Upload speed means how quickly Upload Speed Test users can send data from their devices (PC, mobile, tablet, etc.) to the internet network.Upload speed is usually slower than download speed, as upload speed is usually less important for the common user.testmyinternetspeed.org, Most activities on the internet don’t require fast upload speeds.On the other hand, upload speed might be very important for users who upload a lot of data to services such as YouTube, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. or for those who extensively use social networks by uploading a lot of media (photos, videos, etc.).

What’s a good download speed and upload speed?

Good internet speeds are determined (and sometimes restricted) by individual needs and location of where your services are needed. For example, if your household is located in a rural area, chances are you might have a cap on the maximum speeds available for your household because of the networking infrastructure built in your area.

According to the FCC, a student would need anywhere between 5 and 25 Mbps, whereas a person who streams videos or browses the internet would only need between 1 and 8 Mbps. Mbps stands for megabits per second and is a unit of measurement for the amount of data that can be transferred every second. It’s used when determining internet bandwidth speeds.

There are many factors to take into consideration when determining what speeds are “good” for your specific situation. A household who has a gaming system might need a minimum of 10 - 25 Mbps, but might also need an additional 1 - 10 Mbps of bandwidth to support other functions that are occurring at the same time. It depends on the amount of internet users in the family who are also using the bandwidth in your home.

Other important measurements: latency and ping

When considering the quality of your broadband connection, another important measurement is latency—an important benchmark when it comes to gaming and streaming because of its ability to impact gameplay or buffer times. A lag in online gaming can have consequences, for example, but when browsing the web, it isn’t as important.

A ping test is a request for a response that’s sent to a host to measure the latency, or time elapsed, in the response. Latency is the quantifiable delay (usually measured in milliseconds) of data transfer between your local computer and a remote server. There’s a higher latency between a server in Europe versus a server in the United States, for example, even when using the same computer. The best latency speed you can have is zero.

Sometimes, the terms latency and ping are used interchangeably. Ping is also measured in milliseconds, with an average ping time landing anywhere between 30 ms and 50 ms. Ping depends on where the remote server is located that you’re trying to ping, where you’re located, and the distance between the two.

Explanation of Internet Speed Test Results:

• Download Speed – the speed at which your computer (or the network as a whole) can receive data from the internet. Download speed impacts your web browsing and file downloading speed the most. Higher download speed equals faster downloads. Download speed is expressed in Mbps (Megabits per second), while web browsers and other software usually show the speed of downloading a file in Mb/sec (Megabytes per second). You can convert Mbps to MBps by dividing the download speed of the test by 8. Example: 100Mbps equals 12.5 MBps.
• Upload Speed – the speed at which your computer can send data to other machines on the internet. Higher upload speed equals faster file uploading – for example, adding attachments to emails, uploading a YouTube video, or sharing a file in general.
• Ping – indicates the time it takes for data to reach the destination and then return to your computer (round-trip). Ping is expressed in milliseconds (ms), and lower ping is better. However, ping only matters when doing a task, where the response speed is critical – such as computer games. Playing a competitive computer game, having a low ping is a must to ensure that your actions get received as soon as possible.
• Jitter – shows the stability of your connection and measures the changes in ping. Having a low jitter means that your ping doesn’t change and is stable – meaning you have a stable connection. Jitter is expressed in milliseconds, and lower jitter is better than higher jitter.

Steam Download Cache

If you suddenly experience slow Steam downloads, start by checking your Steam download cache. In simple terms, the cache is where Steam holds downloads and updates before they get copied onto your computer. When a file located there gets lost during transfer or corrupted, it may affect your download speed.Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to clear your Steam cache and potentially quicken your downloads. 

Below are the steps on how to do it:

• Open up the Steam application on your computer.
• Click on “Steam” in the top left corner. 
• From the dropdown menu, select “Settings.” 
• In the “Settings” menu, choose the “Downloads” tab.
• At the bottom of the window, click on “CLEAR DOWNLOAD CACHE” and then “OK” to confirm. Steam will log you out once you do.
• Log back into Steam and check if your downloading goes faster.

Steam Upload Region

Your Steam account defaults to a download region based on your location. However, the option it automatically selects isn’t always correct. As a result, it’s a good idea to double-check that yours is set to the right area. Furthermore, regional servers may have occasional issues that cause slower downloads. So you might want to switch to a different one when that happens, albeit temporarily.

• Open up the Steam application on your computer.
• Click on “Steam” in the top left corner. 
• From the dropdown menu, select “Settings”. 
• In the “Settings” menu, choose the “Downloads” tab.
• Select the “Download Region” dropdown and change your region.
• When the confirmation pop-up window appears, click on “Restart Steam”.
• Log back into Steam and assess your download speed again.

Internet Connectivity 

Another reason your Steam download is so slow might be your internet quality.Steam relies on a strong connection for downloads.Testmyinternetspeed, After all, games might require 100GB of space. And just one corrupted or missing file might leave them unplayable.So if your internet signal is weak or bandwidth lacking, that may negatively impact download speed. This issue is common for Steam users who rely on Wifi.There's not much you can do in the Steam app to resolve this issue. However, you should try switching to a wired connection if you aren’t already on one. After all, an ethernet cable is almost always superior to Wi-Fi.Additionally, consider resetting your modem or calling your provider for an internet speed upgrade.

Applications and Background Processes 

Are you streaming a TV show while you wait for your Steam download? Or playing a different game to help pass the time?If so, you might be inadvertently hampering your file transfers. Because the more programs you run at once, the fewer resources your computer has for downloading from Steam.As a result, try closing any nonessential applications running during the download. After a short delay, you may notice the file transfer speed increase.To close some background and startup processes, you’ll need to use your PC’s task manager. Here’s how to do that on Windows:

• Hold down Ctrl+Alt+Delete at the same time.
• Select “Task Manager”.
• In the task manager menu, choose an application you want to close.
• After selection, click “End Task” in the bottom right corner of the window.
• To help you, here’s a list of the programs most likely to cause issues on Steam.
• Other Issues That Cause Slow Steam Downloads
• Above, we covered the most likely reasons why your Steam download is so slow. However, there are rarer problems that might be occurring as well.