Which BB speed testers do you trust?

C C

Centurions

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 Sep 2012
Messages
23,908
Location
I'm never where I wanna be...
We've recently had FTTP enabled in the area and I've changed to Sky Ultrafast 1 (150Mbps) via overhead wire to a brand new CSU box on the outside wall and a new ONT internally. It's only been a week but I'm given to understand that FTTP doesn't need to 'stabilise' as FTTC or copper pair need to.

The trouble is, speedtest.net (via the Windows App and website both) has my DL speed all over the place from >70Mbps to 150Mbps even if I do successive tests. Fast.com always shows 150Mbps without fail.

This is from a hard wired desktop Win10 PC with nothing else active.

Sky gave it the expected "you have to give it 10 days to settle" which I think is bollocks.

Is it speedtest.net that's screwed and I'm worrying about nothing or is there a better way to test?
 
Centurions said:
We've recently had FTTP enabled in the area and I've changed to Sky Ultrafast 1 (150Mbps) via overhead wire to a brand new CSU box on the outside wall and a new ONT internally. It's only been a week but I'm given to understand that FTTP doesn't need to 'stabilise' as FTTC or copper pair need to.

The trouble is, speedtest.net (via the Windows App and website both) has my DL speed all over the place from >70Mbps to 150Mbps even if I do successive tests. Fast.com always shows 150Mbps without fail.

This is from a hard wired desktop Win10 PC with nothing else active.

Sky gave it the expected "you have to give it 10 days to settle" which I think is bollocks.

Is it speedtest.net that's screwed and I'm worrying about nothing or is there a better way to test?
Click to expand...
Sorry can’t suggest better tester but I’m certainly interested in any answers as we have FTTP and are on their Ultrafast 1.
I recall reading after we had it done that there’s actually a faster type of WiFi now - which sky don’t seem to offer - so unless I use a cabled connection all the time, my speeds as a user will be limited by that anyway!
 
There are IT experts on here that can provide more sophisticated answers. In my experience Speedtest is still probably the best out there.

For most accurate results I use a wired connection to the router; make sure nothing else is connected; I also turn off stuff that runs in the background on PC such as virus software.

Give it ten days to settle down sounds like the IT version of "the cheque is in the post".

Mine improved by changing channels on the router
 
chesterbells said:
Sorry can’t suggest better tester but I’m certainly interested in any answers as we have FTTP and are on their Ultrafast 1.
I recall reading after we had it done that there’s actually a faster type of WiFi now - which sky don’t seem to offer - so unless I use a cabled connection all the time, my speeds as a user will be limited by that anyway!
Click to expand...
"faster type of WiFi"? The Sky routers support 2.4Ghz & the better 5Ghz WiFi signal if that's what you're referring to. The speed to the device will depend on the strength of signal and of course the spec of the device itself as not all support 5Ghz speeds.

Edit: the frequency of the signal doesn't affect the speed directly (I think) but its range and subsequent strength. Both are more than capable of supporting way more than 150Mbps throughput but there's a lot of variables involved with WiFi which is why you should always test while hard wired to the router.
 
oldhamblue said:
There are IT experts on here that can provide more sophisticated answers. In my experience Speedtest is still probably the best out there.

For most accurate results I use a wired connection to the router; make sure nothing else is connected; I also turn off stuff that runs in the background on PC such as virus software.

Give it ten days to settle down sounds like the IT version of "the cheque is in the post".

Mine improved by changing channels on the router
Click to expand...
Exactly how I test it.

Changing channels will only affect WiFi, not an ethernet port connected device.
 
Centurions said:
"faster type of WiFi"? The Sky routers support 2.4Ghz & the better 5Ghz WiFi signal if that's what you're referring to. The speed to the device will depend on the strength of signal and of course the spec of the device itself as not all support 5Ghz speeds.
Click to expand...
I’m talking about WiFi 6, which Sky q don’t offer. Apparently that is the quickest.
 
oldhamblue said:
Give it ten days to settle down sounds like the IT version of "the cheque is in the post".
Click to expand...

After the 10 days they'll then move onto a variety of other excuses. Eventually when they are saying things like "have you checked that none of the neighbours within a half mile radius keep iguanas? because that can cause problems" you realise that their business model does not actually involve support for 99% of the customers BUT if you are persistent you might be lucky and eventually be put through to someone technically adept.

The other thing the OP can do is find something that should saturate their line like a (legal) torrent and measure that.
 
I'm still having the same issues (along with micro stutters on Netflix) but I have noticed a peculiar effect when I exported the Speedtest.net results as a csv file.

I've been trialling a free ProtonVPN service which goes via the Netherlands. Obviously I usually disconnect when testing but I do have 20 results out of 135 which were done while going through Amsterdam. All 20 are at >140Mbps (the loss from 150Mbps is expected going through the VPN).

Around 50 are <100Mbps and only 35 >150Mbps out of the remaining 115 results with the VPN disconnected.

I'm at a loss to explain that, any ideas?

Who are the networking experts on here?
 
Sky WiFi been on and off today , getting slow speeds of 3.55 mbps download .
Usually get around 30 .
Any one know why ?
 
Centurions said:
We've recently had FTTP enabled in the area and I've changed to Sky Ultrafast 1 (150Mbps) via overhead wire to a brand new CSU box on the outside wall and a new ONT internally. It's only been a week but I'm given to understand that FTTP doesn't need to 'stabilise' as FTTC or copper pair need to.

The trouble is, speedtest.net (via the Windows App and website both) has my DL speed all over the place from >70Mbps to 150Mbps even if I do successive tests. Fast.com always shows 150Mbps without fail.

This is from a hard wired desktop Win10 PC with nothing else active.

Sky gave it the expected "you have to give it 10 days to settle" which I think is bollocks.

Is it speedtest.net that's screwed and I'm worrying about nothing or is there a better way to test?
Click to expand...

Speedtest can hop around different target servers which introduces additional variance between runs, but if you're wired in to the router and have no other devices sapping bandwidth, going to the same server should be fairly stable. Make sure to give a few a try when running tests. Especially at 150mbps as you're nowhere near saturating 1Gbe which will most likely be the port on your machine and your router. Are you testing this with a fresh ethernet cable?

Unless Speedtest or my UCG is telling me something funky I'll just test with real world use cases to see what I'm getting. Downloading a game on Steam (or other app, Battlenet, EA, etc) will normally saturate most lines handily. Torrents quite often won't. Ideally you want to find sources of things pulling direct from servers and not from other people.
 
adrianr said:
Speedtest can hop around different target servers which introduces additional variance between runs, but if you're wired in to the router and have no other devices sapping bandwidth, going to the same server should be fairly stable. Make sure to give a few a try when running tests. Especially at 150mbps as you're nowhere near saturating 1Gbe which will most likely be the port on your machine and your router. Are you testing this with a fresh ethernet cable?

Unless Speedtest or my UCG is telling me something funky I'll just test with real world use cases to see what I'm getting. Downloading a game on Steam (or other app, Battlenet, EA, etc) will normally saturate most lines handily. Torrents quite often won't. Ideally you want to find sources of things pulling direct from servers and not from other people.
Click to expand...
You're quoting a post from just over 2 years ago and I've since moved to VM :)

It was definitely something odd with either Sky or Speedtest as VM returns 550mbps consistently with any and all speed tests via wired Win11(now) desktop. I've just switched to Lebara from O2 today as it happens so I'll be dropping back to 350Mbps shortly.
 
Centurions said:
You're quoting a post from just over 2 years ago and I've since moved to VM :)

It was definitely something odd with either Sky or Speedtest as VM returns 550mbps consistently with any and all speed tests via wired Win11(now) desktop. I've just switched to Lebara from O2 today as it happens so I'll be dropping back to 350Mbps shortly.
Click to expand...
Lol got to love a thread necro. Well at least the advice isn't out of date!
 
Centurions said:
"faster type of WiFi"? The Sky routers support 2.4Ghz & the better 5Ghz WiFi signal if that's what you're referring to. The speed to the device will depend on the strength of signal and of course the spec of the device itself as not all support 5Ghz speeds.

Edit: the frequency of the signal doesn't affect the speed directly (I think) but its range and subsequent strength. Both are more than capable of supporting way more than 150Mbps throughput but there's a lot of variables involved with WiFi which is why you should always test while hard wired to the router.
Click to expand...
I only have Fibre to the home ie no copper from any panel, but if the router changes from 5 to 2.4 Hz my speed as checked by network on Amazon firestick TV input device reduces from just short of 300 (I pay for 300) to just less than 100. This can happen if my electrical supply is interrupted and router. reboots.
 
Just FYI, speedtest sites aren't accurate.

Not only do they pick servers unrealistically close to you (therefore not giving a true reflection of usage) but more importantly ISPs shape traffic towards them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top