Question about speed tests

[jcarter]

Comcast just bought our old cable ISP, and they brag that our speed should be blasingly fast.  I dont see any difference from our old Adelphia ISP.

So I went to www.speakeasy.net/speedtest and tested both my macs.
I would think that they both would be the same, as isnt the test about the connection and not the computer?
I know it varies during the day, but I tested these 2 machines within a minute.

G4  2585 Kbps  download      251 up
G5  4066 down                     352 up

I don't know what to compare this to, is this good, mediocre, or slow?
Thanks,
Jane

[RHPConsult]

Jane:

Here's a no-brainer.
Click here, then select the NYC server and sit back and observe.

You will get results in kbps. Check those against the "marketing" appeals that got you "in-the-door" so to speak for the new service. My hi-speed DSL now gives me 6125 kbps download and 780 upload.

Part of my rage at Earthnlink began when, initially, I was getting only 1500/325  kbps (exactly the same as the garden-variety DSL we had had for 7-8 years). It took some, shall we say, stern admonitions over the phone with Mujibor's cousin(s) before I got someone who acknowledged that I was not getting what I was already paying for.

Literally, a 30 sec tweak by the right tech – electronically w/o interrupting my on-line status – got me the 400% increase in speed.

So, if it doesn't seem right. Complain. It isn 't pleasant but it worked.

[bobw]

Try both machines here

http://www.giganews.com/test_connect.html


You can also try changing the Network settings in the Network PreferencePane under the Ethernet tab;

Configure - Manually
Speed - Highest
Duplex - full-duplex

[Paddy]

My G5 right now on Comcast in North Andover, MA:

Download Speed: 18681 kbps (2335.1 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 354 kbps (44.3 KB/sec transfer rate)

CNET's test: Download only: 1989.3 Kbps

Bandwidthplace.com results:
Communications 11.6 megabits per second
Storage 1.4 megabytes per second
1MB file download 0.7 seconds
Subjective rating Unbelievable

Netaccess test:

5618 / 358 (Kbps)
(685.8 / 43.7 KB/sec)
Compared to the average of 3217 tests from comcast.net:
* download is 19% worse, upload is 18% worse

And yet...it doesn't seem slow or any different than usual.

Comcast took over Adelphia's entire network and all their equipment - I wouldn't expect any big change and certainly not initially. BTW - Comcast is moving to a tiered service, judging from what they're doing in other areas.

Further note: don't get your kbps and your Kbps mixed up!

[jcarter]

Thanks everybody.  I do find that the speeds sure vary all over the place.  From tester to tester too.
But I am satisfied with what I get here, at least all my classwork and my uploading of pictures to my sites and blogs is just fine.  So I guess thats OK.
There is no difference between old Adelphia and Comcast, as you say all the equipment is the same its just the name and the printing on their trucks thats changed.
Jane

[RHPConsult]

My misreading, Jane. Sorry. I thought you were askiing about "new" service, rather than some branding change.

[jcarter]

Actually, Verizon is hinting about FiberOptics not too far away around here.  So it might just be new service for us, not too far in the future.
Jane

[FLASH1296]

What you need to know is this:

There is an "industry standard" that must be adhered to.

If you do not get that, or better, the ISP needs to fix it at their expense even when it means sending a technician to your home.

This summer I made a (loud persistent) complaint to my I S P  (Road Runner) because I was not quite up to that 90% figure.  They actually re-wired all of the outdoors wiring from the house to the pole. Worked wonders.

Do not take NO for an answer.  Many I S P's give you a "runaround."

[jcarter]

When they hooked up the computer cable connection originally, I asked them to see how strong the signal was from the pole, they said it was 'tops'.  We already had the TV cable, and I was hoping they would give us a new wire, as some neighbours had asked for that and it did improve things for them. (They had their TV cable longer that we did.) But they said mine was fine.
I guess my speed is about what they advertise, so I should be happy.  Its just that measuring it, is so variable.
Jane

[krissel]

This site gives you additional info regarding the lines through which your test is run, including your router and computer.

Be sure to check the details and statistics buttons after you get your initial results.
Jane, you may want to use the Rochester link farther down the page.

http://miranda.ctd.anl.gov:7123/

[jcarter]

Hi Krissel,
Thank you for this info, I do understand it a bit better now.
Here is a screenshot of my statistics, and I am hoping you could translate some of this for me?

Why does it say that its a T1 line?
Most everything else seems correct.
How does my speed look?
Thank you,
Jane

[krissel]

I'll post my stats here to compare. I'm on Optimum Online cable. I ran the speed test three times to get an average since it can vary a lot within a few minutes.

QUOTE

TCP/Web100 Network Diagnostic Tool v5.3.3e
click START to begin
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 1.91Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 5.44Mb/s
The slowest link in the end-to-end path is a 10 Mbps Ethernet subnet
Alarm: Duplex mismatch condition exists: Host set to Full and Switch set to Half duplex

click START to re-test
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 1.91Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 4.17Mb/s
The slowest link in the end-to-end path is a 10 Mbps Ethernet subnet
Alarm: Duplex mismatch condition exists: Host set to Full and Switch set to Half duplex

click START to re-test
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 1.91Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 7.35Mb/s
The slowest link in the end-to-end path is a 10 Mbps Ethernet subnet
Alarm: Duplex mismatch condition exists: Host set to Full and Switch set to Half duplex

Here are the further stats. I'm not sure why your end is listed as T1, that is DSL speeds but if you are running a router and then ethernet I don't know why it just shows the cable modem and stops there. My server is listed as T3 and client as ethernet which is I believe how it should be. I have my router set at half duplex since it is also used by an old machine which can't do full duplex and I thought that was some of the trouble I had when I was testing Mrs. Lop's machine. I think I will be changing that setting to automatic, although the next set on info says it is full duplex so I'm not sure what the story is.

QUOTE

WEB100 Enabled Statistics:
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Done
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 1.58Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 5.59Mb/s

   ------  Client System Details  ------
OS data: Name = Mac OS X, Architecture = ppc, Version = 10.3.9
Java data: Vendor = Apple Computer, Inc., Version = 1.4.2_09

   ------  Web100 Detailed Analysis  ------
10 Mbps Ethernet link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
No network congestion discovered.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.

Web100 reports the Round trip time = 42.09 msec; the Packet size = 1448 Bytes; and
No packet loss - but packets arrived out-of-order 16.65% of the time
This connection is receiver limited 12.92% of the time.
This connection is network limited 87.05% of the time.

Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: OFF
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: ON
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: OFF
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
   Server says [67.81.88.238] but Client says [192.168.0.102]
estimate = 262.45 based on packet size = 11Kbits, RTT = 42.09msec, and loss = 1.0E-6
The theoretical network limit is 262.45 Mbps
The NDT server has a 105.0 KByte buffer which limits the throughput to 19.48 Mbps
Your PC/Workstation has a 63.0 KByte buffer which limits the throughput to 11.87 Mbps
The network based flow control limits the throughput to 12.07 Mbps

Client Data reports link is 'Ethernet', Client Acks report link is 'Ethernet'
Server Data reports link is '10 Gig', Server Acks report link is 'T3'

You'll note that some of the limit sizes are higher with my cable than yours. Yet when I run my tests at sites that compare with other Optimum users, I come in at barely the average for my particular cable company. Some of your connections are more frequently limited as well.

I suppose the real question is what are you getting for the price. I pay $50 a month which is not cheap.  

[jcarter]

Thank you for these, it teaches me a lot if I can see something that I can compare with.  So mine is not bad after all.  We pay around $50 also, it comes to $114 when we include the TV package. The History Channel and the good stuff like that, comes in a package that is about $55.  
Now I understand a bit more about this Net speed, thanks again, Jane