If you’re one of the lucky ones, you have a choice of different Internet service providers in your area. Don’t just trust the advertised speeds — look at the data to find the fastest ISP near you.

• Broadband Speed Comparison Singapore
• Bandwidth Speed Comparison Chart

The speeds ISPs quote are always “up to” a certain speed, so you can’t just choose based on the extremely optimistic speeds they advertise. Look at the results of actual, real-world speed tests for a more realistic picture.

We found the best internet service providers based on speed, prices, and data allowance, with some minor consideration for customer service rankings. We broke it down by the type of connection (fiber, cable, DSL, and satellite), but keep in mind most providers serve different areas with different speeds, prices, and connection types.

Ookla Net Index

If you’ve ever wanted to test your Internet connection’s speed, you probably used Ookla’s popular Speedtest.net. Ookla’s Net Index takes all the data from Speedtest.net and organizes it, making it easy to browse.

1. There are many factors that influence your video streaming quality, including your choice of Internet Service Provider (ISP). Learn how your ISP performs and understand your options.
2. In-Depth Analysis of Changes in World Internet Performance Using the Speedtest Global Index September 04, 2019. Ookla’s New 5G Map Tracks 5G Rollouts across the Globe May 14, 2019. The World’s Internet in 2018: Faster, Modernizing and Always On December 10, 2018.

Click the “Go to my location” link and you’ll be taken to a page listing the ISPs that operate in your area. You can also just look up a specific city. The ISPs are ranked based on the recent Speedtest.net download speed results of their subscribers, so you can see which ISPs are actually the fastest.

We hope everyone is having a fun and safe Black Friday! Come on over to TFC's to get some FREE CURSORS! There are no lines to wait through! Today we uploaded a few more Movember Mustache cursors for you! All of them come in both right and left handed sets! Sep 13, 2012  30 Sets of Free Cursor Icon Individuals who uses a computer in today’s times are aware of what a cursor is. A cursor is a small pulsating image of an arrow, a question mark, or a hand pointer we can see whenever we move around our mouse in our computer screen. Free Sets Cursors Animated Mouse Pointer For Your Tumblr, Blogger, Website. Cursors-4u.com gots plenty of cursors for your mouse pointer. We got runescape, world of warcraft, pokemon, naruto, twilight, cute, animated, cool, glitter, sexy, and so much more cursors. Free cursors for windows 10.

RELATED:Why You Probably Aren’t Getting the Internet Speeds You’re Paying For (and How to Tell)

This site also allows you to compare the difference in average Internet speeds between different countries, regions, and even cities. You can also view rankings based on upload speeds, connection quality, value for price, and how well real-world ISP speeds correspond to the speeds those ISPs promise in their advertisements. (Yes, you probably aren’t getting the Internet speeds you’re paying for.)

Broadband Speed Comparison Singapore

Netflix ISP Speed Index

Studies have found that Netflix often accounts for more than 30% of Internet download traffic in North America. Netflix is a big player in terms of Internet bandwidth, and they want connections to be as fast as possible so they can provide high-quality streaming video. That’s why Netflix publishes an ISP Speed Index site, where they rank Internet service providers based on their average Netflix streaming speed.

Netflix ranks providers by their speed, highlighting the fastest ISP — Google Fiber in the USA, unsurprisingly — and shaming the slowest provider. These rankings can help you get some idea of what ISP offers the fastest speeds — for watching Netflix, at least.

Take a big grain of salt with these results. They’re country-wide, so they won’t show smaller ISPs in your area that may be faster than the big national ones. They also only take Netflix results into account — the speeds shown here are slower than the speeds shown on Speedtest.net because Netflix isn’t completely saturating each connection. This really only tells you how fast Netflix streams on these connections.

YouTube Video Quality Report

YouTube and Netflix combined often make up over 50% of peak Internet activity in North America, according to various studies. So it makes sense that Google publishes their own ISP report. Their reports don’t display a speed, but they do allow you to compare providers in your area and see what quality of YouTube streams their connections can handle.

As with the Netflix report card, this data is only about video streams from one specific site, so you should take it with a big grain of salt. But it does help you get an idea whether an ISP is on the slower side or the faster side. And, if you’re like most people, you probably watch YouTube — so wouldn’t you prefer a connection that can stream YouTube at higher quality? This site helps you ensure you choose a connection that’s fast enough to stream YouTube at a higher quality, not one that’s so slow you’ll only be able to stream low-quality videos.

Bear in mind that the speeds reported on these sites are averages of the speeds customers experience in the real world. An ISP that has many customers paying for the slowest possible connection may appear to have low speeds, but it may offer more expensive connections with faster speeds than the average shown above. When it comes to the average country-wide rankings shown on the Netflix ISP Speed Index, a big ISP that operates across the entire country may be faster or slower in your area. Still, imperfect data is better than no data at all.

• › How to Create a Local Account While Setting Up Windows 10
• › What Is Windows 10X, and How Is It Different?
• › How to Delete Apps on an iPhone or iPad With iOS 13
• › How to Merge Multiple Google Drive and Google Photos Accounts
• › How to Edit Any Web Page in Chrome (or Any Browser)

Both digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable internet services offer higher speeds than technologies such as dial-up modems. Cable high-speed internet and DSL services are available across the country, although in a few areas, only one is available. Both are popular and secure services. Although, each approach offers a competing mix of trade-offs.

Bandwidth Speed Comparison Chart

Bottom Line: Cable Is Faster in Theory

Cable internet services on average provide higher levels of bandwidth than DSL internet services, and this bandwidth roughly translates to raw speed. However, while cable internet theoretically runs faster than DSL, several technical and business reasons can reduce or eliminate the speed advantage of cable.

In terms of theoretical peak performance, cable modems run faster than DSL. Cable technology currently supports approximately 1000 Mbps of bandwidth (and some as high as 2000 Mbps) in many areas. Most forms of DSL reach speeds of less than 100 Mbps.

DSL vs. Cable: Real-World Speed

In practice, the speed advantage of cable over DSL is less than the theoretical numbers suggest.

• Cable modem services can slow down significantly if many people in a service area access the internet simultaneously.
• Both cable modem and DSL performance vary from one minute to the next, depending on the pattern of use and traffic congestion on the internet.
• DSL and cable internet providers sometimes implement speed caps that limit the bandwidth of their services.
• Some home networks cannot match the speed of the internet connection, which lowers performance.

About Speed Caps

Both cable and DSL service providers commonly employ bandwidth and speed caps for residential customers. Bandwidth caps place an artificial limit on the amount of data a customer can use in a month. Companies control the maximum speed a customer can achieve by monitoring traffic flow and throttling network packets.

Service providers offer several reasons for imposing bandwidth and speed caps:

• Providers concerned about the capacity limits of their network may implement a cap to accommodate more customers.
• Providers may believe that the majority of customers do not need more bandwidth than that allowed under the cap.
• Providers may want to create a fair-and-equal distribution of bandwidth of customers. Without a cap, for example, some DSL subscribers would enjoy higher bandwidth levels than others in the same neighborhood.
• Some providers allow a certain amount of data transfer each month to combat high bandwidth usage. When a customer goes over that amount, the company slows down the data connection or charges an additional fee.
• Providers that want to charge higher or lower rates for greater or lesser speeds do so through a modem setting. That way, the company can increase the speed when a contract is upgraded.

Tips to Improve Internet Speed

Whether you have high-speed cable or DSL service, you can improve connection speeds in several ways:

• Reduce the number of devices that use the connection to download, stream, and play games.
• Security cameras and other smart home devices affect speed.
• Wireless connections are slower than wired connections. Connect the computer to the router with an Ethernet cable for the fastest speed.
• Update the router and modem to the current specifications. A five-year-old modem probably can't handle the speeds your service provides.
• With wireless connections, the distance from the router makes a difference. The closer the device is to the router, the faster the wireless speed.

When you're shopping for a new service, ask about speed and bandwidth limits. You'll likely find that the company you deal with offers several packages with increasingly faster connection speeds for increasingly higher prices. Your choice is guided by how you use the internet in your home. If you have a large family, and everyone streams movies on their personal devices, the smallest package won't be sufficient. If you use the internet for email and occasional web surfing, go for the smaller package.