Speed test results show your network’s download and upload speeds. Your download speed is a measure of how fast information is traveling from the Internet to your network, and your upload speed reflects the speed of traffic going in the opposite direction.

These speeds are measured in quantity over time, specifically in megabits per second (Mbps). A megabit is a million bits, and a bit is a very small piece of data. Why is this important, you ask? The higher the number you see in the test, the speedier your Internet activity should be. For example, if you have a download speed of 2 Mbps, a typical web page will load in about half a second and download a 5-minute song should take 20–30 seconds. If you have a download speed of 12 Mbps, that web page will load instantly, and the same song will download in about a second.

Here are the speeds required for some of our favorite activities:

Speed (Mbps)                                                               Activity

100+                                                                              Multiple HD video streams

50+                                                                                Video chat & gaming

25+                                                                                Netflix or YouTube

5+                                                                                  Pandora, Spotify or web browsing