What is it about speedtesters?

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kapitikarl

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#242230 17-Oct-2018 09:00

I was wondering if someone can shed some light on why online speedtest pages are so wildly different?

I am troubleshooting some connectivity issues I am having. During this process I have done speedtests using both nperf and speedtest.net.

Connecting to the same company servers - Devoli Limited, Auckland - I get the following results:

nperf - DL 30.18mb/s; UL 0.005 Mb/s; Latency 5.6ms

speedtest - DL 28.5 mb/s; UL 25.37Mb/s; Latency 4ms

The issues I am dealing with at the moment are:

Loss of Netflix

Inability of malwarebytes to connect to servers

Patchy connectivity

Primarily interested in knowing why the upload speed in these tests are so wildly different.

If anyone has any suggestions concerning the software issues, I would be interested in any insights into the issues. I have an asus RT-AC88U. Have updated firmware, rolled back the update, on forums etc. Not much success so far.

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#2109272 17-Oct-2018 09:03

How are you testing? Wi-Fi or Ethernet? Testing over Wi-Fi won't be an accurate representation of your line speed given you'll only be able to go as fast as your Wi-Fi supports, which is often much much slower than the actual line supports. Testing over Ethernet is advised to get a full accurate picture.

kapitikarl

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#2109281 17-Oct-2018 09:13

Testing via ethernet

SpartanVXL

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#2109300 17-Oct-2018 09:32

The Internet is a swath of many roads, not all routes to a destination are equal.

Have you tried different servers? Theres a netflix speedtest at fast.com you can try

kapitikarl

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#2109346 17-Oct-2018 09:49

SpartanVXL: The Internet is a swath of many roads, not all routes to a destination are equal. Have you tried different servers? Theres a netflix speedtest at fast.com you can try

Yeah I accept that but I dont accept the difference of ~30mbps and almost 0~mbps - have tried several servers.

Also cannot get access to fast.com - it is not loading.When it does it just shows 0

Talkiet

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#2109399 17-Oct-2018 10:06

kapitikarl:

SpartanVXL: The Internet is a swath of many roads, not all routes to a destination are equal. Have you tried different servers? Theres a netflix speedtest at fast.com you can try

Yeah I accept that but I dont accept the difference of ~30mbps and almost 0~mbps - have tried several servers.

Also cannot get access to fast.com - it is not loading.When it does it just shows 0

If you can't get fast.com to work at all then that means you are having issues connecting to Netflix servers. (fast.com is hosted on Netflix servers)... You should actually speak to your ISP about it...

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

kapitikarl

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#2109406 17-Oct-2018 10:09

Talkiet:

kapitikarl:

SpartanVXL: The Internet is a swath of many roads, not all routes to a destination are equal. Have you tried different servers? Theres a netflix speedtest at fast.com you can try

Yeah I accept that but I dont accept the difference of ~30mbps and almost 0~mbps - have tried several servers.

Also cannot get access to fast.com - it is not loading.When it does it just shows 0

If you can't get fast.com to work at all then that means you are having issues connecting to Netflix servers. (fast.com is hosted on Netflix servers)... You should actually speak to your ISP about it...

Cheers - N

Yup - that is what they said when I spent all yesterday afternoon troubleshooting with them. I had our internet guy come in later in the day. Had tested the connectivity of our dish remotely and said all was working fine. Then when he arrived, he connected a router he had and the connectivity is working fine. So as far as he is concerned everything is working. I don't know what to do.

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gehenna

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#2109409 17-Oct-2018 10:11

Have you got any ad blockers installed? Any funky routing on your network? Can you try from a different computer?

kapitikarl

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#2109412 17-Oct-2018 10:14

I have no ad blockers.

The only funky routing I had was tethering two routers which, until recently, worked fine.

I have since broken the tether, operating on one router, reflashed both to earlier (Asus Merlin OS) versions and then to Asus proprietary firmware.

I have tried another computer, my laptop, via ethernet connection. No difference.

Talkiet

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#2109414 17-Oct-2018 10:15

Have you tried a standard router? A supplied router? From what I read here when the tech used something standard it all worked... Is that right?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

kapitikarl

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#2109425 17-Oct-2018 10:23

Talkiet:

Have you tried a standard router? A supplied router? From what I read here when the tech used something standard it all worked... Is that right?

Cheers - N

No the tech used an old router he had at the time. When he tested it he got 30 up and 20 down on speedtest.net. I get the same but massiv difference in UL on nperf and a whole range of issues concerning netflix and malwarebytes.

Talkiet

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#2109449 17-Oct-2018 10:26

Please describe your network in reasonable detail. It sounds like it's nothing like standard. What sort of internet connection do you have and what is the ISP?

Cheers- N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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kapitikarl

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#2109481 17-Oct-2018 10:34

ISP: Rural Tech Solutions

Connection type: Rural wifi via satellite dish mounted on roof

Expected ul and dl speeds: 30 mbps up and 30 mbps down

What else do you want to know?

Talkiet

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#2109579 17-Oct-2018 11:40

What router are you using? Has it ever worked well? Are you on CGNat or have a public IP? Are the expected speeds YOUR expectation or what the ISP has told you to expect? Have you ever seen those speeds? What's the typical latency to the speedtest servers? Are you detecting any packet loss?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

kapitikarl

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#2109610 17-Oct-2018 11:58

What router are you using? Asus RT-AC88U

Has it ever worked well? Yes until last week. I get the same issues after connecting an Asus RT-87U. Also tried with different devices (wifi and ethernet).

Are you on CGNat or have a public IP? I don't know - how can I tell?

Are the expected speeds YOUR expectation or what the ISP has told you to expect? 330mbps up and down is the expectation. Speedtest (when it works) gives me a laggy and slower upload speed of 20mbps. DL is fine

Have you ever seen those speeds? I usually see 27 or more. SOmetimes 30+

What's the typical latency to the speedtest servers? 4-8ms

Are you detecting any packet loss? How can I tell?

RunningMan

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#2109855 17-Oct-2018 15:03

kapitikarl: [snip]

What's the typical latency to the speedtest servers? 4-8ms

Won't be seeing that over a satellite connection.

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