Cable Service speed tests

[SnapperOne]

I've been trying to set up a spreadsheet to track the performance of my cable service from @Home, but can't find any consistency in results from the various test sites. I've tried Toast.net, ZDNet, 2Wire and others.

Every time I run several tests, from each site, within 1 or 2 minutes of each other the results are significantly different; i.e.... ZDnet at 1.5Mbps, Toast.net at 597Kbps, and 2wire from 100Kbps to 225Kbps.

Is there a site that is generally considered accurate for testing up & download speeds for cable connections?

[This message has been edited by SnapperOne (edited 02-10-2001).]

[This message has been edited by SnapperOne (edited 02-10-2001).]

[This message has been edited by SnapperOne (edited 02-10-2001).]

[[EFS]HarryPotter]

snapper my search thing is disable for some reason what test center did u find on the past threads?

i use cnet but something tells me that it is inaccurate when it tells me that i am getting infinite bandwidth?!

[OuTpaTienT]

The problem is, gentlemen, all of these speed test sites are somewhere on the Web. And just by the nature of the Web, these speed test give results that may be fairly close to accurrate or may be wildly inaccurrate...and with no consistancy what-so-ever. That's just the nature of the beast. Connecting to web sites involves a chain of connected computers and just like a real chain, it's only as strong as it's weakest link.

Only consistant & accurrate way to test your speed to your ISP is to transfer files directly from(/to) your ISP's servers. This way various net congestion is not a factor.

Two ways to do this that I can think of right now.

(1.) transfer files via FTP from or to your ISP's FTP server, if they have one you can access.

(2.) download some large files from the USENET newsgroups if your ISP has local news servers.

These task would be made easier by using this little tool that shows your current transfer rate.
AnologX - Netstat Live (http://www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/nsl.htm)

[Biff]

Myself, I just go to the UT site and download the 50MB demo.

[SoftailChaser]

http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks
Has a way to test your speed, then check it against others using your ISP. May help you out with your graph.

The infinite bandwidth is caused by your browser reading from the cache instead of the internet. Clear the cache and try it again. (I think).


[This message has been edited by SoftailChaser (edited 02-10-2001).]

[socalgal]

Cable stuff -->> Networking forum.