How does this Frontier speedtest work?

This Frontier speed test begins by identifying your Frontier connection and then selects the speed test server nearest near you.

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

The Frontier speed test checker is powered by Ookla and calculates the ping (latency), download speed and upload speed from your device and the test server.

The time that it takes this packet to arrive and return from the server determines your Frontier internet connection speed.

How accurate is the Frontier internet connection speed test?

The Frontier speed checker is powered by Ookla which one of the most popular internet connection speed test and provides accurate and consistent testing experience and results.

By automatically choosing a speedtest server closest to your area, this eliminates latency and bottlenecks which may distort performance metrics.

Ookla has a global network of over ten thousand speedtest servers in over 190 countries.

Source: Guide to Ookla’s methodology

To improve accurateness of your test, it is recommended to run the Frontier speed test from a device directly connected into the Frontier gateway modem or router.

This will help to provide a more precise reflection on the performance of your Frontier broadband connection and assist to elimate the Wi-Fi related problems.

If you are unable to connect your device directly into the Frontier modem or router, ensure that the device you are running this test is as physically close the modem or router as possible. Also run the speed test at least twice and from 2 different devices to make sure that the problem is not on one of the devices.

What do the results from my Frontier speed test mean?

What’s the Ping result mean?

Ping is sometimes referred to as latency which in connectivity terms refers to the the time (or delay) it takes for data to traverse from one device to another. In this case, from your device using the Frontier internet connection to the nearby server.

Ping sends data to another computer (in this case, the speedtest server) and measures in milliseconds (ms) the duration it takes to receive a response.

If the server is far or the network is congested then it will take more time to receive a reply and therefore the ping value will be high.

The Frontier speed test will automatically choose a speed test server nearest to your location to eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can skew speed test metrics.

A quick ping (low ms value) means a more responsive Frontier internet connection.

What is a good ping rate?

An average 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 be over >200ms.

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

What is Jitter?

All data (for example an email, image, video, voice call, etc) is transmitted across the internet as a series of small packets. These packets generally move at a regular rate and are put back together at the destination device.

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

Try to think of it similar to running a tap and then increasing or decreasing the flow rate of the water coming out. When the flow rate becomes irregular (because of the increasing and decreasing), the Jitter metric increases – which is not good.

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 connection will momentarily stutter or break up.

Frontier Download and Upload speed metrics explained

Find out More:What does the Download and Upload speed metric on my Frontier speedtest mean?

Likely causes of Frontier slow internet speed

There are several reasons why the Frontier internet connection is not performing. Whilst we cannot address every possible cause, we have listed a number of common possibilities.

Based on your Frontier internet connection setup, some of the recommendations may not be relevant in your scenario. Hopefully they may trigger possible ideas or get you on the right path to fix your problem.

Is it your Frontier internet that is slow or is it your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

You may need to check how many applications are currently running on your device that may be utilizing your system resources (mainly RAM memory and CPU) and your Frontier broadband internet bandwidth.

If you are on a laptop, you can use the task manager to check the CPU and RAM utilisation.

On any other device you could try restarting the device which should hopefully terminate all apps that may be running in the background.

Re-run the Frontier speed checker on the PC and your phone to see how the speedtest results compare between the 2 devices.

This should hopefully give you some information to work with in terms of whether the problem lies with your device or the Frontier internet connection.

• What exactly does the Frontier download and upload speed mean?
• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your Frontier Internet Speed
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing on your Frontier broadband

Is your wireless network connection the problem?

The root cause of the problem could be the Wifi connection and not the Frontier broadband internet connection.

You can eliminate the wireless network network being the cause of the issue by connecting your PC directly to the Frontier internet modem or router using a cable and run the Frontier speed test again.

If the speed improves when you’re connected by a network cable then this proves that the fault may be with your Wi-Fi network.

Other things to investigate are:

• Are the Wireless channels you’re using for your Wi-Fi network network (SSID) overlapping with the neigbours?
• Is the WiFi frequency congested? Maybe you should consider switching to 5Ghz?
• Is the Wi-Fi network signal from the modem or router obstructed?
• Does your performance get better when you are stood directly infront of your Frontier wireless modem/router?

Number of devices connected to your home network

All devices that are connected to your home network or Wireless network is sharing the same Frontier internet connection.

If you have several devices on the internet, streaming video, streaming music, downloading or uploading files, video conferencing, etc, they may have an impact on the performance of your Frontier internet connection because the bandwidth is being split between all the devices.

Are you aware of how many devices are connected to the Frontier broadband connection? Don’t forget about all the smart home gadgets, CCTV cameras, doorbell cameras, Google or Alexa hub or other similar devices that are constantly connected.

Who is connected to my Wi-Fi network?

• Have you checked that your Wi-Fi network password has not been leaked?
• Do you have an open Guest Wifi network?

Nearby Neighbors could be using your Wifii network and using up all the Frontier internet bandwidth downloading, uploading, streaming or running peer-to-peer file sharing over your Frontier internet connection. Worse still, they could be carrying out unlawful activities.

There are 2 apps that you may use to scan your wireless network to see who’s connected:

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

Both apps will scan your Wi-Fi network and show you a list of the connected devices.

Alternatively, log into the Frontier wireless router to see who is logged in to your Wifi network.

Check out this tutorial on how to use these applications

Wi-Fi signal strength

If your device is unable to pick up a strong signal it will affect on the throughput, speed and internet performance irrespective of how fast your Frontier internet connection is.

Situations that may affect your wireless signal are;

• Walls, doors or floors between your device and the Frontier broadband internet modem or router
• Household appliances like baby monitors or microwaves
• Overlapping Wifi signal from your neighbors
• General distance between your device and your Frontier internet modem or router.

Do I need a Wifi network signal booster for my Frontier broadband internet?

If you discover that you have Wi-Fi black spot at your house, a Wifi signal extender also know as a wireless booster is the solution to increase your signal strength across your home.

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

Place the Wifi network booster/extender where your Wi-Fi network signal from the Frontier internet router or model is beginning to become weak. Roughly where the Wifi signal drops below two bars. You can use your phone to determine where this is.

Health of your Device

Viruses and malware may slow down your device and your performance on your device. Viruses or malware may be working silently and concealed in the behind the scenes download and uploading data and thus slowing the performance of the whole internal network down.

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

When’s the last time your Frontier broadband modem or router was rebooted?

In the same way as other Internet Service Providers, Frontier’s broadband infrastructure is frequently refreshed to support new features and changes in technology. Likewise, the internet routers or modem at your property will also periodically need to be updated to support changes in the Frontier broadband internet network.

The update could be in the form of a software update or an upgrade of the physical Frontier modem/router hardware to a the newest version.

You can perform the software upgrade by logging in to the Frontier modem/router. If you cannot do this or are not confident doing it, get in contact with Frontier and they are able to either it for you or talk you through it.

The type and age of the device

The latest PCs, phones and other internet enabled devices will be generally faster than older devices due to advancements in networking technology and protocols.

Are you experiencing the same problems or newer devices?

Is the issue external to your home?

This is one of the most common reasons for Frontier internet problems. There are miles of cabling involved to present the Frontier broadband internet connection to your property.

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

You should get in touch with Frontier who will be able to carry out the relevant connection tests to check if there is a fault on the Frontier broadband internet line.