Testing Your Server's Bandwidth

This guide walks you through installing and using Speedtest CLI to check the bandwidth on your VPS.

Prerequisites

• Root or sudo SSH access

Installation

1. Remove any older versions first

sudo apt-get remove speedtest-cli speedtest

2. Make sure curl is installed

sudo apt-get install curl

3. Grab the latest Speedtest CLI

curl -s https://install.speedtest.net/app/cli/install.deb.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install speedtest

Running a Test

Basic test

speedtest

Note: Speedtest automatically picks a nearby server, which may not be located near your VPS. Since results depend heavily on the server used, always confirm the test is running against a server close to your VPS's actual location — not wherever Speedtest defaults to — otherwise your results may look worse than your real bandwidth.

Test against a specific server

speedtest -s XXXX

Other handy options

speedtest --help    # show all available options
speedtest -L        # list nearby servers
speedtest -f csv    # output results as CSV

Reading the Results

Each run gives you:

• Ping – latency in ms
• Download – download speed
• Upload – upload speed
• Jitter – how much the latency fluctuates

Tips for Accurate Results

• Run the test a few times at different hours of the day
• Try a couple of different servers, not just the closest one
• Avoid testing during peak traffic hours
• Close anything on your machine that's eating bandwidth in the background

If Something Goes Wrong

• Double-check your network connection
• Make sure no firewall rule is blocking the test
• Take a look at your system logs if the issue persists

Updated on: 30/07/2026