Find out how fast your broadband really is

Are you really getting 2Mbps from your internet connection? Probably. Is your 8Mbps or 24Mbps connection really that fast? Probably not – but there’s a way to find out for sure.
 
Go to www.speedtest.net and click on the little yellow pyramid nearest to where you live (in my case, it’s Maidenhead, UK). Speedtest.net will send a small amount of data to this test server and receive some too, to see how long it takes to get there and back.
 
The test results aren’t always the same though, so try it out a few times during the day and get an average figure. If it’s way below what you should be getting, then maybe it’s time to switch to another Internet Service Provider.