Most reliable way to speedtest?

Diggsy

Diggsy

Diggsy

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
Posts
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Guys, just got BT Infinity installed today and I am looking for the most reliable way to check my speed.

I have tried Speedtest.net and BBMax Speedtest, but both are pretty unreliable in that they bounce to over 120mb/s which I quite clearly cannot be getting :eek:

So, what's the best way to check it? I am guessing downloads from somewhere, but if so, where and what?
 
I've never got a speed anywhere near accurate from speedtest.net (or any other speed testers).

I usually just get a download manager supporting multiple threads (e.g. FDM) and download a 700mb linux distribution from a close mirror. Not very reliable, but for me at least it gives a close estimate, every time I've tried speedtesters they've been way off.
 
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Thanks, just ran it from that server...



Does that look about right?

Oh and how does that equate for downloads? Say I was to download the latest driver from nVidia - what speed should I see on the little IE download box?
 
Diggsy said:
Thanks, just ran it from that server...



Does that look about right?

Oh and how does that equate for downloads? Say I was to download the latest driver from nVidia - what speed should I see on the little IE download box?
Click to expand...

33Mb/s should be approx 4.1MB/s when downloading.
 
oO Stevie Oo said:
you can only download as fast as the host can upload,
to be honest anything over a 20meg connection is more than fast enough lol
Click to expand...

Thanks, I know what you mean :D

What I mean though is what does it equate to in MB/sec for downloads? Should I be looking at about 3.2, or more? I can never work that out :p

EDIT - Thanks PaulM ^^, you just answered my question :)
 
Thanks, I did run that test just now. Realised I didn't actually have Java installed!

Anyway, it came out at 26 down / 6.5 up or thereabouts. My line is set for up to 38.7down and 9.5 up, so we will see how it goes. Time will tell I guess.

Oh by the way, the installer said I have to leave it on (at least the OpenReach modem) all the time or it will get slower and slower.

Is this BS?

Reason I ask is that I like to switch my entire system off at the wall at night.
 
Diggsy said:
Thanks, I did run that test just now. Realised I didn't actually have Java installed!

Anyway, it came out at 26 down / 6.5 up or thereabouts. My line is set for up to 38.7down and 9.5 up, so we will see how it goes. Time will tell I guess.

Oh by the way, the installer said I have to leave it on (at least the OpenReach modem) all the time or it will get slower and slower.

Is this BS?

Reason I ask is that I like to switch my entire system off at the wall at night.
Click to expand...

The IP profile is 38.7 down and 9.5 up according to the BT speedtester?

The engineer is speaking some truth. It's best to keep the modem on 24/7 as "frequent" resyncs can affect the target signal to noise ratio and reduce sync speed. The modem uses little power so there's no reason to turn it off every night.
 
Yeah if your turning the modem on/off all the time the line management will perceive this to be due to an unstable line and it will lower your speed to try and improve stability. Best to just leave it connected.

The BT speedtester always underestimates my actual throughput, it's usefull for finding out the IP profile though.

I use a combination of these:

http://www.speedtest.net/ - always check different servers
http://www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk/ - this one is the most consistent and accurate for me
http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/ - this always has accurate download but the upload seems to be limited to ~6Mbps

For actual file downloads I use rapidshare and these:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/download/
http://download.zensupport.co.uk/
http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/pc_update/index.htm
http://xpsp.dlservice.microsoft.com...2ce3edf42d/WindowsXP-KB936929-SP3-x86-ENU.exe

I find the trick is to use many speedtest sites and actual file downloads, then it doesn't matter what time of day it is, you can always get an accurate picture.

This site is usefull for converting units
http://www.matisse.net/bitcalc/
 
fluff said:
The IP profile is 38.7 down and 9.5 up according to the BT speedtester?

The engineer is speaking some truth. It's best to keep the modem on 24/7 as "frequent" resyncs can affect the target signal to noise ratio and reduce sync speed. The modem uses little power so there's no reason to turn it off every night.
Click to expand...

Just double checked and the profile is actually 38717 down and 10000 up.

Currently speedtested at 31616


Thanks for all the help so far guys, guess I will leave the OpenReach modem on overnight and just turn off the PC itself.
 
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