How does the AT&T speed test work?

This AT&T speed test begins by determining your AT&T connection and then selecting a speedtest server nearest to you.

When you click on the GO button it will send packets of information from the speed test server to your device.

The AT&T speedtest is powered by Ookla and measures the ping (latency), download speed & upload speed between your device and the selected test server.

The time that it takes this data to go to and return from the server determines your AT&T broadband speed.

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How accurate is the AT&T internet speedtest?

The AT&T speed checker is powered by Ookla which one of thee most popular broadband connection speed test and provides accurate and consistent testing experience and results.

By automatically selecting a speedtest server closest to you, this eliminates latency & bottlenecks that can skew performance metrics.

Ookla has a worldwide network of over ten thousand speed test servers in over 190 countries.

Source: How Ookla ensures accurate reliable Speedtests

To improve accuracy of your speed test, it is recommended to run the AT&T speed checker from a device connected directly to the AT&T gateway modem or router.

This will help give an accurate result on the performance of your AT&T broadband connection and assist to elimate the Wi-Fi related issues.

If you are unable to connect your device directly into the AT&T modem or router, make sure that the device you are performing this test is as close the modem or router as possible. Also run the speed test at least twice and from two different devices to ensure that the problem is not on one of the devices.

What do the results from my AT&T speed test mean?

What’s the Ping result mean?

Ping is sometimes referred to as latency which in internet connectivity terms means the time (or delay) it takes for data to travel from one device to another. In this case, from your device using the AT&T internet connection to the nearest server.

Ping sends information to another computer (in this case, the Ookla speed test server) and measures in milliseconds (ms) the total time it takes to receive a response.

If the other computer is far away or the network is congested then it may take more time to receive a reply and the ping value will be high.

This AT&T speed test will automatically select a speedtest server nearest to your location to eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can skew performance results.

A quick ping (low ms value) means a faster AT&T internet connection.

What’s a good ping rate?

A good ping rate to a device in the same city should be lower than 20ms. A good ping rate between cities you’d expect to see ping values between the values of 30-60ms, and between continents that figure can climb to over 200ms.

The speedtest above will show you the location of the test server so that you may determine whether your ping result is good or not.

What is Jitter?

All data (for example an email, image, video, voice call, etc) is sent over the internet as a series of packets. The packets usually move at a constant rate and are stitched back together at the destination device.

Jitter is the rate of delay during the transmission of the packets.

Think of it similar to running a tap and then increasing or decreasing the flow rate of the running water coming out. When the flow rate becomes abnormal (due to the increasing and decreasing), the Jitter value increases – which is not a good thing.

You do not generally notice jitter as networking devices can smooth it out however, you will notice jitter whilst on a video and voice calls because the internet connection will momentarily disconnect or break-up.

AT&T Download and Upload speed results explained

Find out More:What does the Download and Upload speed metric on my AT&T speed test actually mean?

Common causes of AT&T slow internet speed

There may be several reasons why your AT&T internet connection is not performing as expected. While we are unable address each and every possible cause, we have listed a number of likely possibilities.

Based on your AT&T broadband internet setup, some of the suggestions may not be applicable in your scenario. We hope that they may trigger food for thought or get you heading in the right direction to resolve your issue.

Is it your AT&T internet connection that is slow or is it your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

You need to check how many apps are simultaneously running on your device that may be utilising your system resources (mainly RAM memory and CPU) and your AT&T broadband internet bandwidth.

If you’re on a computer, you can use the task manager to check the CPU and memory utilization.

On any other device you should try restarting the device which should hopefully kill all programs that may be running in the background.

Re-run the AT&T speed test on your computer and your smart phone to see how the speed test results compare between the 2 devices.

Hopefully the will provide you with some info to work with in terms of if the issue lies with your device or the AT&T broadband internet connection.

• What exactly does the AT&T download and upload speed actually mean?
• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your AT&T internet connection Speed
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing on your AT&T broadband

Is the Wi-Fi network connection the problem?

The root cause of the issue may be the Wifi connection and not the AT&T internet connection.

You could rule out the wireless network network being the cause of the issue by connecting your computer directly to the AT&T internet modem or router using an ethernet cable and run the AT&T speedtest again.

If performance improves when you’re connected using an ethernet cable then this proves that the problem may be with your wireless network.

Other things to check are:

• Are the WiFi channels you’re using for your wireless network network (SSID) overlapping with your neigbours?
• Is the Wireless frequency congested? Maybe you should consider switching to 5Ghz?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the modem or router obstructed?
• Does the performance get better when you’re stood directly in-front of the AT&T wireless network modem/router?

Number of devices connected to your home network

All devices that are connected to your internal network or WiFi is utilizing the same AT&T broadband internet connection.

If you have several devices browsing the internet, streaming video, streaming music, downloading or uploading files, video conferencing, etc, they will have an impact on the speed of your AT&T internet connection because the available bandwidth is being shared between devices.

Do you know how many devices are connected to your AT&T internet connection? Do not forget about all the smart home devices, CCTV cameras, doorbell cameras, Alexa/Google home hub or other similar devices that may be constantly connected.

Who’s connected to my Wifi network?

• Check that your wireless network password has not been shared?
• Do you have an open Guest wireless network?

Neighbours could be using your Wifii network and eating up all the AT&T internet bandwidth downloading, uploading, streaming or running peer-to-peer file sharing over your AT&T internet connection. Worse than that, they could be carrying out unlawful activities.

There are 2 apps that you may use to scan your wireless network to check who is connected:

• Windows users may use Wireless network watcher
• MAC users may use whoFi (who is on my Wifi)

Both applications will scan your wireless network and display a list of the connected devices.

Alternatively, you can log into your AT&T wireless router to find out who is logged in to your wireless network.

Check out this tutorial on how to use both Apps

Wireless signal strength

If your PC, laptop is not picking up a strong signal it will affect on the throughput, speed and internet performance irrespective of how fast your AT&T internet connection is.

Conditions that may affect the wireless signal are;

• Walls, doors or floors between the device and the AT&T internet modem or router
• Household appliances like baby monitors or microwaves
• Overlapping wireless signal from your next-door neighbours
• the distance between the device and your AT&T broadband internet modem or router.

Do I need a wireless network signal booster for my AT&T internet?

If you discover that you have wireless blackhole in your home, a wireless signal extender also know as a Wifi booster is the solution to boost your signal strength across your home.

The Wifi network booster simply picks up your existing wireless network signal as it is becoming weak and then re-transmits the Wifi signal at a stronger rate to extend its reach.

Place the Wifi network booster/extender where your wireless network signal from the AT&T broadband internet router or model is starting to become weak. Roughly where the wireless signal drops down to 2 bars. You could use your phone to determine where this is.

Health of your End device

Viruses or malware may slow down your device and consequently the performance of your device. Viruses or malware could be working quietly and concealed in the behind the scenes download and uploading information and slowing the performance of the whole internal network down.

When is the last time you ran a full Virus and Malware check on the device?

When’s the last time the AT&T broadband modem or router was restarted?

In the same way as other Internet Service Providers, AT&T’s broadband infrastructure is frequently refreshed to support new features and changes in technology. Equally, the internet routers or modem at your property will also periodically require an update to support changes in the AT&T internet network.

The update could be in the form of a software update or an upgrade of the physical AT&T modem/router hardware to a newer version.

You may be able to perform the software upgrade by logging into the AT&T modem/router. If you are unable do this or are unsure doing this, get in touch with AT&T and they will be able to either do this for you or talk you through it.

The type and age of the device

Newer PCs, smart phones and other internet-enabled devices are generally faster than older devices due to developments in networking technology and protocols.

Are you experiencing the same issues or newer devices?

Is the issue external to your home?

This is one of the most common reasons for AT&T internet issues. There are miles of cables used to deliver the AT&T broadband internet connection to your property.

The problem may be with the physical cabling that comes into your house and goes into the modem or router in your home.

You should contact AT&T who will be able to run the appropriate connection tests to check if there’s a issue on the AT&T internet connection.