How does the U.S. Cellular speed test work?

This U.S. Cellular speedtest starts by identifying your U.S. Cellular connection and then selects the speed test server closest to you.

When you click the GO button it’ll send packets of information from the speedtest server to your device.

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

The time that it takes this data to arrive and return from the server establishes your U.S. Cellular internet connection speed.

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How reliable is the U.S. Cellular internet connection speedtest?

This U.S. Cellular speed checker is powered by Ookla which one of the most popular broadband connection speedtest and provides accurate and consistent testing experience and results.

By automatically selecting a speedtest server closest to your area, this will eliminate latency and bottlenecks which can distort performance results.

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

Source: Ookla’s metrics and methodology

To increase accuracy, it is recommended to run the U.S. Cellular speedtest from a device connected directly into the U.S. Cellular gateway modem or router.

This will help to provide an accurate result on the performance of the U.S. Cellular broadband connection and assist to rule out the Wi-Fi related issues.

If you cannot connect your device directly into the U.S. Cellular modem or router, make sure that the device that you are performing this test is as physically close the modem or router as possible. Also run the speed test at least twice and from two separate devices to make sure that the issue is not on one of the devices.

What do the speed test results from my U.S. Cellular speed test mean?

What’s the Ping metric mean?

Ping is also called latency which in internet connectivity terms means the time (or delay) it takes for information to travel from one device to another. In this instance, from your device using the U.S. Cellular internet connection to the closest Ookla server.

Ping sends information to another computer (in this case, the Ookla test server) and measures in milliseconds (ms) how long it takes to receive a reply back.

If the other computer is very far away or the network is busy it may take longer to receive a response and the ping value will be high.

This U.S. Cellular speed tester will automatically select a speed test server closest to your location which will eliminate latency and bottlenecks that can skew speed test results.

A fast ping (low ms value) means a more responsive U.S. Cellular internet connection.

What’s a good ping result?

A typical ping rate to a device across the same city should be lower than 20ms. A good ping rate between cities you would expect to see ping values between 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.

What’s Jitter?

All data (e.g. an email, image, video, voice call, etc) is transmitted across the internet as a series of small packets. The packets typically move at a constant rate and are rebuilt back together at the destination.

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 water coming out. When the flow rate becomes irregular (because of the increasing and decreasing), the Jitter metric increases – which is not good.

You don’t ordinarily notice jitter as networking devices can smooth it out but you will notice jitter while on a video and voice calls because the connection will momentarily lag or break up.

U.S. Cellular Download and Upload speed metrics explained

Find out More:What does the Download and Upload speed metric on my U.S. Cellular speed test mean?

Possible causes of U.S. Cellular slow broadband internet speed

There may be a number of reasons why your U.S. Cellular internet connection is not performing. Whilst we cannot tackle every possible cause, we have listed a number of common causes.

Depending on your U.S. Cellular broadband setup, some of the recommendations may not be relevant in your scenario. Hopefully they may trigger food for thought or get you on the right path to fix your fault.

Is it the U.S. Cellular internet that is slow or could it be your device (PC/laptop/phone)?

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

If you are on a computer, you may use the task manager to check your processor and RAM utilisation.

On other devices you could try rebooting the device which should hopefully shut down all apps that may be running in the background.

Run the U.S. Cellular speed test on the PC and your 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 U.S. Cellular broadband internet connection.

• What exactly does the U.S. Cellular download and upload speed mean?
• 5 Ways to Speed Up Your U.S. Cellular internet connection Speed
• DNS hack to speed up internet browsing on your U.S. Cellular broadband

Is your wireless connection the problem?

The root cause of the fault could be your wireless connection and not the U.S. Cellular broadband internet connection.

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

If the speed improves when you’re connected by a network cable then this suggests that the issue could be with your wireless.

Possible things to check are:

• Are the WiFi channels you are using for your Wi-Fi network network (SSID) overlapping with your neigbours?
• Is the WiFi frequency congested? Maybe you should consider switching to 5Ghz?
• Is the Wifi network signal from the modem or router obstructed?
• Does the performance improve when you are standing directly infront of the U.S. Cellular Wi-Fi network modem/router?

Number of devices connected to your internal network

All devices that are connected to your internal network or Wireless network is utilising the same U.S. Cellular broadband 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 on your U.S. Cellular internet connection because the bandwidth is being shared between all the devices.

Are you aware of how many devices are connected to your U.S. Cellular internet connection? Don’t forget about all the smart home gadgets, security cameras, door cameras, Alexa/Google home hub or other similar devices that may be constantly connected.

Who is connected to my Wi-Fi network?

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

Nearby Neighbors could be on your wirelessi network and eating up all the U.S. Cellular internet bandwidth downloading, uploading, streaming or running peer-to-peer file sharing over your U.S. Cellular internet connection. Worse than that, they could be carrying out illegal activities.

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

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

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

Alternatively, log into your U.S. Cellular wireless router to see who is connected to your wireless network.

Have a look at this tutorial on how to use both Apps

Wireless signal strength

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

Conditions that may affect the wireless signal are;

• Walls, doors or floors between your device and the U.S. Cellular broadband internet modem or router
• Electrical appliances like baby monitors and microwaves
• Overlapping wireless signal from surrounding properties
• the distance between the device and the U.S. Cellular internet modem or router.

Do I need a Wi-Fi network signal booster for my U.S. Cellular internet?

If you find that you have wireless black spot at your property, a Wi-Fi signal extender also know as a wireless booster is the fix to boost your signal strength across your property.

The Wifi 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 boost its reach.

Place the wireless booster/extender where your Wifi signal from the U.S. Cellular broadband internet router or model is becoming weak. Roughly where the wireless network signal drops below 2 bars. You can use your phone to determine where this is.

Health of your Device

Viruses or malware can slow your device and your performance on your device. Viruses and malware may be working quietly and hidden in the background download and uploading data and thus slowing the performance of your whole internal network down.

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

When was the last time your U.S. Cellular broadband modem or router was rebooted?

Just like other Internet Service Providers, U.S. Cellular’s broadband infrastructure is frequently refreshed to support new features and changes in technology. Equally, the internet routers or modem at your home will also occasionally require an update to support changes in the U.S. Cellular broadband internet network.

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

You may be able to perform the software update by logging into the U.S. Cellular modem/router. If you can’t do this or are unsure doing it, contact U.S. Cellular and they will be able to either do this for you or talk you through it.

The type and age of the device

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

Are you seeing the same issues or newer devices?

Is the problem external to your house?

This is probably the most common reasons for U.S. Cellular internet connectivity faults. There are miles of cables used to present the U.S. Cellular internet connection to your property.

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

You should contact U.S. Cellular who should be able to run the appropriate connection checks to see if there is a problem on the U.S. Cellular internet line.