Pittsfield community to participate in internet speed test

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The City of Pittsfield is asking community members to join in on a Speed Test Day on Wednesday.

The Speed Test Day is part of the city’s digital equity planning efforts as part of the Municipal Digita Equity Planning Program launched by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Broadband Institute (MBI), according to the City of Pittsfield.

This test is to better understand and identify the challenges Pittsfield residents may have when connecting to the internet. On Wednesday, the city is asking all community members to join in the Speed Test Day by visiting their speed test website on the device they use to connect to the internet.

An internet speed test measures upload speed, download speed, and latency, which means how much data you can download and upload per second and how long it takes for the data to get to its destination.

After the test is completed, send the results using the form on the city’s website. Pittsfield will use this information to understand the challenges its residents might experience when connecting to the internet.

The test identifies if there is a problem, but it does not specify what the problem is. Due to this, there are some things that you can try before calling your internet service provider if you’re experiencing poor performance.

If you have Wi-Fi, try moving closer to the Wi-Fi router. Try to eliminate all physical barriers between you and the Wi-Fi router ensuring that you can see the router. The same applies to cell towers, so if you have a wired connection, try using a different cable.