

A new Wi-Fi router paired with a new smartphone has more than enough bandwidth capacity to outpace a 25 Mpbs DSL connection. The exception to this rule, of course, is if you're rocking really nice hardware connected to a slow broadband connection. If your overall broadband speed is higher than what the Wi-Fi gear in your house can handle, you'll always get inaccurate results running a speed test using a Wi-Fi device. This includes not only smartphones but everything else on the network using Wi-Fi including tablets, laptops, game consoles, streaming devices, and smart TVs. Why? Because, except for folks with slower connections, the overall speed of the internet connection (as measured directly at the modem) is faster than what a single connection between the Wi-Fi hardware and any Wi-Fi device can handle. If you're getting speed test results that are a fraction of the internet speed you pay for while using your phone, the likely culprit behind the bottleneck is your Wi-Fi router and/or the Wi-Fi device you're running the test on. The second your maximum bandwidth exceeds the capacity of any piece of network hardware between your modem and the testing device, you're going to get inaccurate results.

The device, in this case your phone, has to navigate through your home network first and every single thing between that device and the speed test server is a potential bottleneck. Your Phone's Wi-Fi Connection Is a Bottleneck You are connecting the device you're running the speed test on to the speed test server. We've looked at how internet speed tests work in detail, but here's one relevant point to keep in mind: The key detail is this: any time you conduct a speed test, you are not connecting your general internet connection to the speed test server. To understand why people often get slow speed test results when testing from a smartphone, we have to look at how speed tests work. Related: How Do Internet Speed Tests Work? (and How Accurate Are They?) But that outcome is to be expected in most cases. Who wants to pay for the top-tier internet package only to get the budget-tier speeds? Usually, when we dig a little deeper, we find out the person ran a speed test on their smartphone and they're upset the result is a fraction of the anticipated speed.
