How do I work out my internet speed?

geek84

Good Morning Folks

How do I work out my internet speed?

At present, my provider (Virgin Media) states that I get a speed of 60mb per second. Is that good?

I only use the internet for browsing web pages and never download music. The only downloads that I do are some documents that are attached to emails sent to me by colleagues/friends.

If I downgrade to a lesser speed, would it make much difference?

Thanks

bryanb

Type speed check into google, you'll get plenty of options

kwikbreaks

General VM cable points
Most cable customers get the headline speed they pay for most of the time.
Some are unlucky and suffer local congestion which VM are notoriously slow to fix.
Some VM peering links are run very hot making access to services provided via those links slower than other services. For instance I have seen numerous complaints about YouTube in the past although that may well be fixed by now.
Cable suffers higher jitter than xDSL technologies which can mean poor gaming.
Upload speeds are low compared to FTTC services but generally better than ADSL
Ignoring legacy products which could be as slow as 2Mbps (I think) the VM offerings were 30/60/120Mbps and they are being upgraded to 50/100/150Mbps which sfaik is what they are selling to new customers.
It always pays to call VM at the end of any minimum term and haggle over services/price - they will usually offer a discount in return for a new minimum term. Never accept an offer from frontlint CS reps - like most companies VM have a retentions team and they have the best offers - if you don't get transferrred complain about what was offered and say you'll have to look around at alternatives and you should get transferred. It used to be possible to get to retentions directly by taking the "thinking of leaving" option on the phone but just before I left that option didn't seem to be available any more. Others may be able to advise on this.

Points about download speed
Speeds are shared between all users on the connection - lots of people in the house all using the service together may justify a fast service otherwise the only real "need for speed" once your connection exceeds the basic needed for decent video streaming is to make downloads faster.
Individuals may have some other specific use for high speed - if so they will know that already.
Speeds above a few Mbps will not noticeably alter your browsing experience.

Ok so now for your case based on what you've said -
60Mbps is overkill and you should be able to downgrade with VM for a saving assuming you are beyond the minimum term of your contract. Even if you are still within minimum term you may well be able to downgrade to the lowest tier.
If you get put on 30Mbps that will get upgraded to 50Mbps free later anyway. You can usually find a projected date for that update on VMs website after logging in with your userid although when I was with VM the design of the site was poor and finding anything could often be difficult.