Switch off users while testing?

[fatbill]

Is the speed test accurate even if 2 or 3 people are using my internet?
Should I disconnect others from the internet while testing?

[mudmanc4]

It would be a better opton to isolate your network while testing.

Otherwise, unless you have a baselinene already established, and know what to expect while others are using the network.

[CA3LE]

If the other people on the network are currently downloading or uploading it will affect the result for sure.  Most of the time however it's not necessary to disconnect anyone.  Chances are, they're pretty much idle in the grand scheme of your connection, even if they're hitting webpages at the time.

 

Now, if you suspect that one of the users is eating up bandwidth it may help to test first to get a baseline with everything connected normally, then remove the other connections one in order to determine which machine is at fault.  It can be a quick, easy way to troubleshoot.

 

7 hours ago, fatbill said:

Is the speed test accurate even if 2 or 3 people are using my internet?

 

It's always accurate.  It's just not going to give you favorable results if other people on your network are using a significant portion of the connection.  That lends to the accuracy.  If you add the speed of what they're doing and your TestMy.net result... then run an identical test without the variable of the other users, unless there are other variables at work, you'll always find that it matches.

 

8 hours ago, fatbill said:

Should I disconnect others from the internet while testing?

 

No, you shouldn't.  I never do.  But if my result is way lower than expected... I'll start looking at the other connected machines... and then the internal network before I ever assume it's my providers fault.  9 times out of 10, it's my end.  Something needs a routine reboot, I forget about a file transfer on another machine.. etc.  But the variation in my normal result shows me that there's something not right and helps me track down the culprit every time.  Someone told me about how it helped them figure out that their neighbor was leeching their connection, torrenting.

 

Although like mudmanc4 said, there's a definite benefit to isolating variables.  When you're at the end of your rope.  First, get your baseline hooked up normally.  Then if you're on wifi, test directly connected to the router.  No improvement?  Then test directly wired to the modem (if your modem is separate from the router).  If you still have the same issue, connecting a different computer to the same direct connection will prove that it's not isolated to the one machine.  Remember, the modem will need to be power cycled between connecting and disconnecting the modem from anything.  It must be assigned to the new mac address of the device it's plugged into.