Speed Test Results
Brandon Kim
brandon.kim at brandontek.com
Fri Dec 23 14:46:59 UTC 2011
I love using speedtest. My FIOS at home is 25/25. And speedtest consistently hits that mark
so I know FIOS is giving me what I paid for.
When Verizon was having internet issues last week my numbers were bad.
Like someone else said, I would not use it much more for quick gauge. To get more granular info
you should be using other tools....
> Subject: Re: Speed Test Results
> From: james.cutler at consultant.com
> Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:02:01 -0500
> To: nanog at nanog.org
>
>
> On Dec 23, 2011, at 8:07 AM, Paul Stewart wrote:
>
> > In my opinion they are only "somewhat reliable" if they are on your network
> > or very close to your network -we operate one of the speedtest.net sites and
> > for our own eyeball traffic find it to be a "reasonable indicator" of what
> > kind of speeds the customer is getting.
> >
> > To put it a different way, if a customer is getting 20X1 Internet service
> > and the speedtest shows 17 X 0.8 then case closed - if they are getting a
> > speedtest result of 5 X 0.5 then our helpdesk will take a further look -
> > this is really in rough terms...
> >
> > Paul
>
> From the consumer viewpoint:
>
> No single data point should be extrapolated to infinity, but comparing problematic behavior with "normal" behavior is a standard process across all fields.
>
> Speed tests from several locations done regularly give a baseline for performance. Major departure from expected numbers from a set of speed test sites can be regarded as an indicator of local loop problems. Did you know that local loops suffer from backhoe fade? And, DSLAMS fail.
>
> In my home office, speed tests are just another useful diagnostic helping to locate problem areas - just like in Paul's example. DSLReports line monitoring service is a similarly useful tool.
>
> James R. Cutler
> james.cutler at consultant.com
>
>
>
>
>
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