When you buy an internet connection from an ISP, you should get the promised download/upload speeds. The only way to check this is to install and use an internet speed test app on your Android device, iPhone, or iPad. Although you can test connection speed with the browser, you must use dedicated applications because they’re easy to use.
Best internet speed test apps for Android and iOS
Ookla
The speed test app from Ookla displays three options on its main interface – check speed, see test results and change settings. To get started with this application, tap the 1st option. Ookla will select a server closest to your location when you do so. Then, it will transfer and receive a small chunk of data to estimate the connection upload and download speed. To see the previous test results, navigate to the result section of Ookla. The results section displays the connection type, time at which you ran the test, download/upload speed, and ping time. The user can download or export the test results to a comma-separated values file. The app includes an option to clear the saved information.
Ookla doesn’t allow users to share test results on Facebook, Google Plus, and other websites. Hence, you’ll have to manually take a screenshot and share it with your friends to make them aware of your internet connection speed. The settings panel of Ookla displays the internal and external IP addresses (as provided by the ISP). This interface lets you configure the speed test app to display the connection speed in Mbps or KB/s format. If you’re not satisfied with the result, you can switch to another server by changing the server settings. To get details on the company that has published and developed the application, tap the about option. Ookla is one of the best internet speed testing apps for iOS and Android operating systems.
OpenSignal
OpenSignal is yet another popular app for testing internet speed on a mobile device. OS might be a new app, but because of its brilliant features and accurate algorithm, Open Signal has become a great alternative to Ookla. OpenSignal makes users aware of the top 100 cell towers and WiFi hotspots in their area. It features a signal compass utility that points toward a cell tower nearby the user. If you place your mobile device in the direction indicated by Open Signal, you’ll notice an improvement in download and upload speed.
OpenSignal, the free internet speed test app, displays useful statistics of the network connection. It also provides an option to share the stats with other users. OpenSignal allows users to compare their internet speed with other user’s connection speed. It displays a map highlighting the availability of 4G, 3G, 2G networks in your area, city, state, or country.
Must see: Best Android WiFi Analyzer apps
Speedcheck
Speedcheck is an internet speed testing app for Android and iOS with several options. It displays the details of your ISP/mobile network. It lets you test the downlink and uplink speed of the network connection. The application maintains a list of previous test results. Hence, you can compare your current and earlier results. To see the results, tap on the History option. The history section displays the network type, the day on which you had tested the connection speed, ping time in milliseconds, and the download/upload speed.
Speedcheck lets users set the amount of data the app should download/upload when it is testing your connection speed. It enables users to schedule internet speed tests. While scheduling a test, you can configure the application to repeat the test and skip the test if the internet connection is busy. The application ships with three color themes and has advertisements.
V-Speed Test
Apart from allowing users to test network speed, V-Speed shows the following details of the network connection:
- Signal strength, network state, SSID.
- Encryption technique in use, Frequency, MAC, IP address.
- Gateway, DNS, and WLAN bitrate.
V-Speed allows you to go through the previous test results. It lets users copy their IP address to the clipboard. It is one of the best internet speed test apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices.
Internet Speed Meter Lite
Speed Meter is a lightweight application that displays the current internet speed on the phone’s status bar. Thus, the download speed will always be in front of you when you’re watching a video, browsing the internet, etc. This application keeps a record of the total mobile/WiFi data transferred from/to your device. It lets you reset the stats. Speed Meter Lite shows only the download speed on the status bar by default. You can configure it to show both the upload and download speed.
Also read: Best WiFi signal booster apps for Android
You can also check the internet speed without installing an app with the two web apps – Fast dot com and Google’s internet speed tester. To access Google’s tool, enter the search query “My Internet speed” in Google.com. How to use Fast dot com? Open the Fast.com site in the browser. The site will immediately run the speed test and make you aware of the download/upload speed and network latency.
Final thoughts: You can use the five apps I’ve shared above to check whether the internet connection speed is up to the mark or not or to test the download/upload speed or latency of the mobile data connection or WiFi network. The applications are free and highly accurate. I’ve tested them before mentioning them in this article.
