Best Broadband Speedtest?

I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what speed I'm
getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to give
wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit variable anyway,
but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are the better
ones?


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

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In message <ATXcg.507$(E-Mail Removed)>, DAB sounds worse
than FM <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps

Or rather MaxADSL, which is rather different....

>and I've been testing what speed I'm
>getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to give
>wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit variable anyway,

By design.

>but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are the better
>ones?
>
>
I tend to think that these speedtests need taking with a bit of salt.-
at best they can give an idea of where you are at, but I've had a
difference of 2000 - 3000 Mb/s uisng the same speedtester in the space
of les than 30 minutes.

But I could certainly see that there was a 2 Mb (ish) cap on the line
for the first few days (as expected) and when that had gone.

--
Chris French, Leeds

"DAB sounds worse than FM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:ATXcg.507$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what speed
> I'm getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to give
> wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit variable anyway,
> but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are the better
> ones?

Download a few large files from your ISP's ftp site and see the speed and
variation.

I find NetMeter useful: http://readerror.gmxhome.de/ You can soon see
whether you are getting something reasonable but it is important to test the
speed of your link, not other parts of the net that your ISP doesn't have
control over.

--
Tony W
My e-mail address has no hyphen
- but please don't use it, reply to the group.

Chris French wrote:
> In message <ATXcg.507$(E-Mail Removed)>, DAB sounds worse
> than FM <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps
>
> Or rather MaxADSL, which is rather different....
>
>> and I've been testing what speed I'm
>> getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to
>> give wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit
>> variable anyway,
>
> By design.


Does that mean that speedtests are a waste of time until the algorithm has
decided what the right connection speed is?


>> but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are the
>> better ones?
>>
>>
> I tend to think that these speedtests need taking with a bit of salt.-
> at best they can give an idea of where you are at, but I've had a
> difference of 2000 - 3000 Mb/s uisng the same speedtester in the space
> of les than 30 minutes.


2000 - 3000 Mbps difference? Who are you, BT?


> But I could certainly see that there was a 2 Mb (ish) cap on the line
> for the first few days (as expected) and when that had gone.


I downloaded a 35 MB file just after I'd connected for the first time at up
to 8 Mbps and that averaged at about 3.5 Mbps.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

Tony wrote:
> "DAB sounds worse than FM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:ATXcg.507$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what
>> speed I'm getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all
>> seem to give wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a
>> bit variable anyway, but are some speedtests better than others, and
>> if so which are the better ones?
>
> Download a few large files from your ISP's ftp site and see the speed
> and variation.


Okay.


> I find NetMeter useful: http://readerror.gmxhome.de/


Thanks.


> You can soon see
> whether you are getting something reasonable but it is important to
> test the speed of your link, not other parts of the net that your ISP
> doesn't have control over.


True.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what speed I'm
> getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to give
> wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit variable anyway,
> but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are the better
> ones?
>

By far the best one seems to be

http://www.auditmypc.com/internet-speed-test.asp

Ian



---
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"Ian & Hilda Dedic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
>> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what speed
>> I'm getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all seem to
>> give wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a bit variable
>> anyway, but are some speedtests better than others, and if so which are
>> the better ones?
>>
>
> By far the best one seems to be
>
> http://www.auditmypc.com/internet-speed-test.asp
>
> Ian
>
>
>
> ---
> avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
> Virus Database (VPS): 0621-3, 24/05/2006
> Tested on: 24/05/2006 23:09:59
> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software.
> http://www.avast.com
>
>
I tried that one, but the server kept being busy - I used this one instead:
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

cheers

Graham

If possible you should use speed test provided by your ISP to eliminate
delays in other parts of the Internet.
PlusNet has one, 5Mb/s :-)
Regards,
Martin

Graham wrote:
> "Ian & Hilda Dedic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
>>> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what
>>> speed I'm getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all
>>> seem to give wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a
>>> bit variable anyway, but are some speedtests better than others,
>>> and if so which are the better ones?
>>>
>>
>> By far the best one seems to be
>>
>> http://www.auditmypc.com/internet-speed-test.asp
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>> avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
>> Virus Database (VPS): 0621-3, 24/05/2006
>> Tested on: 24/05/2006 23:09:59
>> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software.
>> http://www.avast.com
>>
>>
> I tried that one, but the server kept being busy - I used this one
> instead: http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/


Thanks for both.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php

Graham wrote:
> "Ian & Hilda Dedic" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
>>> I've just been upgraded to up to 8 Mbps and I've been testing what
>>> speed I'm getting on a few of the available speedtests but they all
>>> seem to give wildly different results. I've heard that MaxDSL is a
>>> bit variable anyway, but are some speedtests better than others,
>>> and if so which are the better ones?
>>>
>>
>> By far the best one seems to be
>>
>> http://www.auditmypc.com/internet-speed-test.asp
>>
>> Ian
>>
>>
>>
>> ---
>> avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean.
>> Virus Database (VPS): 0621-3, 24/05/2006
>> Tested on: 24/05/2006 23:09:59
>> avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2006 ALWIL Software.
>> http://www.avast.com
>>
>>
> I tried that one, but the server kept being busy - I used this one
> instead: http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/


Both of those tests actually seriously underestimated what I can get if I
download a large file from a relatively fast source. For example,
downloading iTunes, which is about 36 MB, it averages at about 3.2 Mbps, but
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/ says I get 1.9 Mbps and the other one says
it's only just over 1 Mbps.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest Freeview & DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.php
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/dab_radios.php