How to check proxy speed?

About a century ago, a new form of protest – sit-down strike – appeared in Italy. Workers performed their tasks extremely clearly– and slowly. At the first glance, the enterprise operates, but business doesn't progress. Sometimes, online surfing makes the same impression.

This state of affairs especially irritates when you use a recently configured proxy server you thoroughly chose. The server was supposed to help in parsing, mass registration, subscription management, cryptocurrency trading or gaming. It actually works, but not the way it should be. To identify and eliminate the problem, you should first find out the speed, and figure out, if this is a root cause of the problem?

Read this blog post to learn how to check the private proxy speed, what factors impact the speed, and how to enhance it.

What impacts the proxy server speed?

The speed is impacted by server characteristics — their technical capabilities, network connectivity parameters, and many other reasons:

Private or public

Proxy parameters directly depend on whether a server is free or paid. Of course, public free proxies do not imply any expenses. But they also have poor performance. Due to high workload, they are slow and unstable. A part of servers don't work or is created to steal information.

A provider is responsible for paid private proxies. They are accessed only by the owner, their quality is verified, that's why purchase works fast. They don't have unexpected issues because of the large rush of other users.

Address and connection protocols

The server speed depends on the address protocols (IPv4 and IPv6) and connection protocols (HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5).

IPv4 is an old and stable protocol. Its newer version, IPv6, delivers data packets technically faster and encrypts information well. But not all websites support this format because of upgrade difficulties and threats of DDoS attacks. In case of IPv6, other factors also influence the speed. So, before connecting, validate websites for compatibility with this format.

Connection protocols — HTTP, HTTPS, SOCKS5 — have a lot of differences. In this case, the operating speed is related with information protection. The more secured are data, the better is encryption, the lower is the connection speed.

HTTP isn't perfect at encrypting data. Its more advanced version, HTTPS, is able to handle the secret information and features better encryption. When using SOCKS5 private proxies, the protocol processes the entire traffic and becomes completely anonymous, when a website thinks that the proxy is you.

Where is a server located?

The most evident factor that impacts connectivity is geolocation. The closer proxy is to you, the faster and more stable the signal is. Even the best proxies don't work fine, if they are on the other side of the Earth.

In Russia, Russian solutions will be the fastest. But to handle websites or services running in certain regions, it's better to use local proxies, which will affect the connectivity characteristics.

How and where to check the connection speed?

If you need to check the server, the checker tools provided by rent services are at your disposal. They validate proxies, and can also check other parameters, from speed up to geolocation or a protocol type. There are also certain services to check the speed of your server. Currently, the most available and simple service is Yandex.Internetometr.

When checking, it's important to note other parameters beside speed. Another point of interest is the ping value, i.e., response time of your device. The lower the value, the better. For gaming and surfing, 30 – 40 ms is enough, but comfortable user experience when handling SEO and marketing tasks depends on a variety of conditions, not only ping.

It's also important to consider actual connectivity parameters: compare the time of downloading the same page with and without the intermediary.

Checking a proxy server with Internetometr

First, configure proxy in the operating system, whether it's Windows, MacOS or Linux, or connect a server directly in the browser, if you use FIrefox. Then check the speed with the checker or third-party services. For example, Yandex.Internetometr can quickle measure the speed outputting all data in a convenient format.

1. Go to https://speedtest.net (1) and press GO (2).
2. You'll learn the uoload and download speed in a couple of seconds. Аlso you can find out network details (3).

Disable the proxy to check the difference.

Conclusion

Now you know how and where to check server connection, and what factor impact the changes. If you need higher speed for work, buy powerful private proxies located closer to your place.

If there are any doubts, validate proxies with checkers and check again with third-party services. Then contact the technical support to solve issues, if your doubts have confirmed.

A reliable company will help you 24/7, as this is done, for example, by Proxy.Market.