Often its great to understand why your network is running slow.
This list of online and workstation latency checkers may help you pinpoint the problem.

Background

Your home network, carrier infrastructure, number/type of upstream internet interconnects, transparent content caches service and general dynamic/static routing between you and your content can all affect the quality and speed of your online experience.

Content provider utilise various caching, local storage and in country transparent proxy methods to deliver content to you quicker. These techniques in some cases slow the delivery of some content types to you.

Knowing how content is provided, over what path and periodically checking the latency of your connections to the content provider, will help you understand why things are slow.

Check the cloud and content delivery/cache services

Local and global cloud and storage provider metrics can indicate slow domestic and international links or highlight high server loads on selected services or content.

• https://www.cloudping.info/
• https://azurespeedtest.azurewebsites.net/
• http://www.azurespeed.com/
• https://cloudharmony.com/speedtest
• http://cloudharmony.com/speedtest-for-all
• http://www.cloudwatch.in/

Check the content server or service provider
Latency to a specific destinations

• http://maplatency.com/

Check your local connection to your carrier
Speed test to your closest speedtest node to identify if your local connection is slow.

• http://www.speedtest.net/

DNS Speed
Determining the IP address of a service can also dramatically affect the overall speed of your internet

Online

• https://www.ultratools.com/tools/dnsHostingSpeed
• https://www.dnsperf.com/ 

Local Workstation

• https://code.google.com/p/namebench/
• https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

Ping or Protocol – Not all tests are the same

Many latency checks rely on Ping or Traceroute which often uses the ICMP protocol to measure latency. ICMP is a very small packet type and therefore will reflect a better result when traveling across slow or erroneous connections.

To gain a more real world measurement, select a method or service which simulates a HTTP/HTTP, file transfer or steaming content connection.

Alternative DNS Services

• Open DNS  https://www.opendns.com/ 
• Google DNS  8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
• Comodo DNS  https://www.comodo.com/secure-dns/
• DNS.Watch  82.200.69.80 and 84.200.70.40
• Others  https://www.publicdns.xyz/

Note: if you use IPv6, ensure your DNS server and any DNS forwarders support IPv6.

Glossary

• Latency/Ping: the measurement of the time it takes a single packet to be sent from your computer to a remote computer and then back.
• Jitter: the measurement of consecutive latency test results. Your ideal jitter result is as close to zero as possible.
• Download Speed: less a measurement of speed, this is how many bits per second can be downloaded from one computer to another via the Internet.
• Upload Speed: less a measurement of speed, this is how many bits per second can be uploaded from one computer to another via the Internet.
• Buffer Bloat: a measure of latency, it is a test performed when your connection is under stress. This is usually achieved by running a bandwidth test to maximize your connection.
• Packet Loss: the measurement of how many data packets arrive at their intended destination when sent from a computer. Ideal packet loss is zero percent.