How does the Rise speed test work?

This Rise speedtest begins by identifying your Rise connection and then selects a speedtest server closest near you.

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

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

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

How accurate is the Rise internet connection speedtest?

This Rise speed checker is powered by Ookla which one of thee 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 will eliminate latency & bottlenecks which may distort performance metrics.

Ookla has a global network of over 10,000 speedtest servers in over 190 countries.

Source: Guide to Ookla’s methodology

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

This will help give a more precise result on the performance of the Rise broadband connection and help rule out the Wifi related problems.

If you cannot connect your device directly into the Rise modem or router, make sure that the device you are performing this test is as near the modem or router as possible. Run the speedtest at least twice and from two separate devices to ensure that the problem is not on the device.

Exactly what do the speed test results from my Rise speed test mean?

What is the Ping metric mean?

Ping is also called latency which in internet connectivity terms refers to the the time (or delay) it takes for information to travel from one device to another. In this case, from your device using the Rise broadband connection to the closest Ookla test server.

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

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

This Rise speed tester will automatically select a speedtest server nearest to your location which will eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can skew performance results.

A fast ping (low ms value) means a faster Rise internet connection.

What is a good ping rate?

A normal ping rate to a device across the same city should be lower than 20ms. A typical ping rate between cities you would expect to see ping values between 30-60ms, and between continents that 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.

What’s Jitter?

All data (e.g. an email, image, video, voice call, etc) is sent across the internet as a series of small packets. These packets usually 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 similar to running a tap and then increasing or decreasing the flow rate of the running water coming out. When the flow becomes abnormal (because of the increasing and decreasing), the Jitter value goes up – which is not good.

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

Rise Download and Upload speed metrics explained

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

Common causes of Rise slow internet connection speed

There are a number of reasons why your Rise internet connection is not performing. Whilst we are unable tackle each and every possible reason, we have listed a number of common possibilities.

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

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

You need to check how many applications are concurrently open on your device that could be utilizing your system resources (mainly RAM memory and CPU) and your Rise broadband internet bandwidth.

If you’re on a computer, you may use the task manager to check the CPU and RAM usage.

On other devices you should try rebooting the device which should hopefully kill all apps that may have been running in the background.

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

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

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

Is the wireless connection the problem?

The cause of the issue could be the wireless network connection and not the Rise internet connection.

You could rule out the Wifi network network being the cause of the issue by connecting your computer directly into the Rise internet modem or router using an ethernet cable and run the Rise speedtest again.

If the speed is better when you are connected using a cable then this suggests that the issue could be with your Wifi network.

Possible things to check are:

• Are the WiFi channels you are using for your Wi-Fi network network (SSID) overlapping with the neighbors?
• Is your WiFi frequency congested? You should consider switching to 5Ghz?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the modem or router obstructed?
• Does your performance get better when you are stood directly in-front of your Rise wireless modem/router?

The amount of devices connected to your home network

All devices that are connected to your home network or Wifi network is using the same Rise internet connection.

If you have several devices on the internet, streaming videos, streaming music, downloading or uploading files, video conferencing, etc, this may have an impact on the speed of your Rise internet connection because the bandwidth is being split between devices.

Do you know how many devices are connected to the Rise internet connection? Do not forget about all the smart home devices, security cameras, door cameras, Google or Alexa hub or other similar devices that may be constantly connected.

Who’s connected to my Wi-Fi network?

• Check that your Wi-Fi network password has not been shared?
• Do you have an open Guest Wifi network?

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

There are two applications that you may use to scan your Wifi network to see who’s connected:

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

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

As an alternative, you can log into your Rise wireless router to find out who is connected to your Wi-Fi network.

Check out this guide on how to use these Apps

Wi-Fi signal strength

If your PC, laptop is unable to pick up a strong signal it will have an effect on the throughput, speed and internet performance regardless of how fast the Rise internet connection is.

Conditions that may affect your wireless signal are;

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

Do I need a wireless network signal booster for my Rise broadband internet?

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

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

Place the Wifi network booster/extender where the Wifi network signal from the Rise broadband internet router or model is becoming 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 Device

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

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

When was the last time your Rise internet modem or router was rebooted?

Just like other Internet Service Providers, Rise’s broadband infrastructure is frequently being updated to support new features and changes in technology. Likewise, the broadband internet routers or modem at your home will also occasionally require an update to support changes in the Rise internet infrastructure.

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

You may be able to carry out the software update by logging in to the Rise modem/router. If you can’t do this or are unsure doing this, get in contact with Rise and they are able to either it for you or talk you through it.

The type and age of the device

Newer PCs, phones and other internet-enabled devices are generally faster than old 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 probably the most common reasons for Rise internet problems. There are miles of cables used to bring the Rise 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 get in contact with Rise who will be able to carry out the appropriate line checks to check if there’s a problem on the Rise broadband internet line.