Good speedtest results but still very slow downloading speeds

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hewi

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

Topic # 14289 26-Jun-2007 00:59

G'day all.

I am currently with slingshot.

I have done a few tests on http://speedtest.net/ and http://speedtest.slingshot.co.nz/ with the follow results (give or take slightly))

Speedtest.slingshot - Download Speed: 3072 kbps (384 KB/sec transfer rate)

Speedtest.net - Download Speed 2900kbps

but when I do downloading of programs from the internet and using programs like flashget the speeds drop to around 40 KB/sec.

Also when I do this test I also get poor results

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/

Does anybody know what is the reason for this? Any tips?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Bruce

JonC

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 75965 26-Jun-2007 12:46

Speedtest.net and the Slingshot web-sites have NZ-based servers. The bandwidthplace.com site seems to be off-shore and it's likely the things you were downloading were from abroad as well. It may be the sites you were downloading from throttle their out-going connections, but it's more likely your ISP throttling international traffic. All ISPs do this because it's expensive. Also, when the connection is overseas, your ISP has no control over how its routed. Annoyingly, it's difficult to tell which ISPs have better international bandwidth. If anyone has reliable figures, I'd love to know.

ISPs can still claim they're giving you high-speed broadband - but you'll only get the good speeds in NZ :-(

Fraktul

836 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 75991 26-Jun-2007 18:18

JonC: it's more likely your ISP throttling international traffic. All ISPs do this because it's expensive.

All, really?

JonC:
Also, when the connection is overseas, your ISP has no control over how its routed.

Right, so those ISPs which multihome are just like - stuff it we are too lazy to setup our BGP routing correctly?

JonC:
ISPs can still claim they're giving you high-speed broadband - but you'll only get the good speeds in NZ :-(

By the same token your ISP has no control over if the content provider which you might be basing your user experience on (or their upstream provider) has issues.

This would be like you only using your land line for ringing a friends mobile in Botswana and complaining to your local service provider because the call quality was bad - Sure it may be you local line or your local service transit provider, by the same token it could be the mobile call in botswana is crap.

Before the jump to the conclusions and genralizations mat is pulled out then you should consider all the factors which may be involved.

UnrealSolo

26 posts

Geek
Inactive user

Reply # 75996 26-Jun-2007 18:27

Hmm.. Mabey Your Just Downloading From Sites Far Away From New Zealand, I Hear That Slingshot Is Just A Bad Internet Company Providing Slow Speeds , Who Knows I'm A Wanabe Geek lol,

JonC

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 76056 26-Jun-2007 21:04

Fraktul:
JonC: it's more likely your ISP throttling international traffic. All ISPs do this because it's expensive.

All, really?

Sounds like you know of an ISP that will provide me with international download speeds that are the same as NZ speeds. Let us know which one that is.

Fraktul

836 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 76075 27-Jun-2007 00:11

JonC:
Fraktul:
JonC: it's more likely your ISP throttling international traffic. All ISPs do this because it's expensive.

All, really?

Sounds like you know of an ISP that will provide me with international download speeds that are the same as NZ speeds. Let us know which one that is.

Depending on the details of your traffic flow and your upstream capacity on yor ADSL connection in relation to downstream capacity this may actually be impossible, google bandwidth delay product.

Dont forget that many ISPs charge for traffic over a user cap if there is one - they make margin on excess data usage. Sure international capacity costs more than national (around 6-10 times cheaper depending on how much peering your do) but ISPs dont buy transit capacity in GB's (or very rarely) but in mbps or gbps so unused capacity is revenue not realised which can never be recovered.

From an ISP's point of view as long as traffic flows like browsing, voice signaling and traffic, rdp etc are treated as higher priority traffic flows over things like ftp and p2p to preserve a good user experience for all then they probably couldnt care less if you are using national or international capacity.

JonC

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 76085 27-Jun-2007 09:04

I agree. Point is that ISPs only buy a certain amount of international bandwidth because it's expensive - totally understandable from a commercial point of view. That combined with slower speeds over longer distances means that international speeds will always be slower than NZ speeds.

It is a shame that we can't compare ISPs on their international bandwidth, though. I do a lot of FTPing to/from Europe and I'd like to be able to compare ISPs to see which one would on average give me the best bandwidth (acknowledging that throughput will vary depending on how many other people are on the connection and what they're doing). ISPs have no motivation for providing really fast international bandwidth because users are largely in the dark about what they're getting and speeds vary quite a lot depending on load.

I would pay more for an ISP that will provide on average the best international bandwidth, but I guess I'm in a minority there.

I can see that ISPs don't want to disclose this sort of information for commercial reasons and because they can't really guarantee any sort of speed because it all depends on load at the time. But it's a bit frustrating that consumers can't make informed decisions about which ISP is best for them.

exportgoldman

1200 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3

Trusted

Reply # 79416 24-Jul-2007 11:24

Why not use www.speedtest.net but choose Europe instead of Auckland for Testing. If I do it on my XNET connection to Maidenhead, United Kingdom I get the following

333 Ping
1465 kbps DOWN

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