Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => Broadband Technology => Topic started by: mywifeshusband on October 25, 2011, 05:02:37 PM
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Can anyone please tell me if the Think-Broadband speed tester which I have used for several years with my old 1Mbps Fixed Broadband service is accurate for the BT Infinity FTCC that I'm now on. I ask because there is a wide discrepancy between it and the official BT Speed tester; particularly with a wireless connection.
BT Infinity configured download speed was 35 Mbps 6 months ago but has dropped back to about 30 now and on average I've been actually getting about 5 Mbps less than this in actual download speed as measured by the BT Speed tester. With a 'wired' Ethernet connection the think-broadband test comes out about another 5 Mbps slower but the main issue is the difference between the 'wired' and the 'wireless' as follows.
I have just run another double test within the last 10 minutes and 26Mbps BT Tester (wireless connection) corresponds to 9Mbps (yes nine Mbps) (wireless connection) think-broadband speed tester. This is typical of the results I'm getting using the BT Home Hub 3 and an 'n' technology Belkin dongle creating the wireless connection which constantly reports itself as "excellent".
I'm stumped for an explanation. 'Wired' the think-broadband test is consistently lower than the BT Test but within the same ball park, but 'wireless' there seems to be no comparability at all.
Any ideas why - and which one is right?
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Hi mywifeshusband,
Don't know if this is of any use:-
I have been using speedtest.net recently to monitor my currently very poor FTTC connection (wired desktop PC).
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1555143616.png&hash=991d6c4afc05fe7a66f3fadc081c9c6e9075aa51) (http://speedtest.net)
& occasionally mybroadbandspeed.co.uk
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk%2Fresults%2F123678571.png&hash=0fd939dd2d73a05d5f7a0defc313d12ee09686b2) (http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk)
Just tried the TBB speed tester. It seems a little more pessimistic:-
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkbroadband.com%2Fspeedtest%2Fbutton%2F131957013997247225918.png&hash=40a57a2c52cf06630d66c2c91c28899fa31523bd) (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/131957013997247225918.html)
I can't try the wireless laptop tonight, but it is ALWAYS around 50% of the speeds reported via my desktop PC.
Now & then I try the test download files from here:-
http://www.btopenworld.com/speedtest (http://www.btopenworld.com/speedtest)
Again, via the laptop, the time taken to download the 15Mb file is ALWAYS twice as long as when downloaded to the desktop PC.
I put that down to the old & slow wireless adapter in the laptop.
Paul.
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TBB's speedtest has never given me an accurate result.
For example -
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1555997496.png&hash=d314740175f9698b348de934154ad2a92e5889a6)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk%2Fresults%2F123748861.png&hash=62ee14d9f1ab24c4823270e60362db6cb19deaa8)
But -
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkbroadband.com%2Fspeedtest%2Fbutton%2F131961672977392631578.png&hash=60b55b87f1d6bc71ac540c481cf11289f8e5b4d6)
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Thanks Folks - What you say is very helpful, but how do you tests compare with the official BT http://speedtester.bt.com/ ?
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Thanks Folks - What you say is very helpful, but how do you tests compare with the official BT http://speedtester.bt.com/ ?
For me, the BT speedtester is always a tiny bit more pessimistic than speedtest.net (usually no more than 0.5Mb difference).
I don't usually get affected by contention, regardless of the time of day either.
There musn't be that many users connected to the same FTTC cabinet DSLAM as me.
Paul.
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Thanks Bald-Eagle for your observations. I have just done another wireless speed test results as follows:-
(Download speeds only, with all three test completed within 5 minutes of noon.)
Bt speed tester 26,459 kbps on a configured speed of 28,788 kbps
Speedtest.net 18,59 kbps
Think-broadband 8,658 kbps.
I know I have nothing to complain about with figures like these but I do wish I could find out which on is right.
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Which server/location did you use on Speedtest.net? I find some servers/locations give much more accurate results than other.
London, Milton Keynes and Maidenhead all give the most reliable results in my experience.
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Hello Griff
I used Maidenhead, it being the closest to where I live.
Thanks
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I usually just let speedtest.net choose the server.
Apparently it determines the "best" one to use.
I live near Manchester, but that doesn't usually provide the best results.
Maidenhead, & a few others dahn sarf tend to give better/more consistent results for me.
For curiosity, what results would your wired connection provide if the 3 same tests were run one after the other today (allowing speedtest.net to choose the "best" server)?
Assuming it is actually working correctly, I would have thought your 'n' dongle would have provided reasonably consistent & fairly high results from the various speed testers, on a pro-rata basis.
Maybe some sort of incompatibility between the HH3 & the dongle itself?
I will try the TTB speed test wirelessly when I get home tonight, to see if it also shows such a huge difference for my connection.
Paul.
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Sorry but I don't have an Ethernet lead long enough to do a wired connection to the PC from the router. However my netbook on a short lead records as follows:-
BT speed tester 26,561 kbps on a configured connection of 28,788kbps
speedtest.net 20.25 mbps
Think-broadband 18.3 mbps
These readings were taken within 5 minutes of 14:00 hrs and are consistent with others taken over the last 5 months or so.
The netbook only has a 'b' technology connection and turns in a wireless connection download speed using think-broadband of only 5 to 6 Mbps, significantly slower than the PC which as a 'n' dongle.
I have also run further tests from other BB speed testing websites on both machines and they all seem to average out at about 20Mbps wirelessly with not a great deal of difference between the wired connection to the PC
Having gone through this over and over again in my mind I still can't see a logical reason for think- broadband returning such a very low wireless reading for the two computers against all the competition, particularly whilst the wired connection is 'almost' comparable.
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Right,
I have just arrived home & ran the wireless tests:-
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkbroadband.com%2Fspeedtest%2Fbutton%2F131973374814265117563.png&hash=c2640dd37b0a6e3efd41bf6edada4065d5514360) (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/131973374814265117563.html)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1558681959.png&hash=d099bce8aac018d6bc4765b88ec6fc2573568b19)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk%2Fresults%2F124088031.png&hash=11a525f3ef4c233bed7872fb88b55fbcd6029a9b) (http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk)
Ignore the time differences. They were all run one after the other.
There is something strange going on there, as these are the best wireless results I have ever achieved, even from when a wired connection gave me 33Mb downloads. I only achieved 16Mb or so wirelessly back then.
Today, they are more or less the same as my wired connection.
The results do however show that TBB gives a lower download speed for a wireless connection for some reason though.
The 15Mb test download from here:- http://www.btopenworld.com/speedtest took 9 seconds wirelessly, & a few minutes ago took 6 seconds wired.
I don't know if the above has helped, or just added further confusion :-\
EDIT: Wired (about 1 hour later):-
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkbroadband.com%2Fspeedtest%2Fbutton%2F131973665359799418046.png&hash=b3aca184a9560ebaf3cd09453aa3f97774448478) (http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/131973665359799418046.html)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1558799959.png&hash=07831c329f1c59b476b8e50c13124e3c4f5b75ce) (http://www.speedtest.net)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk%2Fresults%2F124101481.png&hash=dcc5a428365efeea2db6f45e07ec29e38779b937) (http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk)
Paul.
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@ Paul. FWIW I'm curious; what did you open the BTO tester with?
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@ renluop,
Nothing really.
It seems to be full of pure garbage, & just used as a constant for testing download speeds.
I couldn't even copy & paste any of it as an example of what it contains.
This link explains, or doesn't explain what it is:- http://www.tech-forums.net/pc/f9/btopenworld-com-speedtest-10319/
Paul.
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Apologies,
The test download file is 15MB in size, not 15Mb.
Paul.