Odd Result for 'My City'

[WebUser]

TID  https://testmy.net/db/0XULIx75&framed=1&framed2=1&framed3=1

 

 

 

I'm guessing it's determined by IP address, but why an average so slow?  And how can one test be 2005% faster?  Also, I can't see what city that's referring to.  WS routinely lists me in a city hundreds of miles from where I am.  Or at least that's what shows on pages that display a city based on your IP address like some of the search, news and weather websites.

 

 

 

[Pgoodwin1]

I looked at your two test points. One was about 3.1 Mbps and the other about 10.6 Mbps. There are multiple possibilities for it varying that much including your computer, the equipment at your home, the ISP equipment outside your home and routes along the path to the TestMy server. I assume you tested at your house.

Try taking some more readings during different times of day. If you do some speed tests after midnight and they are fast and they're slow during the day, that may indicate your ISP is overloaded with customers that are sharing service with you. If it's erratic all the time, you'll need to try to isolate the problem to either inside your house or outside your house. If you have another computer at home, see if it behaves the same. If it's erratic too, call your ISP and tell them. It's not uncommon to see the variation you're seeing during heavy usage hours ( like the Saturday 4 PM time you tested) if your ISP is overloaded.

Are you testing via wireless? If yes, try testing while close to your wireless router and see if you get better results. If you have an Ethernet connection to use, try testing via Ethernet instead of wireless. If that testing is faster and more consistent, then you may be testing while too far away from your router to get consistent results.

That isn't a thorough set of troubleshooting instructions, but do that stuff and let us know what the results are.

[WebUser]

I looked at your two test points. One was about 3.1 Mbps and the other about 10.6 Mbps.

Are you testing via wireless? If yes, try testing while close to your wireless router and see if you get better results. If you have an Ethernet connection to use, try testing via Ethernet instead of wireless.

 

 

The two tests today were just that.  The first was wireless, the second was with the LAN cable connected.  There isn't usually that much difference so there may have been some issues with the wireless today.

 

I'm wondering more about the 'city average' indicator.  I'm usually some two digit percentage below the city average, never a four digit percentage above.

[nanobot]

The two tests today were just that.  The first was wireless, the second was with the LAN cable connected.  There isn't usually that much difference so there may have been some issues with the wireless today.

 

I'm wondering more about the 'city average' indicator.  I'm usually some two digit percentage below the city average, never a four digit percentage above.

Unfortunately, Geo-Location by IP address is not an exact science - or a science at all, really.

 

(Click the spoiler for the boring comparison part)

If you think of the different types of address spaces, such as follows:

P.O. Box (Yes, I literally mean physical PO box)

Street Address (Yes, again, physical street address)

Phone Number (This is technically an address)

IP Address (Another address)

So, take our four examples here, if I have P.O. Box 152, someone else can have P.O. Box 151, and another P.O. Box 153. If I tell you that I have P.O. Box 152, you cannot, from that value alone, determine if I have the next P.O. Box after my physical neighbours, nor can you tell WHERE I physically reside. (Case and point, the company I work for resides in Detroit Metro Area, Michigan. We have a P.O. Box for Remit To that is located in Ohio - NOT EVEN THE SAME STATE)

Now, take Physical Address. My address is 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney Australia. (It really is.) No, knowing this, you can pinpoint the exact Physical Location of that address on a map. (Or can you? ) My neighbour, has address 41 Wallaby Way, Sydney Australia. My other neighbour, has 43 Wallaby Way, Sydney Australia. You can tell who my neighbors are by the addresses.

Take a phone number, my phone number is 147-555-1337. You (by you, I mean an average user) cannot physically locate my by my phone number. And my neighbor is not guaranteed to have 147-555-1338 or 147-555-1336. In fact, those number MAY NOT EVEN BE ON THE SAME NETWORK AS MINE. This is just like a P.O. Box, except with even LESS geo-information attached to it. Unless you determine the network I routed my call from, then triangulate my cell, you have no idea where I am.

An IP Address is exactly like a Phone Number, given my IP 10.0.0.5, my physical neighbour is NOT guaranteed to have IP Address 10.0.0.4, nor 10.0.0.6. So how do we find out where you are located by it? We attempt to determine where the home-network for that IP claims it is "physically located." We use WHOIS API's (ARIN, RIPE NCC, AFRINIC, APNIC, LACNIC) to determine what the "location" of the IP address is.

To give you an example, my IP Address is in the following block: 68.37.128.0 - 68.37.255.255. Testmy.net thinks my IP Address is from Jersey City, NJ. I will tell you for a fact, I do not live in Jersey. I live in the Detroit Metro Area, Michigan. Unfortunately, ARIN does not realize that COMCAST gave me an IP Address that is from New Jersey, so Testmy.net thinks I am currently in New Jersey.

This issue is by design, the IPv4/IPv6 protocols were never designed to allow geo-locating a user to any degree of certainty. They were always designed to allow anonymity.

That being said, there are ways to more accurately pinpoint a users location. If I do a tracert to Testmy.net, I find that my data goes from 10.0.0.1 (my gateway) to *.hsd1.mi.comcast.net, allowing me to surmise that I am SOMEWHERE in Michigan.

As the tracert continues, my data goes through several more nodes, to the node just before TMN: *.dal05.networklayer.com, which gives me the impression that Testmy.net is located in or near Dallas, TX. (It is in fact in Dallas, we should all know this for fact.)

So, as for why you are 2000% above your city average today, but maybe not tomorrow: when you reset your modem, if your ISP gives you a new IP address, it may show you as being in another city. Regardless if you are or not. I implore you to click "my city average" and compare what city it lists to what city you actually live in. If you look at this list (https://testmy.net/city/jersey_city_nj -> Member Rank) you will see myself (nanobot) at the top of the list for Jersey City, NJ. Unfortunately, I got my gas bill this week: right-proper addressed to E. Brown, New Baltimore, MI.

And believe when I say, this is not a TMN issue, this is intentional. If you use any proxy servers you can even more-so assuredly bet that your city will be even more wrong.

Thanks,

EBrown

[Pgoodwin1]

I would say there was an issue with your wireless. If I go out into my garage, I can get readings on my ipad that are 1/3 my Ethernet. Sometimes it's better. When I'm very close to my wireless router, I get about 35 Mbps on the iPad and anywhere from 13 to 34 Mbls in the garage, depending on how I'm holding the iPad. There's just one too many walls