and the device being tested to determine wired or wireless network data upload and download speeds, as well as ping response times. It is advisable to perform several tests and with different tools or devices To verify that the results are still the same, especially when it gives a number that is much lower than expected.

Apart from the speed test, you need to take into account certain factors such as the hours of the day when the demand is greatest. For example, at night there are usually more people on the Internet who consume content from their homes. The WiFi connection isn’t the most reliable either When dealing with obstructions such as furniture or walls, it is best to use an ethernet cable.

[Adiós al WiFi lento en casa: estas ventanas usan la luz solar para mejorar la señal de internet]

“But beware: Old Cat 5 cables and slow computers can seriously hinder speed performance,” Devolo warns. Finally, one must take into account The number of devices currently connected to the router.

How much do you want?

It is always recommended to have the highest available connection speed of course. However, as we’ve already seen, not all people use this technology in the same way, so they don’t need the same level of speed either. Yes, it is necessary to take this into account In the same house, different uses can be given depending on the day or time Many devices are piling up giving work to the router and the network.

The Devolo brand indicates a series of consumption processes according to the use of each home. Below you have an order of them from least to most demanding.

• I work at home: Depends on the job, but high-quality video calls are usually the heaviest and require 1.5 Mbps or higher.
• music streaming: To listen to music, radio programs or podcasts, it is enough to have between 2 and 6 Mbps.
• online games: In order not to have problems with a digital game, it is recommended to use at least 10 Mbps.
• video broadcast: To watch movies in high 4K resolution, a speed of 15-25 Mbps is required, although for lower resolutions (HD or FullHD) 3 or 5 Mbps is usually sufficient.

These numbers only refer to the number of megabits per second used for this specific task and for one device. To this we must add the number of computers in the house, and the rest of the tasks that run in the background or at the same time. It is also important to take into account that the company usually rents a maximum speed that is not consistently met at the highest speed level.

Thus, for remote workers, a 100MB contract will be the minimum to be able to consult emails or consult the network. It is increased to 300 megabytes for watching movies or playing games online, even when making video calls. The most unusual thing is the need for 1Gbps speed in homes, since it is usually the connection speed that is required by offices with many computers connected and working at the same time.

Devolo also advises that, after checking for sufficient bandwidth, the connection reaches all corners of the house at the same density. For this purpose, WiFi repeaters or adapters that transmit the signal in every room that the router does not reach can be very useful.

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