Test how fast your Internet connection is

You can use this site to test the speed of your Internet connection for free.

Chris just got a new fiber optic Internet connection installed in his apartment. The service includes high speech Internet, telephone service (which includes free calls to Europe and the US), and digital cable TV all for 49 euros a month (about 75 bucks, and that's at our lousy exchange rate). His service rocks. His old service rocked. The rates are ridiculously cheap in Europe - I saw the same rock-bottom rates when I was in Spain. I'm paying $140/month for cable TV and Internet combined, and the only extra I have on my TV is HBO (so that adds, what, ten bucks a month?) 140 bucks. And these guys are paying 75 bucks for even more service (and the exchange rate is so out of whack, the real price is lower).

There are several Web sites where you can test the speed of your Internet connection for free. I just ran it for Chris, and his new fiber optic connection is about 2.5 times faster uploading, and over 10x faster downloading (they're usually different speeds because, normally, you download much more than you upload - downloading is when you surf the Web, uploading is when you send an email). Anyway, I'm curious what you pay for your Internet (and or phone, and cable TV), and how quick your connections are. So here's a site you can try - test your connection, then post the results in the comments. And here are Chris' results:

Old DSL connection:

New fiber optic connection:

As an aside, this is why I travel, at least part of the reason. You learn things about your own country - such as the fact that people in piddly old France have faster and cheaper Internet connections than we do. Yes, we now have fiber optic Internet in DC, and I can only imagine how much it costs. Somehow I'm guessing that if I switch to fiber optic Internet I'm not going to cut my bill in half AND add extra service. Our system sucks in the states, while Europe is moving ahead and passing us by. No amount of Republican rah-rah "we're number one!" crap is going to change the fact that we're missing out on a lot of innovation, and that isn't good for our future.

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New fiber optic connection:

As an aside, this is why I travel, at least part of the reason. You learn things about your own country - such as the fact that people in piddly old France have faster and cheaper Internet connections than we do. Yes, we now have fiber optic Internet in DC, and I can only imagine how much it costs. Somehow I'm guessing that if I switch to fiber optic Internet I'm not going to cut my bill in half AND add extra service. Our system sucks in the states, while Europe is moving ahead and passing us by. No amount of Republican rah-rah "we're number one!" crap is going to change the fact that we're missing out on a lot of innovation, and that isn't good for our future.