Speedtest and quality of connection

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Rikkitic

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#157169 21-Nov-2014 17:31

I have been following a streaming thread on another forum and it has raised some questions I would like to find answers to. I didn’t want to hijack the thread so am posting here.

Since a couple of months I have had RBI wireless. This is a huge improvement over the dial-up I had before and I am generally thrilled with it but now that I am getting used to it I naturally start to wonder just how good it really is and if it can be improved. I understand some things and am learning more every day but a lot of it is frankly over my head.

I ran several speed tests (www.speedtest.net) and they all say my download speeds are between 6-8 Mb/s. This is within the advertised range of 2-10 Mb/s and I have the impression this is fairly good for RBI wireless. I also run Netlimiter on my computer and it agrees with the Speedtest results. However, I notice that in practice Netlimiter (and Opera) always report my speeds, without exception, as much lower. Normal download speed when loading a page from Geekzone or any other site varies between about 0.5 to 1.5 Mb/s. It has never gone over 1.6 Mb/s.

Can anyone explain this discrepancy to me? I assume Netlimiter must be reporting correct speeds since it gave the same results as Speedtest, but why are the speeds so much slower in actual use? What would cause this difference?

Also, Speedtest says it can’t check for packet loss because I either don’t have Java installed or my firewall is blocking the test. As it happens, I installed Java just yesterday to try out Freenet, which did work after the Java installation was completed so I assume Java is working on my machine. I also went into my firewall and allowed outbound access for both ports mentioned in the Speedtest information, but it didn’t make any difference. Is this a Speedtest issue or is something else going on here?

Thanks for the help.

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PeterReader

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#1180952 21-Nov-2014 17:31

Hello... Our robot found some keywords in your post, so here is an automated reply with some important things to note regarding broadband speeds.

If you are posting regarding DSL speeds please check that

- you have reset your modem and router

- your PC (or other PCs in your LAN) is not downloading large files when you are testing

- you are not being throttled by your ISP due to going over the monthly cap

- your tests are always done on an ethernet connection to the router - do not use wireless for testing

- you read this topic and follow the instructions there.

Make sure you provide information for other users to help you. If you have not already done it, please EDIT your post and add this now:

- Your ISP and plan

- Type of connection (ADSL, ADSL2, VDSL)

- Your modem DSL stats (do not worry about posting Speedtest, we need sync rate, attenuation and noise margin)

- Your general location (or street)

- If you are rural or urban

- If you know your connection is to an exchange, cabinet or conklin

- If your connection is to a ULL or wholesale service

- If you have done an isolation test as per the link above

Most of the problems with speed are likely to be related to internal wiring issues. Read this discussion to find out more about this. Your ISP is not intentionally slowing you down today (unless you are on a managed plan). Also if this is the school holidays it's likely you will notice slower than usual speed due to more users online.

A master splitter is required for VDSL2 and in most cases will improve speeds on DSL connections. Regular disconnections can be a monitored alarm or a set top box trying to connect. If there's an alarm connected to your line even if you don't have an alarm contract it may still try to connect so it's worth checking.

I recommend you read these two blog posts:

- Is your premises phone wiring impacting your broadband performance? (very technical)

- Are you receiving a substandard ULL ADSL2+ connection from your ISP?

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

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johnr

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#1180981 21-Nov-2014 18:04

RBI works over the mobile network 3G / WCDMA / HSPA Dual carrier speeds up to 43Mbp/s

HSPA ramps up speed the more data the connection moves, A web page loading does not give it enough time to ramp speed up

RBI 4G and when this is launched you will see the difference

John

JohnButt

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#1180983 21-Nov-2014 18:08

Speedtest is between your client (PC) and the Speedtest server, which is usually connected to the first router inside the ISPs network. It is intended for checking to see if your line between the exchange and you is up to scratch but is often erroneously used for actual speed comparisons by ISPs.

Speeds you see, say when downloading a software update or downloading a file from any source are subject to congestion, routing and latency constraints as the packets traverse the internet AND your ISP. Hence your speed to the internet is hardly ever Speedtest.net results. Speeds from websites are going to be constrained by Rampup, the time it takes for full speed to be achieved for each file on the website.

Check out our results here www.truenet.co.nz

We are very keen to get RBI wireless volunteers, especially those with a good connection so we can compare to ADSL etc. Our panelists get access directly to their data which includes tests every hour from your home to various places. We allow you to manage the amount of data we use so data usage is not a problem.

Volunteer to be a panelist here: Get Involved

Rikkitic

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#1181530 23-Nov-2014 11:15

Thanks for the replies. I do now see that speeds increase when doing long downloads like videos, but still a very long way from test results. I hope we do ever get 4g here. That would probably make a real difference. We are with a small provider but the link is Vodafone. Their coverage map shows scattered 4g coverage in our part of rural Hastings, but nothing close to where we actually live.

JohnButt: I looked at the Truenet site but unfortunately I don't feel able to participate. Three gigs would be a big chunk of my data cap and the way I use my computer also doesn't suit. I normally only have it on and the firewall enabled when I am actually using it. Thanks for the information, though.

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JohnButt

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#1182187 24-Nov-2014 14:49

JohnButt: I looked at the Truenet site but unfortunately I don't feel able to participate. Three gigs would be a big chunk of my data cap and the way I use my computer also doesn't suit. I normally only have it on and the firewall enabled when I am actually using it. Thanks for the information, though.

I wonder if that is a typical problem for wireless RBI customers. We can test with much less capacity, but we need two things, a low speed and we do need to test all day long so we get ToD results. Our early testing regime used only 400MB/month because typical limits were then just 10GB/month. We increased the minimum as speeds got greater and we needed to keep consistency with other panelists.

I will recreate a cap for just wireless, how big should it be in your opinion?

Rikkitic

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#1182236 24-Nov-2014 16:51

I cannot speak for other wireless customers since I am new to this and have only had RBI for a few months. In my case, I have a 40 gig cap divided between peak and off-peak (20/20) which I suspect is already on the generous side for RBI (and certainly for satellite). 3 gigs out of 40 is 7.5% and that is just too much for me, especially if it mainly eats into my daytime usage. Even spread evenly over 24 hours it is a lot since 40 gigs isn’t much by today’s standards and I already have to ration my downloading if I want to get through the month. I also share the connection.

Ideally any cap ought to be a percentage of available capacity but if I have to choose, I guess I would say not more than 1 gig for people with a plan like mine, preferably less, and for a limited duration. Otherwise I think you are going to have a hard time finding people unless they really only use it for email.

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raytaylor

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#1182312 24-Nov-2014 18:49

Out of interest, what part of rural hastings are you?

Ray Taylor

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Rikkitic

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#1182327 24-Nov-2014 19:10

raytaylor: Out of interest, what part of rural hastings are you?

Hi Ray. Nice to see you again. I am at Raukawa. We have been in touch in the past about the rural broadband misery. Circumstances at the time prevented me from pursuing the idea we discussed then but when RBI turned up that was within our grasp so I jumped on it. I have no complaints about the service but of course one always wishes for more and faster.

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