Does this mean that ALL speed checkers would have record 218 if they had selected the same server in Helsinki and measured the speed at the same time in the same location ?
Mostly with speed checkers you canāt select the server. Speedtest has hundreds of servers worldwide (itās just a bit of software running on any server thatās there for other real commercial reasons) and you can see if you test from half a dozen near by how different they can be from each other. Speedtest automatically chooses the server with the lowest ping, so itās the best test of your own local connection to the ISPās connection to the internet, which is why you shouldnāt dismiss what the installerās phone says.
But you can choose any other server if you want.
Best
David
If speedtest is the best test, makes me wonder why Which & Ofcom arenāt using or recommending it. Especially as Which is using the data from these tests as part of its Broadband campaign, as I said before Iāve found it to give the lowest readings of any test service Iāve used.
I have found that the browser can make a difference too. Speedtest.net recommend using their app for faster connections. Thereās IOS, Android and a Windows version.
I had a similar issue to you, I had a speed issue and the engineer came and changed the router and put us on a different circuit in the roadside cabinet. When finished his readings were 220 whereas mine using a reasonable laptop wired to the router were sub 100.
He wasnāt able to explain why and on the basis that I had seen his test with my own eyes I let him leave.
Further tests with that laptop revealed that using Edge (the previous version) I would get the same speed he did but Chrome remained stubbornly slow(er).
Now itās all connected up in modem mode with my own (Draytek) router and TP-Link Deco I get 220 everywhere, except on that one laptop running Chrome!
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Iāve used my Windows 10 laptop wired and with either Chrome or whatever the latest version of Microsoft Internet is (I dont recall at time of writing), didnt make any difference. Also used my wifeās laptop, an iPhone6, a Samsung Galaxy, the best was the iPhone6 on 5ghz but still not close to the engineers figure under the same conditions.
My streamer and amazon fire sticks appear to show good connections but dont give speeds.
And a Mac version actually.
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Which recommendations are based on a concept of value for money and āthings that matterā which few here would recognise. I doubt youāll find they have ever, for example, recommended a Naim product even when patently best in class.
Same goes for white goods. If Iād listened to Which Iād have owned multiple unreliable products by certain manufacturers rather than the one washer Iāve had for 15 years which had yet to have a single fault.
If youāre resting issues with your network Which have very little expertise in that much as they have little expertise in anything bar testing.
Itās a bit like that Audio Science magazine. Lots of measures but little about the stuff which matters.
I certainly wouldnāt recommend such tools, other than to give an approximate consumer oriented view. By their very nature for them to be accurate specific software tools such as imperf need to be used in tight controlled conditions using dedicated Ethernet connections at both ends of the connectionā¦ which is what one would use professionally.
The key thing one can look at to ascertain your speed as a consumer, is look at your ISP shaper profile. This is optimised for your error rate and sync speed and is accurate for downlink throughput. Clearly this varies for each ISP.
For BT for example you can use this tool to confirm your true bandwidth of your internet access connection as set by the BRAS. This particular portal is non supported and only for BT
Thanks again Simon, sorry but the tech and jargon is mostly beyond me but I do appreciate your knowledgeable input
basically if you have a BT service this portal, once you init your telephone number, tells you what your actual speed is on your connection as it is the policed bandwidth limit that is applied to your connection once consideration of quality and error correction is considered.
Other ISPs might have similar things.
So on my line my sync rate on my modem is currently is 46.953Mbps
The current Downstream IP profile rate provided and policed by BT is: 43.38 Mbps
This IP profile rate is derived from the sync rate, line quality, overheads and errors and is designed to give the best possible throughput on your line. Therefore my actual true speed is 43.38Mbps and not 46.953 Mbps. This difference is based to some extent on environmental and line considerations. This has no bearing on congestion due to time of day etcā¦ as your actual connection speed (with VDSL) is not affected by these matters
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So a nice helpful chap from Vodafone/ Open Reach installed my Broadband/Phone/Apple TV package last Thursday.
He advised that it can take up to about 10 days to optimise.
Whatever, already it seems better than Virgin, web pages on Laptops/Phones are loading promptly, no buffering on Amazon Fire Sticks, best of all Iām sure my streamer is sounding better.
The Vodafone speed on paper is quoted as 64mbps although I seem to be measuring 72mbps. This is about the speed I was measuring with Virgin, but I was paying them for 213mbps with āguaranteed minimum of 100mbpsā. So although the speed appears the same something else must be happening for me to notice such significant improvements with the same speed on Vodafone.
Iām only paying Vodafone a third of what Virgin initially wanted to sting me for.
The only difference in the packages is that Virgins included the TiVo. Vodafone include a āfreeā Apple TV box. Neither of which I really need as we can already watch TV using Amazon Fire Sticks.
First impressions with Vodafone tell me it was a good decision to ditch Virgin after 14 years.
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Glad to hear.
As I mentioned previously, Iāve had a good experience with Vodafone/Openreach recently so is nice to see theyāre doing the business (and at a fraction of the cost).
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As I understand, Vodafone are relatively new in the Broadband market, so maybe they need to make an effort to get established, see how they perform longer term but first impressions are good.
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Itās always good to have doubt. They gave the Muso QB five stars (out of 5) in all three categories they measure: Sound Quality, Ease of use and Audio Sources and Connections and made it a Best Buy.
Roger
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