Speed test providers variations

[Parado]

Hi,

 

Of recent I have changed over to iprimus as my isp and I have been having issues with them re slow internet download speeds.

 

Telstra advise my property should get 10mbps and speed checks show average between 8-9mbps which is acceptable taking into account distance from exchange and distance to the house from Telstra's main copper cable.

 

Australian government's mybroadband web site test shows 8.9 mbps.

 

Iprimus speed test shows 6.51mbps and when I query them they advise that they only need to provide 1.5 mbps and only speeds below that is considered a fault.

 

Where does the truth lie - why is iprimus so slow - if a changed over to Telstra would I in fact get the 8.9mbps that their speed test shows..

 

I feel that Australians should mount a class action against ISP who are happy to take our money but fail to provide an acceptable service.

 

Regards,

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

[Parado]

Not sure purpose of this forum when issues raised are not responded to.

 

Parado

[Pgoodwin1]

1.5 Mbps sounds awfully slow compared to the 6.51. What does your plan promise?

[Parado]

Hi,

Thanks for reply - I note that this site mainly deals with USA but I am in Australia dealing with Aust internet issues.

 

Why do I get such a variation in speed tests from various tests at the same time - how does one get an accurate speed result test - who do you believe.

 

Iprimus my isp advise they only need to provide 1.5mbps under their contract taking into account my distance from the exchange,,anything over that is a bonus,  however speed tests from various testers show that I receive between 5-8mbps - even when I use Iprimus speed test and it show 8 but when I talk to them they say their system shows 5 mbps. 

 

Just now done download  tests  (Mbps) as follows:

 

Iprimus 5.35

Telstra 8.51

Australian Government (using Ookla) 8.56

Testmy 8.1

 

Why does Iprimus test show so low speed.

 

Who can you believe.

 

Would changing ISP say to Telstra which is Australia's largest telecommunications company and owns the copper network and exchanges that providers like Iprimus use improve speed.

 

Why does mytest show 8.1 and a test on my isp tester shows 5.35 - both can't be correct.

 

Regards,

 

Eric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Pgoodwin1]

If you want to find out some of the why different tests give such varying results, read all the tabs on this page:

https://testmy.net/legit-speed-test.php

 

Believe the results you see here on TestMy.

 

It's hard to say whether changing ISPs will improve your speed without knowing where the bottleneck is. But it sounds like Iprimus has some pretty slow equipment if their service can only guarantee you 1.5 Mbps

[Pgoodwin1]

On TestMy, when I use the Australian server (I'm in the southwest Ohio in the USA), I get 29 Mbps. When I use the New York server, I get about double that at 60 Mbps. My ISP plan is a 50 down and 5 up.

 

 

[Pgoodwin1]

i would trust the results you get here. If you're getting vastly different results here on TestMy for different times of the day or from minute to minute, the problem could be the ISP, or it could be your equipment. 

 

If you're using wireless, try plugging an Ethernet cable from your computer directly into the modem, and see if the results are more stable. If they are, it points to a wireless issue (router or your computer). Or a cabling issue between your router and the modem, or just the wireless distance from your computer to your wifi router.

[CA3LE]

Parado, sorry for not responding quicker.  Ask regulars to the forum, I'm normally much faster at responding.  I've had family visiting and now I'm out visiting family.  Besides the few awesome, dedicated bad asses in the forum I'm the only one here.  When I finally take a few minutes off each year, some questions may not get answered the way this forum intends to help people.  I apologize because I saw and read your question as soon as it came in... I just wasn't able to respond.  Couple that with my daily email regimen and it doesn't take long before your post/message/email gets piled on top of.  It usually weighs on my mind and I do eventually get to many of the messages I may miss while I'm away but it can be extremely difficult (impossible) to get it perfect.

 

After looking at your results and reading your thread I don't see a problem.  If TestMy.net is saying 8.1 Mbps... you're getting that speed.  It's better than your supposed to get, right?  TestMy.net is known by many to be the hardest speed test to get a favorable score on, this is by design.  Tests (of any kind) shouldn't be easy if you're trying to gain useful information on a subject.  Usually we hear it the other way around, "TestMy.net speed is much lower than the other speed test I use..." -- if iPrimus shows a lower speed on their test it could be due to the route to the server.  Even though it's within your ISP doesn't mean that there isn't an issue with that server, the route to that server or the test itself.

 

I just did the iPrimus, Telstra and TestMy.net speed tests all against Sydney AU.  (not my normal connection but it still proves my point)

 

Telstra was funny, even though for a large portion of the test my computer was reading only 8 Mbps... then down to far less (trailed off HUGE from the middle to the end), the test itself never indicated any of that happened.  It just ignored the bad parts of the result, as ookla speed tests are well known to do.  If we were graded like that in school, everyone would have doctorates and would learn nothing.

 

iPrimus -- looks exactly the same as Telstra's test, they're both ookla tests.  They both have similar designs and server selection.  But iPrimus scored far below the Telstra speed test result.

 

 

TestMy.net is exactly as I would expect.  Shows everything that I saw on the reading coming off my computer while it was happening.  Sorry it doesn't make people feel as good or want to share their scores as much... but it's the truth.  I'm here to help you with the truth, sometimes it hurts.  In those instances, if you listen, it will help.  According to the true test, the connection I'm on doesn't fair as well to Australia as the other guys would want me to believe.

 

Even a multithread speed test on TestMy.net (targeting only Sydney, AU) can only achieve 25 Mbps on this connection.

 

That's all she's got!

 

Funny thing is, after the initial tests I ran both of those tests (iPrimus and Telstra) at the exact same time... and they returned impossible results.  Somehow I showed more bandwidth on the Telstra test while the other test was running.  Think about this -- I drew more bandwidth, away from the test... yet the test was able to display significantly more bandwidth than I was supposedly capable of in the original test result.  

 

What?!  A combined 44 Mbps against Australia on a US connection that has a hard time pulling 25 Mbps out of Dallas.  Uh, no.  Do the same on TestMy.net and you'll see that the speed is split between the two results... aggregate the scores and you'll arrive at the same speed you'd expect to see off a single test.  This is what any tech would expect to see in that situation, because TMN is a real test and has no vested interest in your score being one way or the other. 

 

Here's a Dallas result just now on this connection.

Sure, I hit 40 Mbps... briefly.  Would you call that 40 Mbps or anywhere close?  Other tests algorithms may make it appear that way... their motto - keep the best, ignore the rest.

 

So, that iPrimus test also performed far lower on my end.  Not a reliable resource.  My main point however is that you really should stop wasting your time with all the BS speed tests out there.  You've finally found the real one.

 

Happy Testing!

 

 

[Parado]

Hi CA3LE,

 

Thank you for reply and all the information - sorry I hadn't meant to be critical of the site - more a reflection of my frustration.

 

I have read your reply and appreciate all the hard work you have put into investigating issues raised.- thank you.  Will spend more time rereading  your reply and hopefully at some stage all will make sense.

 

Just a note in the tests I selected Melbourne being my closest city while you have selected Sydney

 

Best wishes,

 

Eric

[mudmanc4]

@Parado I can appreciate your frustrations, as I am sure so many of the rest of us can as well. Until we get a grasp as to how the ISP we are using is actually treating our connection, compared to what we expect, especially when it becomes difficult to brows, as many of us have had that issue.

 

Summer months for myself can be taxing, and I'm not always as available here as I'd like to be. It seems many people ignore working machines, which act as 'dust filters' , collecting anything which the fans run through. Once the heat of the season hits, electronics explain the importance of regular cleanings when the system thermal settings are hit.

 

Just left a small companies datacenter where no filtration system was utilized other than what went through the rest of the office, three racks of servers 3/4 filled was a daunting cleaning task. I would have pics but the HR gal was adamant about not letting it out. I literally filled three office waste bags from the shop vac out of the servers themselves, and a good bit more from under and around the racks. The duct had not been cleaned in a millennia, took me 10 minutes just to pull the packed filter out.

 

 

[fey42]

My 2 cents.

 

Mostly everybody treats their computers the same, regardless of whether they are at home or at work.

It's working don't touch it.

Instead, let's keep up on the PM, like something as simple as using a vacuum cleaner and just sucking at all the fan and vent locations.

NOT compressed air and blowing it all in.