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General discussion

Very different speed test results

Nov 16, 2006 9:59AM PST

My internet speed has slowed considerably in the past few weeks. I have been to several speed test sites and have noticed very different results. Speakeasy reports I'm getting very good speeds (~5000 kbps) but it takes like 30 sec just to start the test. Bandwidthplace, on the other hand, reports that my download speed is only 115 kbps.

I have also noticed an interesting trend when downloading files. It takes an unusually long time to start the download, but once it gets going, the transfer speed is relatively good.

I live in an apartment complex where the internet is provided, so I really don't have any control of it beyond by computer, but I would still like to know what's going on. Does anyone know what might be causing this? And is there anything that I can do on my end to remedy the situation?
Thanks

Discussion is locked

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My bet is your neighbors are P2P users.
Nov 16, 2006 10:34AM PST

If you share the connection, P2P and gamers will whack your connection speed all over the universe.

Bob

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I'm not so sure...
Nov 16, 2006 10:20PM PST

The problem is that it has been consistently like that. It doesn't jump around. Its always good at speakeasy and slow at bandwidthplace. I think it has more to do with the type of test they use at those places. And I think it has to do with the connection problem I am having. I could be wrong though. Thanks for the comments.

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Same issue here.
Nov 16, 2006 10:34PM PST

Good speed to Texas, terrible to Australia.

Tell me if you figure out how to fix that.

Bob

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Same issue here
Dec 5, 2006 8:59PM PST

Maybe the time of day - busy and slack periods and which routes the signal takes.

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Different speeds
Nov 17, 2006 12:46AM PST

I just tested my connection at the sites you mentioned:

Speakeasy DN 9.8 MBPS UP 1 MBPS

Bandwidth Place Dn 4.8 MBPS

Quite different speed and I don't share with my neighbors.

I have a 10 MBPS download speed per my isp (insightbb)

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bottom line
Nov 18, 2006 12:50PM PST

I guess the bottom line is why am I getting good speed test results, but web pages load like I have a 56k connection (or not at all).

By the way, practically everyone left the apartment complex for Thanksgiving break and it didn't help much at all.

I do acknowledge that the location of the testing server makes a big difference in the speed results.

Thanks

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More clues would be needed.
Nov 18, 2006 1:05PM PST

Today we encounter a lot of pests, outdated drivers and broken hardware. To test the machine I take the laptop to a hot spot.

For pests I use the tools I've noted in many other posts.

Bob

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Not to brag about my speed or anything
May 20, 2009 10:09AM PDT

Not to brag or anything but I think I found a better test?. The above test gives basic speed information but no real info you quality or capability of your connection. My favorite Broadband Speed Test site is http://www.ispgeeks.com.

Click on Broadband Diagnostics then TCP Quality Test and the rest is simple. They also have a true speed test, voip test and a couple of other things.

You get data back like this (testing my connection)

Speed test statistics
???????
Download speed: 7437424 bps
Upload speed: 1646448 bps
Download quality of service: 97 %
Upload quality of service: 95 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum TCP delay: 76 ms
Average download pause: 3 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 60 ms
Average round trip time to server: 61 ms
Estimated download bandwidth: 35200000bps
Route concurrency: 4.7328215
Download TCP forced idle: 77 %
Maximum route speed: 8738000bps

Plus it even gives you graphical data such as this (based on the test above).

http://174.34.146.20/myspeed/db/report?id=1986