Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => FTTC and FTTP Issues => Topic started by: Maturecheese on January 27, 2012, 01:15:06 PM
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Why does the BT speedtest always give a much faster speed result than any other web based speed tester out there? We are talking nearly double the speed difference.
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If you are on BT then you may see a slight increase due to the locations of the speedtest servers which are located sort of as part of the backhaul so depending on your own location then you will almost certainly hit these before 'out on to the internet', they wont be any shaping either.
Double the speed seems a a bit strange... as not ISP in their right mind would shape http traffic, especially to well known speedtesters.
Have you tried a mix of java and flash based speedtesters.
Out of curiousity may be worth installing something like Net Meter (http://wiki.kitz.co.uk/index.php?title=Download_Monitors) on your local machine then grabbing a file from somewhere like http://fuller.zen.co.uk/test/
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I actually see the opposite.
The BT speed test at http://test.speedtester.bt.com (http://test.speedtester.bt.com) ALWAYS shows 1 or 2Mb less DS throughput than speedtest.net / mybroadband.co.uk / BBMax for me (at quiet times).
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Just done three tests
Bt 38717/10000 Profile 24897/6589 best effort
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1734325230.png&hash=09b79c98eb286f76274f82e6c5baa384b3cc62ea)
BBmax 27th January 2012 17:22:31 6372 Kbps up 13865 Kbps down
Somethings not right!
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Try Speedtest.net again but try the Milton Keynes and London (Namesco) servers. See if they give any different results.
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Try the same tests from SafeMode with Networking and see what happens.
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Hi .Griff.,
Perhaps also try a ThinkBroadband test as well. They often produce slightly slower results but don't seem to vary as much as the Speedtest.net ones.
Kind regards,
Walter
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Adrian
I did as you suggested and I was surprised. One two of the three PC'c on my home network the tests were much faster in safe mode I haven't tried on the third one yet. This comlicates matters for me unless someone can cast some light on it. Here are the results from one of the two PC's tested.
normal mode (https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1735750336.png&hash=9eaabc6d9098c12bbd9bee0577dd35d4a1253f1f)
Safe mode two tests (https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1735738009.png&hash=e09e82c2b5f3593153a9e920cdb85b934a614dd2)
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fspeedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1735739190.png&hash=0328f86540fccad1d477bbaa5ea9e4dd8cc6ae8b)
I had the same effect at bbmax.co.uk
Also tried a different server on speedtest.net as suggested but it made no difference
Installed netmeter and peak download in the report is 3.74 MiB/s
So to summarise, the only way I seem to get a fast result is in safe mode on any PC and I eagerly await an explanation from those more enlightened than myself.
Colin
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What antivirus system do you have?
Scanning from safemode removes all the aplications you would normally have loaded under a normal start, some AV systems cause issues with speed tests, indeed BT used to suggest the Safemode way to get a true picture.
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Adrian
You asked what av I am running?
Kaspersky Internet Security on all three PC's but I have already tried the speedtest in normal mode with Kaspersky shut down and it's still too slow.
My beef is this, with a 800 meter line to the cabinet I should be getting better speeds without having to run in safe mode. Others on here are getting better results than me and I suspect it's the same old problem, the state of my line. I know what the final outcome is going to be regarding BT doing anything to help so I don''t know why I persist, it's not good for the stress levels :)
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The speedtest via Safemode shows clearly that you are getting the correct speeds for your service.
The BT speedtest is Javascript based, the Speedtest.net is Flash based. Your apparent speed issue is probably being caused by a problem on your PC's.
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So, things that could be causing an issue, corrupted Flash installations due to using th updater system and not a full uninstall/install.
Conflicts with another application such as another firewall/antimalware or incomplete removal of a previous AV system.
Are Windows Firewall and Windows Defender shutdown, is there any other resident protection running?
Flash based malware is all over the net but getting 3 machines infected is unlikely but possible.
Kaspersky itself could well be the issue, I gave up using their suite long ago as it crippled my machines,their support tried long and hard to sort things out but in the end I just cleared all reference to it from the registry and went with Avast AIS and all the problems were gone.
Personally I would go to the Kaspersky forum and ask for their help. I know you said you turned off Kaspersky and tested but unless you actually restarted the system without Kaspersky loading then all you did was stop the resident realtime scan, all the other elements including the firewall were still in place.
The fact that in Safemode your speed tests are fine is proof that the issue is within your system when all applications are loaded and is not a BT/ISP problem.
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Adrian
Thank you for the advice. I suspect if it is anything on all three pc's it is Kaspersky as just about everyone has Flash on their systems and others aren't getting slowed up like me. I will, on one of the PC's, uninstall flash player via add remove programs/ programs and features and reinstall to see if it makes a difference Can anyone recommend a different antivirus program that is in the same price range as Kaspersky for three licences but is not likely to cause the kind of problem we are talking about?
Colin
Update It is looking like Kaspersky Internet Security could well be having an impact on the speedtests i have been conducting. i disabled start with windows and shut the program down then restarted. the upshot of this was a much more favourable speedtest 30mb ds. Even starting the program up again doesn't impact much on a speedtest whereas enabling start with windows and then restarting windows DOES impact on the speedtest. For now I will disable start with windows option on all three PC's and start the program manually.
Looks like you could well be right Adrian thank you for your imput.
Colin
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Hi Colin,
I use avast suite and have no issues with throughput. Unless you are near the end of your license period I would be asking Kaspersky for their input after all you have paid a fair sum of money and should not be seeing issues like this.
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Hi Colin,
I use AVG - Free version.
It has no effect upon any of my throughput speed tests.
Paul.
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Installed netmeter and peak download in the report is 3.74 MiB/s
3.74 MiB/s = (3.74 * 1.05) = 3.927 MB/sec
3.927MB/Sec = (3.927 * 8) = 31.416 Mbps
There should be an option in Netmeter to change the display unit. I have mine set at kilobits per second (kbps).
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There appears to be something seriously wrong with the Glouster server @ speedtest.net - at least for me
I constantly get results similar to this:-
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1738167356.png&hash=4e9832e023ca4a891f782b5710279d103b927295) (http://www.speedtest.net)
The Manchester server just doesnt seem to be able to measure my upload speed correctly.
- In fact none of the speedtest.nets tests ever seem to be able to record my upstream despite syncing at 2.6Mbps upstream - never have been able to :(
(https://forum.kitz.co.uk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.speedtest.net%2Fresult%2F1738164880.png&hash=e3929cf244e6dacb596f3203eecbeb42dcb865ff) (http://www.speedtest.net)
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Adrian, I have around two and a half months left on the license so it might be worth contacting them but there's only so much head stress I can take :)
Bald_Eagle1, Is the protection offered good enough with AVG? I have used it in the past.
I must point out though, when I tried the same process on my PC downstairs this morning (running XP on that one) there was very little improvement in the speedtests although the BT speedtest came in with a whopping 33581/6829. I am running Vista 32bit on the other two and I am yet to try the process on the other vista machine.
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Hi
Whilst not being in the same league on a mere 8max connection I have found that using speedtest.net and UK servers ,Coventry,Gloucester ,Birmingham
A) quite often that My upload speeds are very low / inconsistent
with Manchester giving the widest variation
So I have gone around the world namely New York gives much more consistent results ,
It does not give the very Highest readings(about 95%) but both the DS and US are more consistent.
Regards Jeff
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Bald_Eagle1, Is the protection offered good enough with AVG? I have used it in the past.
It has caught a few spyware/malware items & quarantined them & manual ad-hoc checks after downloading something seem quick enough.
It seems fine.
I have used it for a few years now.
I tried Avast, but didn't like the feel of it (no particular reason).
It did slow down internet browsing (mainly Facebook) on Mrs. Eagle's laptop but a quick unticking of one option sorted that out.
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Thanks all for the suggestions, I'll change my av when it expires and see if it helps and meanwhile I'll keep my ear to the ground to see if any other ways to improve my broadband performance crop up.
Colin
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Did you try a java based test such as the one at Think Broadband.
both the speedtest.net and bbmax speedtests are flash based. The btw speedtest uses java so it would be intresting to see if its isolated to the flash based tests only.
Your result using netmeter of 3.74 MiB/sec - which is 31.4 Mbps would seem to show that the actual throughput is nearer to what you are seeing from the btw speedtest leading to perhaps a problem just with the flash based testers.
edit
In fact a quick google would seem to show that kasperspy does seem to have a long standing issue with the flash based speedtests and can impair the results.... and show some very skewed and weird speeds when kasperspy is enabled.