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[bbnovice]

Hi

I am asking this out of curiosity rather than it being a big issue but I don''t like mysteries. The speedtest reults referred to below are from the BT Wholesale Performance checker.

I recently ordered an upgrade from a BT FTTP 150Mbs service to 900Mbs. When I was on the 150Mbs service Firefox, Edge and Chrome reported similar test results in terms ping and download/upload speeds.

Now that my 900Mbs service has been activated I tested the speed using Firefox (my default browser) and this consistently reports ping around 12ms and a download speed between 710-780Mbs which is close to the download guaranteed of 700Mbs. Whilst watching the test run you can plainly see hesitation in the reported speeds before it reports the final figure.

So I thought I would keep my eye on the speed over a few days to make sure the download threshold wasn't dropping below the guarantee.

However I have now discovered that the Chrome and Edge browsers report very different speeds. They both report much lower ping numbers (around half of that reported by Firefox) and significantly higher download speeds of between 880-900Mbs. The tests are run on the different browser in quick succession.

I have experimented with changing thesettings in Firefox (eg proxy settings) and clearing cache/site data with no difference to the results. I am running the latest version of all 3 browsers using a wired connection to a desktop computer.

Has anybody else encountered this or have an explanation?   

[tiffy]

Can't comment on BTw performance tester and Firefox combination with FTTP, however, there certainly were well known and well documented issues with this combination on VDSL/FTTC service, an alternate browser to FF was always recommended with the BTw checker.

In general, the BTw performance tester is very poorly rated for accuracy, certainly on ADSL/VDSL service, on my line US data speed is consistantly reported as higher than synch speed!
I always use Speedtest.net now which produces much more consistant and believable results with any browser I have tried.

I'am sure some of the many FTTP service forum patrons will offer more applicable observation.

[craigski]

Windows PC? Start task manager when you run speed test, I expect you are maxing out the CPU on PC/laptop with the browser application when running speedtest.

[bbnovice]

Windows PC? Start task manager when you run speed test, I expect you are maxing out the CPU on PC/laptop with the browser application when running speedtest.

Followed your suggestion. Attached are copies from the Task Manager whilst running the BTW speed checker using Firefox, and indeed it does look like the PC may be maxixng out. But if that is the case it should also max out with the other browsers surely? I'll try it again with Edge and Chrome later.
 

[bbnovice]

Just done the same using the Chrome browser. This run reported a ping of 5 and a download speed of 895Mbs. See attached

The CPU usage appears to be much less than Firefox.

Prima facie it looks as though Firefox is not handling throughput as efficiently as Chrome (and by implication Edge either).
   

[bbnovice]

And to round this off.....

I did some digging in the BT forum archives and found similar issues being reported there. The consensus was that Chrome and Edge give more consistent results which are more believable than Firefox. Although with my repeated testing I have now managed to get some ridiculously low speeds reported by Edge - clearing the cache fixes this.

So I've sort of answered my own question.

I never encountered this consistency issue when measuring my slower braodband service. Moral is for me not to panic when I run a speed test on the 900Mbs service and instead try an alternative browser first!         

[meritez]

Is each browser using the same DNS?

[craigski]

I never encountered this consistency issue when measuring my slower braodband service. Moral is for me not to panic when I run a speed test on the 900Mbs service and instead try an alternative browser first!       

There are many variables, you could find Firefox is faster on a different PC or running a different type of speedtest, eg fast.com. You have shown that the limiting factor in your tests was the CPU in your specific PC, if you tried again on a faster PC, Firefox may show the fastest results compared to Chrome on the same faster PC.

[bbnovice]

Is each browser using the same DNS?

I don't know. How can I check?