Internet speed-depends on whose speed checker you use?

[RonA]

Hi All,
I've been having trouble with my internet speed over the last few view weeks, supposedly upto 100 MB/sec (per my account info) but at times down to less than dial up. Won't mention the name of my supplier other than a certain Jamaican Olympic runner figured heavily in its advertising.
After going through the usual rigmarole of restarting the router & still not seeing any improvement, it prompted a call to the ISP. After a bit of fiddling by the operator on other end of the phone the speed jumped to 23 MB/sec (using Broadband speedchecker app)
However what was interesting in this time consuming & infuriating process was that the ISP operator urged me to use speedtest.net to check my internet speed. This I did & it indicated a speed of 56 MB/sec. Broadband speed checker only registered 26MB/sec.
I draw no inference at all from the fact that speedtest.net is sponsored by my internet provider !!!

RonA

 

[gaz1]

dont have to say the provider

a few things for you is that it was the guys over at cable forum that have suggested for years to use speedtest.net as it was the only checker that went high enough for your speed test

there advisement would be to look deeper into your system/wire as your as your getting low speed drop outs on your package I personally suspect its either your exchange or your modem going dicky also depends on how new your wire is as well

 

[eSCHEn]

It's not as bad as it first seems Ron, the speedtest sites get some hardware and bandwidth "donated" by a company who gets some advertising in return. It's not as cloak and dagger as it does admittedly seem

Speedtest.net is the defacto site but the trouble is you're not on long enough to get a good indication of throughput. For a longer test, try downloading an .iso or .img file from one of the legit OS places such as a Linux distro. Choose an mirror in your country or close by and see what you get after the connection settles.

Traffic via your ISP is shaped to balance the service they're offering; in much the same way as vehicular traffic is shaped - emergency vehicles go down a special lane (hard shoulder) but normal traffic waits. In times of strikes in France the wagons get pulled over to the side so other traffic can pass and so on. Your ISP may prioritise certain traffic (say real time streaming video or music) at the expense of web traffic where a small delay means naught.

Try going to here (it's a download site for a Linux type) http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/cdimage.ubuntu.com/cdimage/releases/xenial/release/source/ and downloading one of the larger packages, say ubuntu-16.04-src-1.iso - that's 4.5Gb in size and should give you a decent representation of your true speed for http (web) traffic.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

I fit routers as part of my job and my preferred test site is the BT Wholesale one as its so basic, just click OK and it performs the test.
No poncy graphics or advertising.
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Just to add that a new connection or a connection that has been reset will fluctuate speed wise as the attenuation takes place, this is when system calculates the fastest stable speed you system can handle and can take upto 72 hours.
Also to perform a reliable speed test you need to have a cable connection to your router and make sure no other devices are using the bandwidth.

 

[eSCHEn]

Is there still a 10 day training period on new connections?

Good points on using a hardline and removing other devices. Would be like testing the max speed on your car with supermarket fuel and three heavy passengers!

 

[ford34/2]

2nds for BTwholesale: no e mails, no registration, no bumph trying to get you to change ISP and it seems accepted by ISP providers.

http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/

Stan

 

[RonA]

dont have to say the provider

a few things for you is that it was the guys over at cable forum that have suggested for years to use speedtest.net as it was the only checker that went high enough for your speed test

there advisement would be to look deeper into your system/wire as your as your getting low speed drop outs on your package I personally suspect its either your exchange or your modem going dicky also depends on how new your wire is as well

Whilst what you say ref speedcheckers maybe correct, it still doesn't explain why the speed dropped to under 1 MB/sec (0.12 actually) whichever way you check it. Nothing had changed at my end & as far as I know they're still using the same fibre optic cable upto the junction box at the corner of my road. The ISP was able to change settings to restore the speed, so had they altered something on their system?

RonA

 

[skotl]

I fit routers as part of my job and my preferred test site is the BT Wholesale one as its so basic, just click OK and it performs the test.
No poncy graphics or advertising.
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com

Hmmm... is there an upper limit to the site's range?

Just tried it at work (we're on a 500Mb/sec leased line) and BT repeatedly shows 40-41Mb/sec in both directions, while Ookla is showing 180-250Mb/sec.

Downloading large ISOs is also in the 200Mb/sec range.

So a -1 for BT Wholesale for me, from here at least...

 

[rikrobson]

the BT is pretty accurate on out Infinity connection at work. 74.09 down 12.2 up and 30.25 latency. I cant check out vergin connection as it's not routed out from the lan, but thats 300 and carries our VPN to download our backups.
the speed test are only as good an the network between the two test points. The speedtest.net gives 74.63 down 15.48 up and 17ms. the node was in London and i'm in Dundee

If you are having trouble with Virgin power cycle the superhub or factory reset it. They are not the best bits of kit. Keep calling them until you get better speed. What sites are you trying to access?

You also have to think about contension. this is where everybody shared certain network elements. There can be bottleneck at certain times. this is usually more evident on streamed services than general browsing. these bottle neckes can be on the servers yo are accessing too and not your ISP. Hosting companies usually charge by bandwiditch and websites can be deliberately throttle down to stop unexpected spikes in traffic.

 

[gaz1]

you can also try it by this one

http://ping-test.net/

then theres this way of testing

http://ping.eu/

using the tracert to trace your jumps therefore finding the server at fault

any trouble from blueyonder cable and this was the place to goto for help

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/

this one is for the net side of virgin

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/12/