Automatic speed test: how much of your plan actually arrives.

A test on your provider's website shows one number, at a moment you picked. The question that matters is a different one: how much of your plan arrives at the times you actually use the internet, day after day.

Why one test is not enough

Speed changes during the day. In the evening, when everyone is online, the provider's network gets busier. A test at 10 a.m. says nothing about 9 p.m. And a test run after an outage measures a connection that has already come back.

1. Let the recorder test

The recorder runs up to four tests a day, one in each six-hour period: night, morning, afternoon and evening. Each test downloads and uploads for up to 8 seconds each way, over six connections, to the app's server at the Cloudflare location closest to you.

It only tests when nobody will notice: the PC idle, on mains power, not on a metered connection, with no full-screen game and no microphone in use. If you mark a lag, the test stops right away. To test whenever you like, choose Test speed now in the tray menu.

Ping with the connection full

During the test, the app keeps measuring the ping to the router and to the internet. If the ping rises a lot while the connection is full, data is waiting in a queue, in the router or at the provider. That is what makes a game stutter when someone at home starts a download or a video call. The history shows that rise in milliseconds.

2. Enter your plan

In Settings, enter the download and upload speeds of the plan you pay for. The 30-day history PDF lists each test, the median for each period of the day, the lowest result and how much of the plan reached the PC.

3. Look for the pattern

If the evening is always well below the rest of the day, that is the pattern to show your provider. Prefer tests run over a cable: over Wi-Fi, the signal can limit the result. Each test keeps how the PC was connected, the speed of that link and the Wi-Fi signal. Wi-Fi or internet: how to tell which one fails.

How much data a test uses

Each test transfers up to 300 MB each way. On a slower connection it is much less, because the test stops after 8 seconds. On metered connections the app does not test, and automatic tests can be turned off in Settings.

What the test shows — and what it does not

The result is the speed between this PC and the app's server at the time of the test. It does not measure other devices at home or every site you use. One test below the plan does not point to the culprit on its own; several tests at the same time of day, over a cable, form a pattern.

Once you have the pattern, attach the history to your support ticket. How to file an ISP complaint with evidence.

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