What people ask
What is my broadband speed?
The Uswitch Broadband Speed Test is a free service that tells you yourcurrent internet speed in seconds. It can measure speeds for all typesof broadband, including copper ADSL,fibre-optic,cable andmobile broadband, plus your mobile data speed if you’re out and about.
We’re always updating our broadband speed checker to be as accurate aspossible, but you should know that the speed test results onlyrepresent a snapshot of your broadband connection at the time oftesting. Your first results should not be seen as a full measure ofyour broadband’s overall performance, so you might want to test it afew times at different points in the day to get a better overallreading.
However, the results can come in useful if you’re complaining to yourprovider about your speed, thanks to Ofcom’s Voluntary Code ofPractice on Broadband Speed which sets out a minimum continuous speedproviders have to supply.
You can also use the results to compare your broadband speed withother broadband deals that are available in your area. If you run aWi-Fi speed test and find that your postcode can get much fasterinternet speeds, you might be able to improve your connection for aslightly — and very reasonably — higher monthly cost.
How does the Uswitch broadband speed checker work?
When you run the Uswitch internet speed test, our tool will measureyour broadband speed by downloading and uploading tiny bits of data,which are then sent to our UK servers.
How long it takes for those bits of data to reach our servers gives usa measure of the overall time it takes for them to be sent and thenreceived by your device. This, therefore, allows us to accuratelyassess the speed of your broadband connection, but only in thatparticular moment.
You can read more about how our internet speed test works in ourtechnical specifications FAQ further down the page.
What does my speed actually mean?
Let’s suppose you’ve tested your broadband and you’ve got a speed of40Mbps. That’s not bad. But what does that actually allow you to do?How fast can you download movies, albums or files?
‘Mbps’ stands for ‘megabits per second’ — it’s the most commonmeasurement used for broadband speeds. It refers to how many‘megabits’ of data can be transferred to or from your device everysecond.
You may have heard of ‘megabytes’ (MB) before — this is the formatused to describe how large a computer file or programmeis. ‘Gigabytes’ (GB) and ‘Terabytes’ (TB) are other common examples. A‘bit’ is eight times smaller than a ‘byte’.
Learn more about the difference between bits and bytes with ourdedicated guide.
When you see an internet speed of 40Mbps, that means about 5MB(one-eighth of that) will be transferred each second. So if you weredownloading an HD movie with a 1500MB (1.5GB) file size, it shouldfinish downloading in about five minutes.
If you have a much slower internet speed of 10Mbps, it would take fourtimes as long to download at 20 minutes. However, if you have anultrafast broadband speed of 400Mbps, it would barely take 30 seconds.
Learn more about internet speeds, and find out how long it should takeyou to download other file types, with our broadband download speed calculator.
How can I get accurate results when I check my broadband speed?
To get the most accurate result when you run a speed test, you shouldfollow these simple steps beforehand:
- Stop any downloads: Make sure you are not downloading anythingon another device at the same time.
- Close your apps: Shut down any software that constantly uses theinternet (e.g. Alexa, Spotify, Netflix or other smart TV services).
- Turn off other devices: Disconnect any other computers, tablets,smartphones and games consoles that are sharing your wirelessnetwork (if you’re able to).
- Check everything is installed correctly: Ensure all broadbandcables are properly and securely connected.
- Stay close to your router: With wireless routers, make sure youare as close to your wireless router as possible, and make surethere are no large objects that could block the signal to yourdevice.
- Turn off / move other electricals: Electronic devices such asmicrowaves, wireless doorbells, baby monitors, bug zappers and evenelectric blankets can affect the signal strength, so ensure they’refar away enough from the router or switch them off.
- Stay still: If you’re testing mobile broadband on the move (witha mobile internet dongle or laptop / netbook with mobile internetbuilt-in), make sure you’re stationary and have a signal. The resultwill be compromised if you go out of range of 4G or 5G coveragewhile the test is in progress.
Why is my broadband connection so slow?
If you’ve disconnected and double-checked all of the things that couldaffect your test result, but your broadband speed still seems unusually slow, you should do a final check of your device.
Ensure all cables and routers are connected properly and that yourwireless passwords are correct.
If nothing seems to be wrong with your device, contact your current broadband provider for advice. There may be a fault on your line,problems with your equipment, or there could be a temporary fault withthe service.
If your broadband provider cannot help you to resolve your slowbroadband issues, it might be time to compare broadband deals fromother providers.
Take a look at our guide to find out why your internet might be soslow.
How to complain about broadband speed
If your provider isn’t meeting your minimum speed guarantee, you cancomplain to it directly. If you have a minimum speed guarantee, yourprovider has 30 days to resolve the problem or else you can switch toanother one without paying any early termination fees.
If you aren’t covered by Ofcom’s Voluntary Code of Practice onBroadband Speed — which protects all contracts started on or after 1March 2019 — or if your provider hasn’t opted in, then you shouldstill complain to your provider.
After that, if they haven’t resolved the issue to your satisfaction,you can escalate the complaint with the ombudsman.
Which broadband provider is fastest?
The fastest broadband provider in your area depends on where you live,and which networks are available to your home.
For many, Virgin Media is the UK’s fastest home broadband service,thanks to its nationwide ultrafast broadband network that 52% of thecountry has access to. It also recently finished upgrading its entirenetwork to gigabit speeds, allowing it to provide some of the fastestpossible speeds to UK households right now.
However, it might run into some competition soon. With full fibrenetworks rapidly growing, many homes can now access gigabitconnections that offer speeds up to 1Gbps (1000Mbps). This is thefastest type of broadband available, with a nationwide coverage ofroughly 28%.
Learn more about gigabit broadband with our guide.
How does distance affect speeds?
If you’re signed up to a cheap broadband deal or a standard copperADSL broadband service, your home’s location could dramatically affectyour broadband speed. Or to be more specific, your speed is affectedby how far you live from your nearest telephone exchange.
This is because ADSL broadband is delivered from the telephoneexchange to your home along copper wires.The further your broadbandsignal has to travel, the weaker the signal and the slower the servicewill be.
Fibre-optic broadband services are less affected by your home’slocation. However, that’s not to say that it’s not still a majorfactor in the speeds that customers can expect.
Fibre is a much more efficient way of delivering broadband than copperwires, so there’s virtually no loss of signal strength or speed duringthis part of your broadband’s journey to your home.
However, for standard fibre connections that most homes can get, acopper wire is still used to carry your broadband signal from thetelephone cabinet into your property. And it’s in this part of thejourney that your speed can be affected.
If you’re lucky enough to be signed up to a full fibre, or‘fibre-to-the-premises’ (FTTP) service (such as BT and Sky’s Ultrafastpackages, or a bespoke provider like Hyperoptic or Gigaclear), thespeed of your broadband isn’t at all affected by your home’s distancefrom the exchange.
This is because as the phrase ‘to the premises’ suggests, FTTPbroadband uses fibre-optic cables for the whole journey to yourhome. At no point are copper wires used.
How far am I from my broadband exchange?
So you can see how your home’s location may impact your broadbandservice, our Wi-Fi speed test shows you how far you are from yourexchange when you run it.
If you live in a new-build property with a new postcode, we might nothave added it to our database yet. If so, we’re afraid we won’t beable to calculate how far your home is from your telephone exchangeuntil we update our database.
We’ll still show you your broadband speed and outline the full rangeof providers available in your area, though. So you’ll have the mostimportant information you need to make the right buying decision.
What is the Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speed?
Ofcom’s Voluntary Code of Practice on Broadband Speed ensures thatcustomers get more accurate speed estimates when they sign up byholding providers accountable to delivering those speeds.
When you move onto a new broadband deal, providers who have opted intothe voluntary code of practice have to give you an estimated speedduring peak times. This is a period when connections tend to slow downas more people are online, so it needs to provide you with a minimumspeed guarantee to ensure your speed doesn’t drop to unacceptablelevels.
If your provider isn’t meeting your minimum speed guarantee and youcomplain about it, they have 30 days to fix the issue or you can leavethe contract, penalty-free.
Although the code of practice is voluntary, a number of majorproviders — including BT, Sky, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Virgin Media —have signed up. So if you have a broadband contract starting from 1March 2019 or later, you are entitled to receive that minimum speedguarantee or else you can leave your contract and switch to a newprovider.
It’s worth checking your current internet speed regularly to ensureyour provider is meeting this minimum speed guarantee.
Why you should run an internet speed test when working from home
With many of us spending a lot of our time working from home, thespeed and reliability of your broadband connection is more importantthan ever.
Running a Wi-Fi speed test will give you a much clearer idea of howmuch bandwidth you have and what the limitations of your connectionmight be. This is important for understanding what you are able to dofor work, because your internet speed will affect how much work youcan actually do.
We’re all aware of how frustrating it can be waiting for pages toload, videos to buffer and files to download. But if you’re runninginto those issues while working, it can be even more stressful. Soit’s important to make sure your internet won’t hold you back duringthe workday.
For example, if your broadband speed test delivers results of 10Mbpsor less, you’ll have to take more drastic measures to ration yourhousehold’s internet usage than if you had superfast speeds of 60Mbpsor ultrafast speeds of 100Mbps or higher.
Running regular speed checks can also give you a clearer idea of thetimes of day when your broadband is performing at its best andworst. This will allow you to schedule bandwidth-heavy tasks, such asvideo calls and downloads, for when you’re likely to have the bestbroadband speed.
Technical specifications
Download speed test
Our broadband speed checker downloads packets of data over an HTTPSconnection and measures the time the transfers take, in order to workout a download speed in Mbps (megabits per second).
A small initial file is downloaded in order to gauge an approximatespeed of the connection. Based on this result, the speed test selectsa larger file to perform the main download speed test.
For example, on a slower connection the speed test might choose apayload size of 2MB, but on a faster connection it may select one of10MB. This enables the speed test to scale and accurately measure alltypes of connection, from slow ADSL to very fast fibre-opticconnections.
Additionally, the test simultaneously requests multiple files todownload at once. This causes the user’s bandwidth to be saturated,which provides an accurate picture of their download speed capacity.
For this reason, we suggest that users turn off wireless connectivityfor any other devices, as well as not running any data-heavy programsat the time of the test, in order to receive the most accurate resultsfor your line’s speed.
Upload speed test
Our internet speed test submits packets of data over an HTTPS POSTconnection and times how long the transfers take, in order to work outan upload speed in Mbps. The test submits multiple packets at the sametime. This causes the user’s bandwidth to be saturated, providing anaccurate picture of their upload speed capacity.
What is the speed test’s capacity?
The speed test has been built to test broadband download speeds up to— and above — 1000Mbps (1Gbps).
It works with the UK’s fastest broadband services, including VirginMedia, BT and fibre broadband products from the likes of TalkTalk andSky.
