Testing internet speed

[Jobos]

We have been having problems with our internet connection for a few months and wondered how you test your connection.

 

We have 2 x 70Mbps lines going into a Sophos UTM. Apart from the usual firewall and filter the UTM does load balancing so I could simultaneously get 2 PCs using fast.com and could get 69Mbps on both machines.

 

I became aware of problems when I started getting reports of sites not loading as quickly as they did once so with this in mind I contacted the ISP who couldn't find anything wrong with the lines and advised me to disconnect the UTM from the network and test the speed without any other machines using the network.

 

So over half term I unplugged the UTM from the network and only connected my PC. Then I unplugged one of the lines and ran speed tests 7 times on each working line then repeated the tests on the other line so only one line was connected to the UTM at any one time.

 

The results I got showed each line varied in speed from 23-72 Mbps which seems a large variation. So what is a good site to use to check the speed? I've been using fast.com which I thought was ok but then again...

[tmoon-mint]

I would normally use fast.com as well but as an alternative you can type speed test into Google and there is one built in.

[SchoolsBroadband]

Remember using FTTC does not give you guaranteed speeds (unless you use an EoFTTC product and even then only some of that is guaranteed). If you want guaranteed speeds you need to go leased line.

 

Take for example BT's new ultrafast products. They can in theory go to 330Mbit at the moment but BT Retail will only guarantee a speed of 100Mbit.

 

Dave

[bald_pig]

I normally use speedtest.net

[Fazza]

So what is a good site to use to check the speed? I've been using fast.com which I thought was ok but then again...

 

Never heard of http://www.fast.com so have always used Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test but after trying fast.com it's, well, faster! No adverts getting in the way.

[Opendium_Steve]

I normally use speedtest.net

 

Speedtest.net is fairly badly broken. Huge technical flaws in their design that make the results almost completely meaningless.

[Fazza]

Speedtest.net is fairly badly broken. Huge technical flaws in their design that make the results almost completely meaningless.

 

I get the same results with SpeedTest and Fast.

[Opendium_Steve]

I get the same results with SpeedTest and Fast.

 

Ok, maybe "meaningless" was a bit harsh. Last time I looked (about 2 years ago, so they might've fixed it now), it _could_ give you realistic measurements, but there were also technical flaws in their design that meant that it could also give you artificially high or artificially very low measurements, depending on your network configuration. And there was no way to tell whether you were getting the realistic measurements or the inaccurate ones. So I guess my advice is: take the results with a pinch of salt and use other speed testers to confirm them.

[AlanD]

So over half term I unplugged the UTM from the network and only connected my PC. Then I unplugged one of the lines and ran speed tests 7 times on each working line then repeated the tests on the other line so only one line was connected to the UTM at any one time.

 

The results I got showed each line varied in speed from 23-72 Mbps which seems a large variation.

 

SO ...what speed results do you get if you connect directly to the router/modem for each FTTC connection. So you see the same variation? (Would be good to take the UTM out of the equation...becuase maybe the loadbalancing isn't working well...or maybe the UTM has issues)

[Jobos]

SO ...what speed results do you get if you connect directly to the router/modem for each FTTC connection. So you see the same variation? (Would be good to take the UTM out of the equation...becuase maybe the loadbalancing isn't working well...or maybe the UTM has issues)

 

I've not tested from the modems but that will have to wait until the next closedown, however the UTM died in September so was replaced and the problem remained after replacing the UTM.

 

I understand FTTC speeds are not guaranteed but my main question is how come the speed has changed so much? For the past two years it was running great so something has happened to make both connections drop in speed.

[Sheridan]

I use speedof.me - nice graphs and it seems pretty consistent

[AlanD]

I've not tested from the modems but that will have to wait until the next closedown, however the UTM died in September so was replaced and the problem remained after replacing the UTM.

 

I understand FTTC speeds are not guaranteed but my main question is how come the speed has changed so much? For the past two years it was running great so something has happened to make both connections drop in speed.

 

I'd still want to test the connections individually to satisfy myself it wasn't the UTM....and replaced UTM or not. You should be able to remove one connection at a time from the UTM without stopping internet access for everyone. Yes - it will be a bit slower. Of course, if both FTTC connections go to the same street cabinet there might be contention issues at the cabinet - although I'd be a bit surprised if that was noticeable during the day.