internet service speed test tip
Rogers and Bell have web sites for testing your internet speed. The advantage of using one should be that it is a pretty pure test of the ISP's infrastructure. TL;DR: run the test from a fast computer. When I used Bell's speed test on my own router (remember that it runs Fedora 38 and thus has FireFox and Chromium) the results were disappointing. Half or two-thirds of my promised speed. The problem turns out to be the web page itself. It burns a lot of processor power (javascript, surely). When I run it from behind my router, on a fast computer, the speed is as promised. When the client was a notebook with an i3-1005g1 processor, the result was also disappointing. I used a USB-c to 2.5G ethernet dongle. When the client was a notebook with a Ryzen 7 6800H, the result was good. I used the same dongle.
On 2023-08-24 10:50, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Rogers and Bell have web sites for testing your internet speed. The advantage of using one should be that it is a pretty pure test of the ISP's infrastructure.
TL;DR: run the test from a fast computer.
When I used Bell's speed test on my own router (remember that it runs Fedora 38 and thus has FireFox and Chromium) the results were disappointing. Half or two-thirds of my promised speed.
The problem turns out to be the web page itself.
Some thing is either very wrong with the web page, you need a better browser or something else was running in the background that affected performance. My "slow" AMD FX8320 computer is able to use the Rogers speed test page and the numbers I got are about what I expected to see. One should not need a "fast" computer just to run a speedtest. The only reason I just thought of is that perhaps your internet speed is exceptionally high and that makes the speed of your Internet connection sensitive to the browser and your computer system. -- Cheers! Kevin. https://www.patreon.com/KevinCozens | "Nerds make the shiny things that | distract the mouth-breathers, and Owner of Elecraft K2 #2172 | that's why we're powerful" #include <disclaimer/favourite> | --Chris Hardwick
Kevin Cozens via talk wrote on 2023-08-24 21:26:
TL;DR: run the test from a fast computer.
Some thing is either very wrong with the web page, you need a better browser or something else was running in the background that affected performance. My "slow" AMD FX8320 computer is able to use the Rogers speed test page and the numbers I got are about what I expected to see. One should not need a "fast" computer just to run a speedtest.
I, too, have an AMD FX8320 and measured 970Gbps on speed testing, using speedtest.net which may (or may not) have used my ISP's servers. Have also seen 300 Mbps via speedtest.net (subscribed FTTH speed) that used a server in Portland, Oregon - not my ISP's. Not sure what to make of Hugh's, Kevin's, and my results, but just adding my 2¢ to to the conversation. rb
On 2023-08-25 00:26, Kevin Cozens via talk wrote:
The problem turns out to be the web page itself.
Some thing is either very wrong with the web page, you need a better browser or something else was running in the background that affected performance. My "slow" AMD FX8320 computer is able to use the Rogers speed test page and the numbers I got are about what I expected to see. One should not need a "fast" computer just to run a speedtest.
The only reason I just thought of is that perhaps your internet speed is exceptionally high and that makes the speed of your Internet connection sensitive to the browser and your computer system.
This is my result on Rogers, using Firefox: https://www.speedtest.net/result/15165848176 My package from Rogers includes 1.5 Gb down & 50 Mb up, but my hardware limits it to 1 Gb. Of course, some bandwidth is lost to the various overheads, etc..
On 2023-08-24 10:50, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Rogers and Bell have web sites for testing your internet speed. The advantage of using one should be that it is a pretty pure test of the ISP's infrastructure.
I know that Bell has tuned their traffic management rules to prioritize speed test sites. I would be very surprised if Rogers is not also doing the same thing. The Bell and Rogers hosted sites are the most likely to take advantage of traffic management to enhance their stats. So you may get results that are close to the maximum that the network can support but nowhere near what the network is able to deliver under its current load. Network performance testing is best done with tools like iperf. -- Alvin Starr || land: (647)478-6285 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
On Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 7:39 AM Alvin Starr via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2023-08-24 10:50, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Rogers and Bell have web sites for testing your internet speed. The advantage of using one should be that it is a pretty pure test of the ISP's infrastructure.
I know that Bell has tuned their traffic management rules to prioritize speed test sites.
I would be very surprised if Rogers is not also doing the same thing.
The Bell and Rogers hosted sites are the most likely to take advantage of traffic management to enhance their stats. So you may get results that are close to the maximum that the network can support but nowhere near what the network is able to deliver under its current load.
Network performance testing is best done with tools like iperf.
I found a website called testmy.net that seems to do a very good job. Gives graphing of the results and shows the variability of connection quite well imo. HTH
Speedtest (the app) gives consistent results for a variety of test sites, including UofToronto, Bell Canada, Primus. All are significantly higher numbers than testmy.net (320Down, 450Up versus 190Down, 215Up on testmy.net Toronto site). ../Dave On Fri, 25 Aug 2023 at 08:53, o1bigtenor via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 7:39 AM Alvin Starr via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 2023-08-24 10:50, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
Rogers and Bell have web sites for testing your internet speed. The advantage of using one should be that it is a pretty pure test of the ISP's infrastructure.
I know that Bell has tuned their traffic management rules to prioritize speed test sites.
I would be very surprised if Rogers is not also doing the same thing.
The Bell and Rogers hosted sites are the most likely to take advantage of traffic management to enhance their stats. So you may get results that are close to the maximum that the network can support but nowhere near what the network is able to deliver under its current load.
Network performance testing is best done with tools like iperf.
I found a website called testmy.net that seems to do a very good job. Gives graphing of the results and shows the variability of connection quite well imo.
HTH --- Post to this mailing list talk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing list https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 10:06 AM David Mason <dmason@torontomu.ca> wrote:
Speedtest (the app) gives consistent results for a variety of test sites, including UofToronto, Bell Canada, Primus. All are significantly higher numbers than testmy.net (320Down, 450Up versus 190Down, 215Up on testmy.net Toronto site).
AIUI 'speedtest' is most often optimized by the various vendors to give 'great looking numbers'. Testmy.net, imo anyway, seem to be more 'real world numbers. The graphs of the test I find very very revealing - - - - after a while one gets a really good idea of the connection possibilities. Thanks for sharing
I understand the vendors may optimize parameters, but I figured that UofToronto wouldn't be affected by that, and the numbers were comparable... but perhaps they tune at a different point in the pipeline. ../Dave On Fri, 25 Aug 2023 at 17:14, o1bigtenor <o1bigtenor@gmail.com> wrote:
On Fri, Aug 25, 2023 at 10:06 AM David Mason <dmason@torontomu.ca> wrote:
Speedtest (the app) gives consistent results for a variety of test
sites, including UofToronto, Bell Canada, Primus. All are significantly higher numbers than testmy.net (320Down, 450Up versus 190Down, 215Up on testmy.net Toronto site).
AIUI 'speedtest' is most often optimized by the various vendors to give 'great looking numbers'. Testmy.net, imo anyway, seem to be more 'real world numbers. The graphs of the test I find very very revealing - - - - after a while one gets a really good idea of the connection possibilities.
Thanks for sharing
On 8/25/23 18:03, David Mason via talk wrote:
I understand the vendors may optimize parameters, but I figured that UofToronto wouldn't be affected by that, and the numbers were comparable... but perhaps they tune at a different point in the pipeline.
ISP's have more to gain by managing the bandwidth on more heavily loaded circuits. So the places you will see traffic management are in places where end node growth has outpaced the original provisioning. If your a retail internet customer trying to resolve a bandwidth problem is like trying to push a string. -- Alvin Starr || land: (647)478-6285 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
participants (7)
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Alvin Starr -
BCLUG -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
David Mason -
James Knott -
Kevin Cozens -
o1bigtenor