How fast is the Internet connection of your Windows 11 PC? It may surprise you that you may give two answers to that question: the maximum speed of the line or the actual speed of the device.
Speedtests help test this. They are useful for troubleshooting connection-related issues, and may also help you get a partial refund from your Internet Service Provider, if the advertised speed does not match the actual speed you get.
Most Internet users run tests in browsers. Go to a site like speedtest.net, fast.com, or Cloudflare Speed, and you get information about the download and upload speed and the ping.
There are also some apps that you can run locally, which may offer better results as they eliminate the browser bottleneck. Lastly, there are also some command line solutions, but these may require the installation of extra packages.
For example, to install Speedtest CLI, which enables you to run tests from the command prompt, you would first install the module with the command winget install Ookla.Speedtest.CLI. Once done, you’d run a basic test from the command prompt with the command speedtest. You can also use parameters, which allow you to test the speed against specific servers or write the output to a json file.
The Windows 11 Speed test
Microsoft released preview updates for Windows 11 about a week ago. These add several new features, including a new speedtest.
Here is how Microsoft describes the feature:
A built‑in network speed test is now available from the taskbar. You can open it from the Wi‑Fi or Cellular Quick Settings, or by right-clicking the network icon in the system tray. The speed test opens in the default browser and measures Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, and cellular connections. This feature helps check network performance and troubleshoot issues.
This sounds like a useful addition to Windows. Instead of having to open a test in a browser, run an app or a command, you’d simply run the test from the taskbar.
However, when you test the feature, you may realize that this is not a fully integrated speedtest in Windows 11. When you select the option, for instance by right-clicking on a network icon on the Windows taskbar, you are taken to the speedtest.net website.
In other words, Microsoft has implemented a shortcut to the website instead of implementing its own solution.
Is it still useful? Well, it may save you a click or two and it may expose the option to some users who did not know such tests existed in first place.
However, if you have used a device with Internet connectivity for a while, you may not be that impressed by this new feature.
Now it is your turn: have you used speed tests in the past to test your Internet speed?
Speedtest.net works fine. I like the choice between single and multi.
I use it mostly with VPN, sometimes one server gets slow while another does not.
Your speed is very respectable. Many can’t get near that.
And here are the results from Paris (like we say at the Eurovision Song Contest) …
1- Internet Speed Test by nPerf [https://www.nperf.com/en/]
2- Internet Speed Test by Ookla [https://www.speedtest.net/]
3- Internet Speed Test by UFC-Que Choisir [https://www.quechoisir.org/outil-speedtest-n64483/]
4- Internet Speed Test by SpeedSmart (HTML5) [https://speedsmart.net/]
5- Internet Speed Test by Netflix [https://fast.com/]
Results depend of course, also, of the distance of the servers.
I hardly ever test. With DL & UL both running at ~700 Mb/s, fluctuations are no longer important not relevant. I kept these bookmarks from the “copper” time connection when we’d strive for speed. Though Fiber with ~700 Mb/s, here, is far from the ultimate, it’s fine especially with a low latency (~3ms here). Higher UL though would always be appreciable when saving tons of Mb on the cloud, which is not my case.
By the way and FYI,
“IT consultant and services provider Accenture has agreed to buy Speedtest and Downdetector owner Ookla from Ziff Davis for $1.2 billion in cash.”
“Should Accenture’s acquisition close, the IT consultant will similarly use data from Speedtest and Downdetector to inform clients, and individual users will be subject to a new privacy policy and any other changes Accenture potentially makes.”
[https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2026/03/downdetector-speedtest-sold-to-it-service-provider-accenture-in-1-2b-deal/]