BT speedtester.bt.com/

What would be the difference testing using your normal adsl log in
details or using the BT speedtest login details.

Geoff Lane

On Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:59:51 +0100, Geoff Lane
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What would be the difference testing using your normal adsl log in
>details or using the BT speedtest login details.
>
>Geoff Lane


Using the BT login details cuts overheads and gives a more accurate
figure

jim

On Fri, 01 Jun 2007 22:59:51 +0100, Geoff Lane
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What would be the difference testing using your normal adsl log in
>details or using the BT speedtest login details.

The speedtest login will use a different VP (route if you like) to the
tester - eg usual login would go :

Modem<->Exchange<->BT Wholesale Network<->ISP BT Central<->ISP
Upstream Infrastructure<->BT Speedtester

The speedtest login would remover the "ISP BT Central" and all of the
ISPs upstream infrastructure.

So _in theory_ (but not sadly in practice) using a different login
should show whether the exchange is the bottleneck or whether its the
ISP oversubscribing the central pipe. Possibly this works at 3am in
the morning but it certainly doesn't during working hours as the BT
Speedtester is probably the most overloaded segment of the network :-D

"Geoff Lane" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:f3q4si$tso$(E-Mail Removed)...
> What would be the difference testing using your normal adsl log in details
> or using the BT speedtest login details.
>
> Geoff Lane

The BT test logs the details so that your ISP can access the results. It
only keeps them in English unfortunately, so no good to my ISP.

Mr Adams wrote:

> The speedtest login would remover the "ISP BT Central" and all of the
> ISPs upstream infrastructure.
>
> So _in theory_ (but not sadly in practice) using a different login
> should show whether the exchange is the bottleneck or whether its the
> ISP oversubscribing the central pipe. Possibly this works at 3am in
> the morning but it certainly doesn't during working hours as the BT
> Speedtester is probably the most overloaded segment of the network :-D

I've never actually managed to get a result using the BT log in details,
my modem shows a connection with an IP address etc but the speedtest to
date hasn't worked.

Works ok using my normal connection.

Geoff Lane

On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:54:07 +0100, Geoff Lane
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I've never actually managed to get a result using the BT log in details,
>my modem shows a connection with an IP address etc but the speedtest to
>date hasn't worked.
>
>Works ok using my normal connection.

Yes when I was on IPStream with Zen (on Be now) I found much the same.
It does work in the wee small hours and there are some ways of getting
past the (usually buggered) round-robin load balancing which the
tester login (apparently) seems to use, but even then consistency is
not the tester's strong point.

It's not a lot of use really - but then I don't really think it was
ever intended to be of much use. If it were then BT could have thrown
a (relatively) small amount of cash at this problem in order to make
the tester even vaguely reliable. Then again BT (wholesale/openreach)
don't have to deal with the support calls do they? ;-)

"Mr Adams" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 00:54:07 +0100, Geoff Lane
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >I've never actually managed to get a result using the BT log in details,
> >my modem shows a connection with an IP address etc but the speedtest to
> >date hasn't worked.
> >
> >Works ok using my normal connection.
>
> Yes when I was on IPStream with Zen (on Be now) I found much the same.
> It does work in the wee small hours and there are some ways of getting
> past the (usually buggered) round-robin load balancing which the
> tester login (apparently) seems to use, but even then consistency is
> not the tester's strong point.
>
> It's not a lot of use really - but then I don't really think it was
> ever intended to be of much use. If it were then BT could have thrown
> a (relatively) small amount of cash at this problem in order to make
> the tester even vaguely reliable. Then again BT (wholesale/openreach)
> don't have to deal with the support calls do they? ;-)
>

The first test on the BT Speedtester seems to be a lot more reliable now
than it used to be, it works most of the time only during the busiests
couple of hours of the week will you see busy errors. It still gives
unhelpful errors if you aren't on IPStream but that's another story. The big
problem our customers tell us is that the second test doesn't work for them.
We've made sure that this has been fed back to BT as it's this test that's
the most valuable as it shows whether a speed problem is BT side or ISP side
now that the old test has been pretty much withdrawn. Hopefully other ISPs
have done the same.

--
| Dave Tomlinson Broadband Solutions For
| Customer Support Home & Business
| PlusNet plc @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----

My ISP has asked me to use this a couple of times now and I never got it to work. This might explain why!

On Sun, 3 Jun 2007 22:19:14 +0100, "PlusNet Support Team"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

<snip>

>We've made sure that this has been fed back to BT as it's this test that's
>the most valuable as it shows whether a speed problem is BT side or ISP side
>now that the old test has been pretty much withdrawn. Hopefully other ISPs
>have done the same.

Aren't you owned by BT now ?

"jim" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 3 Jun 2007 22:19:14 +0100, "PlusNet Support Team"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>>We've made sure that this has been fed back to BT as it's this test that's
>>the most valuable as it shows whether a speed problem is BT side or ISP
>>side
>>now that the old test has been pretty much withdrawn. Hopefully other ISPs
>>have done the same.
>
> Aren't you owned by BT now ?

"Owned by" is not "an integral part of". For instance, BT also owns dabs.com
All ISPs are required by law to be treated the same by BT Wholesale and
Openreach (including BT Broadband and Plusnet).
Plusnet do have access to BT's back-up services though, such as BT Security,
which was used during their recent email address-theft cock-up.
Also BT is apparently pouring cash into Plusnet enabling them to bring more
BT centrals into service, etc.

George