# Which internet speed test site transfers the least amount of data?



## grecinos (Nov 3, 2016)

Hey guys,

I'm trying to perform internet speed tests on my new mobile wifi hotspot at various locations where I live.  The problem is, when I use websites like speedtest.net, it gobbles a good chunk of my data quota.  Is there a website that uses minimal data to determine the speed of an internet connection? I'm talking less than 10MB per test.

Cheers,

grecinos


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## alucasa (Nov 3, 2016)

A speedtest requires a certain amout of data transfer to be accurate. More transfer is made, more accurate a test is.

Try bing test but it should use about the same bandwidth.  http://www.bing.com/widget/t/speedtest

And DSLreport speedtest. http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest


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## nomdeplume (Nov 3, 2016)

Depending on who your provider is they might offer a data free speed test.


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## grecinos (Nov 3, 2016)

nomdeplume said:


> Depending on who your provider is they might offer a data free speed test.



I'm have a mobile wifi hotspot from FreedomPop.  They use the Sprint network.  I've yet to find an internet speed test from them.  Perhaps I haven't searched enough?

Any recommendations?


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## kn00tcn (Nov 3, 2016)

you could measure how long 10mb took, or just not test & use it normally

what is the goal here, to find the best position for the best speed? what about ping? why do you need best when you probably only need a minimum speed to  handle something like certain quality video streaming

edit: speaking of using normally, if you're downloading something that you need (game, patch, etc) from a server known to be sending at full speed, you can watch the speed at that time, reposition at that time, etc

edit2: maybe ask dslreports forum for potential data free speed tests


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## grecinos (Nov 4, 2016)

kn00tcn said:


> you could measure how long 10mb took, or just not test & use it normally
> 
> what is the goal here, to find the best position for the best speed? what about ping? why do you need best when you probably only need a minimum speed to  handle something like certain quality video streaming
> 
> ...




I'm more interested in the overall speed and not so much about ping.  I plan on using this device while I'm away from home, so I want to be able to compare how it performs while I'm "elsewhere".  For the most part I'm going to be doing light web browsing and, more importantly, web development that will require a VPN connection to my web server at home.  I don't need the fastest connection, but I'd like to know what it's capable of.


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## Kursah (Nov 4, 2016)

If its connected and you're on a bandwidth plan, I wouldn't stress too much here nor waste time finding a solution that won't tell you the right story anyways. Speed tests require a small amount of data to download and upload. 10MB really isn't that much. Plus what you test to their server might not matter if your home WAN is having issues or is on a different route altogether (likely at some point).

Sure speed tests will add up if you're using it repetitively. If your VPN is stable and you can get your work done, then its fast enough. If its not, then you need to check your signal and with your ISP.

There's no quality way to test bandwidth with a single small 1MB or 100KB file. 10MB is barely passable. Plus those tests may not be indicative of your VPN speed to home as that'll likely take a totally different route and be limited by both ends, processing power for the encryption, and everything in between you and home.

Frankly the best speed test will be when you're actually using it. Pull a file over from home and back to home...watch Windows Task Manager if on 8, 8.1 or 10...or Resource Monitor on older MS versions if Windows is your platform. Problem solved!


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## jboydgolfer (Nov 4, 2016)

Testmy.net
 Allows you to select the file size, single out either up speed or down speed testing and several other options is in my opinion more accurate than speed test


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## yotano211 (Nov 4, 2016)

You are not going to get good speeds with Sprint esp. on their 2nd rate data services. I know its a free service upto a certain amount of data but speed and Sprint dont get along.

I know from experience in using them for years on Sprint, boost mobile, and their 3rd prepaid phone service. I got good calls and overall good service but speed was lacking on all them esp. their prepaid ones.


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## grecinos (Nov 4, 2016)

Kursah, you have a good point.  If I can be productive enough with whatever I'm doing while using a mobile connection, then what difference does the speed make?

jboydgolfer,  I'll have to check that site out.  Thanks for the reference.

yotano, actually, I did a speed test around the corner where I live and I got 25Mbps up, and around 5Mps down.  By my standards, that's fantastic.  To be productive, I know that I would be fine even with half of that bandwidth.  BUT, I'd like to determine if these figures hold up while in a different (nearby) city.  I've seen YouTube videos in regards to this subject and they say that it varies from city to city and more importantly, which part of the U.S., East Coast, West Coast, etc.

I guess what I'm trying to determine is what does "comfortable" computing translate into, in terms of the actual speed of the connection.  Say it's 5Mbps up and 2Mbps down.  I'll know where ever I go, if I can get a connection that meet these figures, then I should be good to go.  Yes, there are other things to consider, such as the speed of the sever I'm connected to, latency and such.  I've never given (productive) mobile computing a fair try, so I have to start somewhere.

Cheers.


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## blobster21 (Nov 4, 2016)

pioneerxtc said:


> Salisbury North Carolina, you can get 10 gigabit-per-second-internet. 100 MB/s is really weak. It's not enough.



 Dubaï Emirates, you can get a Bugatti Veyron. 'Cause you know Subaru Impreza are really weak. It's not enough.


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## Kursah (Nov 4, 2016)

Comfortable computing depends on what you're doing and the bandwidth you need for what you're doing. If its work and bandwidth intensive, 5/2 isn't gonna cut it... if you're more average with primarily small transfers and web browsing, some light streaming, 5/2 will be fine. So really what you do need to find out is what kind of network load you expect to put out, what size files are you working with, what kind of time sensitivity do they require, etc. Time sensitivity is important as that can justify the needs for higher bandwidth options to accomidate the need for faster transfers. If you're working on larger files, then it would definitely help to have more bandwidth too if you don't want to spend all day sending or receiving a single file. Remember you will also be limited by upload/download speeds of your home Internet. 

So if you're rated for say 50/5 at home down/up, then the best download speed you'll ever achieve from home is 5mbps. Adding VPN tunnel processing on top of that will likely not affect too much that direction, but depending on hardware you might not achieve as close to 50 uploading to home (if your upload speeds were that good remotely...). Upload is usually the limitation for many consumer grade ISP connections...so keep this in mind as well while you're testing.


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## alucasa (Nov 4, 2016)

If you want, you can set up a FTP server and put a file of your preferred size (1mb, 5mb, your call).

Use a FTP client to download the file and the FTP program will tell you average download speed.

For upload, simply upload the file back to the FTP server.


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## lightingjack (Nov 4, 2016)

What if I want to do this test for a home network ? -i'm super noobie-


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## jboydgolfer (Nov 4, 2016)

I have a question regarding this topic just a different offshoot of it, how much is a standard amount of usage for a mobile device in a month? For instance I pay for 5 GB a month for my wife's phone and she doesn't come anywhere near using it,now I understand Watching videos and streaming and downloading can intensify the bandwidth usage but are there any numbers out there that show averages. I mean this kind of circles around with the OP is asking


 But I do suppose it's kind a like asking how long is a piece of string


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## newtekie1 (Nov 4, 2016)

grecinos said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> I'm trying to perform internet speed tests on my new mobile wifi hotspot at various locations where I live.  The problem is, when I use websites like speedtest.net, it gobbles a good chunk of my data quota.  Is there a website that uses minimal data to determine the speed of an internet connection? I'm talking less than 10MB per test.
> 
> ...



I use testmy.net as jboydgolfer suggested.  It uses only as much data as needed to get a good test.  You can also select a custom data size if you want, it goes as low as 256KB.  It won't guarantee an accurate test at the smaller test sizes though.


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## jboydgolfer (Nov 4, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> I use testmy.net.  It uses only as much data as needed to get a good test.  You can also select a custom data size if you want, it goes as low as 256KB.  It won't guarantee an accurate test at the smaller test sizes though.



thats what i recommended, but it seems to have gone unnoticed.  , or maybe the OP just didnt like it.


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## newtekie1 (Nov 4, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> thats what i recommended, but it seems to have gone unnoticed.  , or maybe the OP just didnt like it.



Yeah, I did a ninja edit after I noticed your post. 



jboydgolfer said:


> I have a question regarding this topic just a different offshoot of it, how much is a standard amount of usage for a mobile device in a month? For instance I pay for 5 GB a month for my wife's phone and she doesn't come anywhere near using it,now I understand Watching videos and streaming and downloading can intensify the bandwidth usage but are there any numbers out there that show averages. I mean this kind of circles around with the OP is asking
> 
> 
> But I do suppose it's kind a like asking how long is a piece of string



To answer this, the standard data usage is...well...zero.  The standard functions of your mobile phone, calls and texting, won't use any data.  How much data you use will come down to what extra things you do with the phone, and will vary wildly from person to person.  Some people can't go 5 minutes without checking facebook, so their data will be a lot higher than people that don't do much else on their phone.


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## grecinos (Nov 4, 2016)

jboydgolfer said:


> thats what i recommended, but it seems to have gone unnoticed.  , or maybe the OP just didnt like it.



I'm not sure what happened to one of my replies, but I did mention that I appreciated the reference.  I checked out the site and it's what I was looking for.  I'll be using it in the near future.  Thanks man


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## jboydgolfer (Nov 4, 2016)

grecinos said:


> I'm not sure what happened to one of my replies, but I did mention that I appreciated the reference.  I checked out the site and it's what I was looking for.  I'll be using it in the near future.  Thanks man



Lol,  don't sweat it man theres no reason to be sorry.... im glad the site is what you needed


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