Before you begin. This procedure is general reference information, not professional advice. Equipment varies by manufacturer, model, and year. Always follow the documentation supplied with your equipment — where it differs from this page, follow the manufacturer. Verify that you have the tools, the working conditions, and the ability to do this task safely. If anything is unclear, if the equipment is damaged, or if the task exceeds your experience, stop and use a qualified professional. You are responsible for your own safety and for the outcome. This site accepts no liability for any loss, damage, or injury arising from the use of this information.
Specifications marked unverified could not be traced to a manufacturer source. Do not rely on them — obtain the value from your equipment documentation.
Summary
A speed test run once, over wifi, from whatever device was closest, answers a different question than the one your provider needs answered. It measures the radio link between that device and your router at that exact moment, with everything else in the house free to use the same connection. None of that is what your service agreement actually promises you, so a provider can reasonably say that a single low reading proves nothing. "My wifi feels slow" and "my internet service is under-delivering" are different claims, and only one of them is something a provider is obliged to fix.
This page sets out a method for producing results a provider has a harder time dismissing: a wired connection with nothing else running, repeated more than once and at more than one time of day, written down with the date and time of each reading, and compared against the download and upload speed printed on your own account or contract rather than an advertisement. It does not print a single speed below which a connection counts as "too slow", because no manufacturer or government document sets one figure that fits every plan, so that comparison is always against your own contract. It also does not change any setting on your router or your account.
Safety
READ THE CONTRACTED SPEED FROM YOUR OWN ACCOUNT OR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU COMPARE A RESULT TO IT.
An advertisement can show a faster plan or a higher figure than you pay for.
Necessary equipment
| Item | Note |
|---|---|
| A computer with a wired network port | An adapter that gives the computer a wired port also works. |
| An ethernet cable | The cable must reach from the router to the computer. |
| A speed test app or website | Use the same speed test app for every result. |
| Pen and paper, or a spreadsheet | Write every result with its date and its time. |
| Your account page or contract from your internet provider | This document carries the download speed and the upload speed you pay for. |
Find your contracted speed
Estimated 2 min to 6 min
No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.
- Find the download speed and the upload speed in your own account or contract.2mReport a problem with step 1, Find your contracted speed
- Use the number in your own contract, not the number in an advertisement.
- An advertisement can show a different plan or a higher figure.
- Write this contracted speed and its units at the top of your sheet.<1mReport a problem with step 2, Find your contracted speed
Do the wired test
Estimated 10 min to 17 min
Source: What are the most frequent asked questions about the TP-Link devices' speed? · tier 1 · accessed 2026-08-04
DO NOT PUT THE TEST CABLE ACROSS A WALKWAY OR A DOORWAY.
A person can trip on the cable and fall. A fall on a hard floor can cause a serious injury.
- Connect a computer to the router with an ethernet cable.2mReport a problem with step 1, Do the wired test
- A wired connection removes the wifi radio from the test.
- TP-Link says wireless link speed is not the same as internet speed.
- Stop each other program on the computer that uses the network.1mReport a problem with step 2, Do the wired test
- A download or an update in progress can lower your result.
- Stop each video call, each cloud backup and each streaming app too.
TELL THE OTHER PERSONS IN THE HOME BEFORE YOU SET THEIR WIFI TO OFF.
Each active device on the connection can lower the result of your test.
- Set the wifi to off on each other phone, tablet or console in the home.2mReport a problem with step 3, Do the wired test
- Another device on the same connection can lower your result.
- Open your speed test app or website.<1mReport a problem with step 4, Do the wired test
- Do the speed test once.1mReport a problem with step 5, Do the wired test
- Write the download result and the upload result.<1mReport a problem with step 6, Do the wired test
- Write the date and the time next to the result.<1mReport a problem with step 7, Do the wired test
- Do the same test two more times, some minutes apart.4mReport a problem with step 8, Do the wired test
- Write each result with its own time.
- Microsoft's own guidance says to run several tests and record the results.
- Three close results show that the connection is stable.
Repeat the test at a different time
Estimated 16 min to 24 min
- Do the whole wired test again at a different time of day.5mReport a problem with step 1, Repeat the test at a different time
- TP-Link names the current load on the network of your provider as one cause of a lower result.
- A test at a busy hour and a test at a quiet hour can show different results.
- Do the whole wired test again on two more days.10mReport a problem with step 2, Repeat the test at a different time
- A fault present on only one day is a different fault from one present every day.
- Write each result with its own date and its own time.1mReport a problem with step 3, Repeat the test at a different time
Build the record for your provider
Estimated 10 min to 14 min
No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.
No tier-1 source was found for this value. Take it from the documentation supplied with your equipment.
- Put every result on one sheet with its date, its time and its connection type.5mReport a problem with step 1, Build the record for your provider
- Compare each wired result to the contracted speed from your account.2mReport a problem with step 2, Build the record for your provider
- Contact your provider if the wired results are less than the contracted speed.1mReport a problem with step 3, Build the record for your provider
- Do this only after tests on more than one day.
- Give your provider the whole sheet, not one result.2mReport a problem with step 4, Build the record for your provider
Terminology
This page uses one term for each item and holds it throughout, as ASD-STE100 requires. Equipment sellers and other guides use the names below for the same parts.
- internet service provider
- Also called: ISP, the internet company, broadband provider, cable company, provider
- wired connection
- Also called: ethernet, hardwired, plugged in, cable connection, LAN connection
- contracted speed
- Also called: the speed I pay for, my plan speed, advertised speed, promised speed, the speed on my bill
- wireless link speed
- Also called: wifi speed shown on the router, 300 Mbps, connection speed, signal speed
- throughput
- Also called: actual speed, real speed, download speed, upload speed, true speed
When to use a professional
Stop before you change a setting on your router or your account. This page measures your connection. It does not configure it.
Contact your provider if the wired results stay less than the contracted speed on more than one day. Give the provider the whole sheet, not one result.
Read your account page again if you cannot find your contracted speed. Contact your provider if the account page does not show it. A provider can give you this figure on paper or by email.
Stop if your computer has no wired network port and no adapter for one. Ask your provider, or a computer store, about an adapter.
This page names no single speed below which a connection counts as too slow. No manufacturer or government document sets one figure for every plan. Compare your result only to your own contract.
Common questions
How do I test my internet speed accurately?
Connect the computer to the router with a cable instead of using wifi, and close every other app and device on the network first. A wifi speed test also measures your router's radio signal, not just your internet connection, so a wired test removes that variable. Run the test more than once, and run it again at a different time of day, because the speed your provider can deliver changes with how busy their network is. Write down every result with its date and time rather than trusting a single number. That written record, not a single screenshot, is what a provider takes seriously.
Am I getting the speed I pay for?
Compare your wired test results against the download and upload speed on your own account page or contract, not against an advertisement. Providers often advertise a plan's fastest possible figure, and your actual contract can specify something lower or different. If your wired results sit consistently below the contracted figure across more than one day, that gap is worth reporting. If only your wifi result is low and your wired result matches your plan, the shortfall is in your home network, not your internet service.
Why is my wifi speed different from my wired speed?
TP-Link's own support documentation explains that the wireless number your router shows, such as 300 Mbps, is the link speed between the router and your device, not your internet speed. Wifi is also affected by distance, walls and interference from other devices, none of which affect a wired connection in the same way. A wired test is the closer measurement of what your internet service is actually delivering. A low wifi result next to a good wired result usually points at the wifi setup, not the internet service.
How do I prove my internet is slow to my ISP?
Build a written record: your contracted speed, several wired test results with their dates and times, and at least one result from a different day. A provider is more likely to act on a pattern across days and times than on one low reading, because one reading can have many causes. This page does not tell you how many results your particular provider requires, because that is set by each provider's own policies, not by one public standard. Check your provider's terms of service, or contact them directly, for what they ask to see.
Why does my router say 300 Mbps but my speed test shows less?
The 300 Mbps figure on a router is the maximum link speed the wifi radio can reach, and TP-Link states plainly that this is not the same as your internet speed. Your actual internet speed depends on what you pay for, your provider's network and the equipment and cables involved, so it is normally lower than that router figure. A wired speed test bypasses the wifi link speed entirely and is the closer comparison to what you pay for.
Is there a speed below which my internet counts as too slow?
No single figure is printed here, because no manufacturer or government document sets one number that applies to every plan and every provider. The number that matters is the one in your own contract: if your wired, repeated results sit below that figure, you have a legitimate case to raise. Chasing a general 'good' speed figure instead of your own plan's number is how a real shortfall gets waved away.
Related procedures
- How to work out why my home wifi is so slow or keeps dropping out
- Place a mesh node or a range extender and prove that it improved coverage
- Where should I put my wifi router to get the best signal in the house
- Identify an Ethernet cable's category and decide whether it is limiting the connection
- How to change the WiFi password and network name on a TP-Link Archer AX23 router
Sources
Every specification on this page is traced to one of these sources. Tier 1 is a manufacturer document, a published standard, or a government safety authority. See Standards for the full tiering rule.
- Tier 1What are the most frequent asked questions about the TP-Link devices' speed?
- Tier 1Wi-Fi and your home layout
Revision history
Current version 1 · updated 2026-08-04 · next review due 2027-08-04
- v1 · 2026-08-04First draft. FCC.gov was the expected primary source for consumer speed-test methodology and returned HTTP 403 to every page requested on 2026-08-04 (root domain, /consumers/guides/broadband-speed-guide, /general/measuring-broadband-america, /BroadbandBenchmarks), matching the finding already on record for diagnose-slow-wifi; none of it was read and none of it is cited. consumer.fcc.gov does not resolve. federalregister.gov redirected every request to a bot-check page. Several ISP support domains (Xfinity, Spectrum, AT&T, Cox, Google Fiber) were tried and either 404'd on guessed URLs or served a cookie/bot-check wall with no article content, so no ISP is cited either. The one manufacturer document that was reachable and read in full is TP-Link's support FAQ 690, which states plainly that a router's wireless link-speed figure (e.g. '300 Mbps') is not the internet speed, and separately that 'the current load on the provider's network' is one factor in real internet speed — this second sentence is the basis for the repeat-at-different-times method, attributed to TP-Link rather than presented as this site's own finding. Microsoft's already-registered 'Wi-Fi and your home layout' page was re-read for its 'run several tests ... and record the results' guidance, which the repeat-testing steps follow. BECAUSE NO TIER-1 SOURCE STATES TEST CONDITIONS (how many results, over how many days, or a speed threshold), per the backlog entry's own instruction this page publishes the METHOD — wired, one device, nothing else running, repeated at different hours — as reasoned steps rather than as sourced specifications, and publishes four specifications that route the reader to their own contract or their provider's own policy rather than printing an invented number. No threshold at which a connection is 'too slow' is published, deliberately, and that omission is itself recorded as a specification so it is auditable rather than silent. Verified specification carries no spec_key: data/specs.json is one of the registries this session is forbidden to write, so it must be registered centrally at merge time. Sources are staged in data/sources-additions-measure-broadband-speed-so-the-provider-accepts-it.json.
Corrections to this page are listed in the public corrections log. Reports that are credible and not yet verified are listed in the public errata register, and an open one renders above the step it concerns.
Comments and corrections
Found an error? A correction with a manufacturer source is applied and logged publicly. You can also write to corrections@fixchecklist.com.
Every step above carries its own report control, which tags the report with that step so a correction reaches the right place. For anything about the procedure as a whole — the order of the sections, a step that is missing, something that did not match your equipment — use this: report something about this whole procedure.