Connection Check
Is it your Wi-Fi, your ISP, or the service? This runs five layered checks in your browser and leads with one plain-language answer - your device, your Wi-Fi (likely), your ISP, or the cloud service itself - then builds a report you can hand to your provider or IT. It watches your connection over time, not just one snapshot, so it catches the loss and jitter a bandwidth number never shows.
Read the Connection Check guide for what each layer means and how the verdict is decided.
edge.desktest.net (DeskTest.net's own server, which stores nothing): reachability, a sustained WebSocket ping, throwaway bytes to gauge speed, a check of whether a few well-known cloud apps (Microsoft 365, Google, Zoom, Slack) are up from the edge's own vantage point, and a clock timestamp. Your browser never contacts those cloud vendors directly. No files, credentials, or business data are sent, and the speed-test bytes are random filler generated and discarded at the edge. View source to verify.Run the check
Takes about 45-60 seconds. It holds a connection open to watch for packet loss and jitter over time, then measures speed with throwaway bytes. No prompts, no downloads, nothing to install.
Connection check complete
Can this browser reach the internet
Fetches the desktest edge and reports your public IP, the location that answered, and the round-trip time out to the internet.
Connection quality over time
Holds a WebSocket open for about 24 seconds and pings it repeatedly to measure packet loss, jitter, and latency spikes - the sustained signal a one-shot speedtest never shows.
Bandwidth headroom
Streams throwaway bytes down and back up to gauge available speed. This is one input to the verdict, not the headline.
Are your cloud apps up
Asks an independent, off-network edge whether Microsoft 365, Google, Zoom, and Slack answer from the public internet - so a service outage is not mistaken for your connection.
System clock
Compares your clock to a trusted timestamp. A wrong clock breaks secure connections and logins, and can look exactly like a network failure.