[SOLVED] Actual download speed is WAAAAAAAAY less than speedtest.net

[drpaulpaul]

In australia here, and Ihave the best internet I can currently buy (cant get 5g yet)

Its advertised at 100mb/s download. It is a business connections, so it is the most stable, and they will slow down residential people before me.

On speedtest.net, I get 90mb/37 download/upload

Sometimes, when downloading, it is atrociouis.

I just downloaded a 500mb file, at 500kb/s, about 2% of the speedtes.net. This was from a server somewhere, and the following test results are from a few minutes after the download finished.

I then went to http://www.myspeedmeter.net/ and tested all of the countries listed.

Sydney , australia 27mb/13
HC/China 70/34
Taiwan 20/23
Japan 36/21
Lon/UK 231/16
LA/USA 95/24

Whistle out (tests australian speed) 95 download, no upload speed

So, here is my theory. Obviously my internet speed from my computer to somewhere is brilliant, at 95mb. But, after that, does it depend on the server I am downloading from?

I am most interested in south korea (I am a dentist and the only thing I really care about is getting good access to here). Now south korea has the worlds best internet (standard 25mb for residential)

So, MY internet speed is great, South Koreas is great, but what on earth is going on in between, and can I fix it??????

 

[velocityg4]

Yes, the server can affect download speeds. Can you stream Netflix in HD or watch a video non stop on YouTube in HD? If so then you are getting a connection faster than 500 Kbps. You can also try downloading

Try using a different DNS server than your ISP. See if the results are different. If everything is better. Consider switching the DNS server your router uses. So, everything on your network uses that DNS by default. I use Google 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. Some public DNS are better than others.
https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-change-dns-servers-in-windows-2626242

Try a fast VPN service in your area. They'll never be as fast as a straight ISP in raw throughput. Due to added latency. As the connection to the VPN is encrypted. Your ISP won't know what websites you are visiting. If you get a good speedtest on your VPN. Plus if the connection speed is better to the South Korean server. Then you know your ISP is selectively throttling connections.

 

[bill001g]

You can see speedtest is affected by the server itself just by changing servers within the same city. Find a city near you on the speedtest site and then change the server manually a few times. You will see that the ping time is more or less the same so the server really are located near each other but you get huge difference in performance.

Now some of this is related to how different ISP are connected. You will find that different servers can be on different ISP networks. Generally you get the best performance when the serer is on the same ISP as you. That is why the ISP wants you to always test with THEIR speedtest server. There might be contention on the connection between some ISP. This is massively hard to figure out since there are multiple connections between ISP and which it takes will be different for servers located in different cities.

In the end you can do nothing really about this. Your only option is to send data to your ISP on the single cable coming to your house. You have no ability to affect anything past that.

As mentioned you can try VPN services. There are so called "gamer" vpn that try to optimize connections to certain locations. In the USA and EU a VPN most times will actually reduce your performance because of the overhead. In asia and Australia to some extent these work better. A over simplification but lets say your ISP is really cheap and they only want to buy 1 undersea fiber connection. They buy it to los angeles. So to connect to a ISP in korea they would have to go to all the way to the USA and then back. The theory of the VPN is maybe you can connect to a vpn provider in your city and that VPN provider has purchased a path on the fiber that goes directly to korea.

No way to tell other than try a number of these services and see if they actually provide any benefit.