These are the two resources I currently use for testing my broadband connection speed. This first one I was turned onto by Darrel Orpen and it is my current first choice: testmy.net. Look for their new “dual test” option to test first your download speed, then your upload speed in sequence. They even have a, not quite ready for primetime, automated test available if you register with them (for free) that is supposed to test your speeds periodically throughout the day so you can gather stats on whether you really are getting what you pay for. I tried it and it seems to work for a couple of hours and then simply stop working. I imagine it will be fine when they’ve had a chance to iron some of the kinks out.
The second one, which I’ve been using for years I found through broadbandreports.com (it *was* dslreports.com back when I first started using the site to see what might be available to me. You can see this from the fact that it’s URL is still the old name), and it’s the speakeasy.net speed test. I moved away from speakeasy since the upload test always seemed to take so long to load on my system.
As of this moment (Saturday July 1, 2006 – a long weekend so it’s a skewed result) my results through my Comcast ISP are:
Testmy.net:
Download :: 5998 Kbps or 6 Mbps (732 kB/s)
Upload :: 362 Kbps or 0.36 Mbps (44 kB/s)
Speakeasy:
Download Speed: 5872 kbps (734 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 352 kbps (44 KB/sec transfer rate)