How to quickly find out your Wi-Fi speed on a computer
Are you wondering if your home
internet network is really running at the speeds you are paying for? Here's how
to find out.
Watch this: Find out your current
Wi-Fi speed in seconds
You have your laptop connected to a
Wi-Fi network with full bars. That's great. It's not the bars that matter
though, but the actual speed of that connection. Here's a quick way to find how
fast your computer's current Wi-Fi connection is and other information about
that connection.
On a Mac, hold the Option key
then click on the Wi-Fi icon at the top right area on the screen. A menu will
appear: Under the current Wi-Fi network it shows a host of information about
the current connection, including the IP addresses, MAC address, the Wi-Fi
standard and the connection speed, which is shown as Tx Rate.
Holding the Option key while
clicking the Wi-Fi icon will give you a host of information on your Mac's
current Wi-Fi connection.
Dong Ngo/CNET
More
Wi-Fi tips
On a Windows computer, it's a bit
more involved but still easy. First right-click on the Wi-Fi icon at the
lower right corner area of the screen, then click on Open Network and
Sharing Center.
Next, click on the Wi-Fi connection,
which will open up the status window that shows you the current connection
speed among other things. And then you can click on Details to find out
about the IP address and other info.
The speed is generally shown in
megabits per second. The speed tends to fluctuate, ranging from 20Mbps 450Mbps
if the computer is connected to a wireless n (802.11n) network, and can get as
high as 1,300Mbps for an 802.11ac network. However, the most important thing is
if this number is higher than your broadband download speed, then you're likely
getting the full internet speed on the computer. If it's lower, then it's
definitely your Wi-Fi that's slowing down your connection to the internet.
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