testing internet speed

[2/10/17] A comment in this article, mentions testmy.net which is purportedly more accurrate than speedtest.net.

I'm testing on the Steven's Vista's laptop with FireFox while CNBC is playing live on my ipad.  testmy.net tests download speed as 2.4, 2.5, 2.1.  Speedtest.net got 2.65, 2.58, 2.58.  That's pretty slow.  Usually I get around 4.

OK, let's pause the CNBC video feed.  testmy.net now gets 2.3, 1.5, 2.2.  This time I ran the download and upload test.  So just as bad or worse.  Back to speedtest.net.  3.25, 3.09, 3.16.  So speedtest a little faster.  Which might be expected since speedtest is testing to a Oahu server, while testmy.net is using a server in Texas (Dallas is the one I notice now).

It could be that my internet is just slow today.  I've been noticing lately that my landline phone has some noise on it.  Let me unplug the modem and plug it back in.  The phone line seems clear when I pick up and listen to the phone now (though I'm not talking to anyone).

OK, retest.  No connection.  What?  Unplug and replug in.  Try again.

Speedtest now gets: 3.63, 4.21, 4.17.  That's more like it.  testmy.net gets: 4.3, 4.1, 4.1.  OK, I'm happy.

OK, now play CNBC live.  testmy.net got: 0.7, 2.1, 0.2.  And in the meantime, the CNBC video got stuck trying to load.  Not happy.

Maybe it's temporary.  I'll try again later.

OK, now playing Legends of Tomorrow on the CW app instead.

testmy.net got: 3.3, 3.3, 2.9.  Pause Legends of Tomorrow.  3.2, 4, 3.6.  speedtest: 4.09, 4.18, 4.11.  That's about as good as I get on speedtest.  Don't know why testmy.net is slower.  Try again.2.9, 4.1, 4.0.

Resume Legends of Tomorrow.  4.1, 3.2, 4.0.

I dunno.  Whatever.  Good enough for my streaming.

[12/7/16] I've been using speedtest.net and Speakeasy to test my internet speed.  But last night when I did a search for speed test, I see that google now has their own speed test.  Not only does it test download and upload speed, it tests latency as well.

On my home dsl, I'm getting 3.84 mbps, 0.40 mbps, 174 ms; 4.10, 0.40, 358; 3.73, 0.38, 195 from a server in the San Francisco Bay area.  (I'm supposed to be getting "up to" 7 mbps.)

There's also pingtest.net from the speedtest.net folks.  It measures the quality of your connection giving measures of packet loss, ping, jitter.  It uses flash and java, so I run it on firefox rather than chrome.  I'm getting 3%, 34 ms, 4 ms / 8%, 34 ms, 3 ms / 3%, 38 ms, 9 ms.  So the results vary (except for ping) when running tests back to back.

[7/12/08] I found out from Lori that the price for hawaiiantel DSL dropped for new customers and I called to see if I could get that price (and did!) Also noted that they are offering 3 Mbps speed for the low-end customers and I was getting sub 1.5. I called tech support they (re)set it up for me. I'm now up to 2.64 Mbps on the hawaiiantel speedtest!

[4/7/07 frwr-news] Another one is Speakeasy Speed Test which enables testing from a number of servers around the country (requires Macromedia Flash)

[4/4/07 frwr-news] Here's a test from the UK

[8/15/05] I have been using the McAfee speedometer for a while. I used to get like 1.2 or 1.3 mbps on my DSL, but lately I've been getting more like 500 kbps (for the times it works after my DSL went flakey).

While in the process of troubleshooting my DSL problems, the verizon tech told me to try two other sites. InfoSpeed and Midco. They both seem to give around 1.1 to 1.2 mbps (for the times when my DSL was working today) which is about what McAfee was giving me. Hey I'd even take 500 Kbps if they can keep my DSL working.