How does this Metro speedtest work?

This Metro speed test begins by determining your Metro connection and then selects the speedtest server nearest near you.

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

The Metro speed test checker is powered by Ookla and measures the ping (latency), download speed & upload speed from your device and the selected test server.

The total that it takes this data to arrive and return from the server establishes your Metro internet connection speed.

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How reliable is the Metro internet speed test?

The Metro Speedtest is powered by Ookla which one of thee most popular internet connection speedtest and provides accurate and consistent testing experience and results.

By automatically choosing a speed test server closest to your area, this will eliminate latency and bottlenecks which can skew performance results.

Ookla has a worldwide network of over 10,000 speedtest servers in more than 190 countries.

Source: Guide to Ookla’s methodology

To increase accurateness of your test, we would recommend that you run the Metro speed checker from a device directly connected to the Metro gateway modem or router.

This will help to provide an accurate reflection on the performance of your Metro broadband connection and help rule out the Wi-Fi related problems.

If you cannot connect your device directly to the Metro modem or router, make sure that the device you are running the test is as physically close the modem or router as possible. Also run the speedtest at least twice and from 2 different devices to make sure that the fault is not on one of the devices.

What do the speed test results from my Metro speed test mean?

What’s the Ping result mean?

Ping is sometimes called latency which in internet connectivity terms refers to the the time (or delay) it takes for data to travel from one device to another. In this instance, from your device using the Metro internet connection to the nearest server.

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

If the other device is very far away or the network is congested it will take longer to receive a response and therefore the ping value in ms will be high.

The Metro speedtest will automatically select a speed test server closest to your location to eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can skew performance results.

A fast ping (low ms value) means a faster Metro broadband connection.

What’s a good ping result?

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

The speedtest 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’s Jitter?

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

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

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

You do not normally notice jitter because networking devices can smooth it out but you will be aware of jitter whilst on a video and voice calls because the connection will momentarily disconnect or break up.

Metro Download and Upload speed metrics explained

Read More:What does the Download and Upload speed results on my Metro speedtest mean?

Likely causes of Metro slow broadband internet speed

There are a number of reasons why the Metro internet connection is not performing. Whilst we are unable address every possible reason, we have listed a number of likely causes.

Based on your Metro internet setup, some of the recommendations may not be relevant in your scenario. We hope that they may trigger possible reasons or get you on the right path to fix your problem.

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

You may need to check how many applications are concurrently open on your device that may be utilising your system resources (mainly RAM memory and CPU) and your Metro internet connection bandwidth.

If you are on a computer, you can use the task manager to check your CPU and RAM usage.

On any other device you could try restarting the device which should hopefully shut down all apps that may have been running in the background.

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

Hopefully the will provide you with some info to work with in terms of whether the issue lies with your device or the Metro internet connection.

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

Is the wireless connection the problem?

The root cause of the issue may be your Wifi connection and not the Metro broadband internet connection.

You could rule out the wireless network being the cause of the issue by connecting your PC directly to the Metro internet modem or router using a network cable and run the Metro speedtest again.

If speed is better when you are connected by an ethernet cable then this proves that the issue may be with your Wifi.

Possible things to investigate are:

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

Number of devices connected to your home network

Every device that is connected to your internal network or Wifi is sharing the same Metro internet connection.

If you have several devices on the internet, streaming movies, streaming music, downloading or uploading files, video conferencing, etc, this may have an impact on the speed of your Metro internet connection because the bandwidth has to be shared between devices.

Are you aware of how many devices are connected to your Metro broadband connection? Do not forget about all the smart home devices, CCTV cameras, doorbell cameras, Google or Alexa home hub or other similar devices that may be continually connected.

Who is connected to my Wifi network?

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

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

There are two applications that you can use to scan your Wi-Fi network to see who’s connected:

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

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

As an alternative, log into your Metro wireless router to find out who is connected to your wireless network.

Have a look at the tutorial on how to use both applications

Wifi signal strength

If the device is not picking up a strong signal it will affect on the throughput, speed and internet performance regardless of how fast your Metro internet connection is.

Situations that can affect the wireless signal are;

• Walls, doors or floors between your device and the Metro internet modem or router
• Household appliances such as baby monitors and microwaves
• Overlapping Wifi network signal from your neighbours
• General distance between the device and the Metro broadband internet modem or router.

Do I need a Wi-Fi network signal booster for my Metro broadband internet?

If you find that you have Wi-Fi blackhole at your property, a Wifi signal extender aka a wireless booster is the solution to boost the signal strength across the house.

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

Locate the Wifi booster/extender where your Wifi network signal from the Metro internet router or model is beginning to become weak. Approximately where the Wi-Fi network 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 your performance of your device. Viruses and malware may be working quietly and hidden in the behind the scenes download and uploading information and thus slowing the performance of the whole internal network down.

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

When was the last time your Metro broadband modem or router was restarted?

In the same way as other Internet Service Providers, Metro’s broadband infrastructure is frequently refreshed to support new features and changes in technology. Similarly, the internet routers or modem at your home will also periodically require an update to support changes in the Metro broadband internet network.

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

You may be able to carry out the software update by logging into the Metro modem/router. If you cannot do this or are not confident doing it, contact Metro and they will be able to either do this for you or guide 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 issues or newer devices?

Is the fault external to your home?

This is one of the most common reasons for Metro internet problems. There are miles of cabling used to bring the Metro broadband internet connection to your home.

The issue could be with the physical cabling that comes into your home and terminates into the modem or router in your property.

You should get in contact with Metro who should be able to conduct the appropriate connection tests to see if there’s a issue on the Metro internet line.