[SOLVED] Best way to test my internet connection

[merk]

Hi All,

Windows 10 64bit

Moved recently and was lucky enough that they have fiber internet. However, I've never gotten anything near a 1gb on downloads or uploads. Spoke with their tech support and turns out i'm supposed to be getting 400mbps instead of 1gbps. But I havent even been getting 400mbps.

My PC is wired into the router, not using wifi.

I decided to do some testing and the results are very inconclusive. The testing speeds can vary widely not only by what website I'm using, but also what browser I'm using. For example, using the google fiber speedtest page, the speeds will be 2x faster, or more, then if i run the same test in IE.

using speedtest.net, i get really fast uploads in IE, but downloads are slow in both IE and Chrome...but in firefox i get fast downloads.

And just to see if it's a problem with my desktop, i ran the same test on my laptop. More or less the same results, except on my laptop in firefox, it gets fast uploads and downloads on speedtest.net

There doesnt seem to be a single test that behaves consistently. So - what would be the best way to test my connection speed?

 

[richiestang_78]

None of the speed tests will be the same. Speedtest.net still seems to remain the most real world accurate of the bunch. You more or less are going to have to average your connection out.

Also remember that even at 400 mbps you probably will never actually get that on any website since most websites cap transfer rates to save bandwidth costs on their end.

If you are using a separate router, try and hook directly into the modem and run the tests and see if anything improves. There may be some router configuration you need to change. If you are using one of the ISP provided routers, well in my experience they are usually pretty garbage and lack a lot of speed optimization features that even cheap consumer routers have these days.

 

[merk]

Thanks. I realize websites may have caps. From the maximum upload and download i've gotten tonight using the various browsers/sites, it seems like i should be getting something around 600mbps up and down.

Although i haven't actually seen anything close to those speeds in any real world applications. Uploading to dropbox is stupidly slow. Downloading updates or anything from various services the best speeds i get are around 200-300mbps.

I'm using my own router. I dont really have any confidence in this ISP (dish fiber). The wifi network they setup doesn't even use encryption, it's just using MAC authentication which might as well be no security at all. And they re-used the same username/password from the previous tenant that lived here. Took me 2 hours on the phone spread out over 2 days just for them to figure out how to change the password. I hate to say it but i think they are worse then comcast.

 

[Graham Dancy]

Find out if your service is 'contended' or 'uncontended'.

If its contended, it means that you have an 'up to' xMbps service and the total bandwidth available to you will depend on the load at the ISP's core at any given time, this is likely if your service is quite reasonably priced.
If its uncontended you should be getting 95%+ of the stated service 24/7/365, this is typically reserved for super expensive business connections.

In terms of testing, the only test an ISP is going to genuinely care about is an iperf test, speedtest.net and the like are used more as a general indication. Worth a note, your iperf on a contended line will still show fluctuation.

Best solution, unless your performance is dire, stop worrying and enjoy the low latencies

 

[bill001g]

What speeds do you get if you plug directly into the modem.

You might want to factory reset your router and configure only the admin and wifi passwords. To get high speed routers have a feature that bypasses the cpu. Using some feature turns this bypass off and you will be limited by the cpu speed.

So at first I though you had some crap satellite link because of dish. From what I can tell this is just some marketing and dish does not actually provide the internet connection. From what it seams this is something sold to apartment complexes. I am going to bet there is one internet connection to the apartment complex that is shared between all the apartments. A good test would be to see if it was a lot faster in the middle of the night.

 

[merk]

What speeds do you get if you plug directly into the modem.

You might want to factory reset your router and configure only the admin and wifi passwords. To get high speed routers have a feature that bypasses the cpu. Using some feature turns this bypass off and you will be limited by the cpu speed.

So at first I though you had some crap satellite link because of dish. From what I can tell this is just some marketing and dish does not actually provide the internet connection. From what it seams this is something sold to apartment complexes. I am going to bet there is one internet connection to the apartment complex that is shared between all the apartments. A good test would be to see if it was a lot faster in the middle of the night.

You are correct. Someone else set up the network for dish and they manage it to some degree. According to my IP information, fiberindy is who owns the network.

I haven't noticed a fluctuation in speeds based on the time of day. But I'll run the speed test (in multiple browsers) later tonight when it should be the busiest and see what I get.

I believe i already tried plugging directly into their modem a while back and it would not work. It looks like they have to authorize the device. Although, if their crappy security extends to their own network, maybe I could clone the MAC address of their router and connect. I'll have to try that later.

Find out if your service is 'contended' or 'uncontended'.

It's typical home internet so it's 'up to'.

 

[kanewolf]

Hi All,

Windows 10 64bit

Moved recently and was lucky enough that they have fiber internet. However, I've never gotten anything near a 1gb on downloads or uploads. Spoke with their tech support and turns out i'm supposed to be getting 400mbps instead of 1gbps. But I havent even been getting 400mbps.

My PC is wired into the router, not using wifi.

I decided to do some testing and the results are very inconclusive. The testing speeds can vary widely not only by what website I'm using, but also what browser I'm using. For example, using the google fiber speedtest page, the speeds will be 2x faster, or more, then if i run the same test in IE.

using speedtest.net, i get really fast uploads in IE, but downloads are slow in both IE and Chrome...but in firefox i get fast downloads.

And just to see if it's a problem with my desktop, i ran the same test on my laptop. More or less the same results, except on my laptop in firefox, it gets fast uploads and downloads on speedtest.net

There doesnt seem to be a single test that behaves consistently. So - what would be the best way to test my connection speed?

What motherboard and network hardware you have will make a big difference. Some motherboards include software that is supposed to optimize game streams. But that same software doesn't do well with high bandwidth WAN. Please list your motherboard to help us exclude that.