How to Test Your Internet Speed on Linux

If you are a Linux user, you can use the command line to test your internet speed without having to open a browser or install any third-party software. In this guide, we will show you how to perform a speed test on your Linux machine using the Speedtest CLI utility.

Using Speedtest CLI

Speedtest CLI is a command-line interface (CLI) utility program for measuring the speed of an internet connection. It is developed by Ookla, the same company that created the popular online Speedtest.net website.

With Speedtest CLI, you can perform internet speed tests from the command line, which is useful for automating testing and integrating it into scripts or applications. It can test both the download and upload speeds of an internet connection, as well as provide information on latency and packet loss.

Speedtest CLI works by sending data packets to a nearby Ookla server and measuring the time it takes for the data to travel back and forth. It then calculates the download and upload speeds based on the amount of data transferred and the time it took to transfer it.

Step 1: Open Terminal

Open the terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on your keyboard or by searching for it in the applications menu.

Step 2: Install Speedtest CLI

On Debian/Ubuntu-based distros, run:

sudo apt install speedtest-cli

On Fedora/RPM-based distros, run:

sudo dnf install speedtest-cli

On Arch-based distros, run:

sudo pacman -S speedtest-cli

Step 3: Run Speed Test

Once the Speedtest CLI package is installed, you can run a speed test by running:

speedtest-cli

This command will initiate a speed test and display the results on your terminal screen. The output will include information such as your ping time, download speed, and upload speed.

Step 4: (Optional) Specify Server Location

By default, Speedtest CLI will select the closest server location to perform the speed test. However, you can also specify a particular server location by using its ID. To get a list of available server locations and their IDs, you can run:

speedtest-cli –list

This command will display a list of server locations along with their IDs. To specify a server location, you can use the following command format:

speedtest-cli –server SERVER_ID

Replace SERVER_ID with the ID of the server location you want to use.

Step 5: (Optional) Save Results

If you want to save the speed test results to a file for future reference, you can use the following command format:

speedtest-cli –csv >> results.csv

This command will append the speed test results to a CSV file named results.csv in your current directory. You can replace results.csv with any file name of your choice.

Conclusion

In this guide, we showed you how to test your internet speed from the command line on Linux using the Speedtest CLI utility. With this tool, you can quickly and easily check your internet connection speed without having to rely on a browser or third-party software. Try it out and see how fast your internet really is!