Testing your connection and download speeds

[Saturday]

What's the difference between connection speed and download speed?

When your router synchronises with the exchange following a reboot or disconnection it negotiates a connection speed know as the sync. This is measured in kilobits per second and designated kbps. Two sync rates are show: downstream and upstream.

Ignoring upstream for the moment, the downstream figure can be considered the "raw" download speed available and it is not the potential download speed.

In an ADSL connection, data is sent across the internet in "frames". Each frame contains additional elements used for routing and transmission purposes as well as the data. These additional components add an overhead to the process which uses up some of that raw download bandwidth available. A more technical explanation can be found here (ignore the PPPoE reference as O2 is ETHoA).

Typically this all consumes 15-20% of the bandwidth, more if your system isn't correctly configured (incorrect TCP/IP settings are only really an XP issue as Vista handles things better). So, in simple terms, you may have a router downstream sync of 16000kbps but the maximum throughput you can achieve (download speed) is likely to be ~13500kbps.


How do I find out what my router sync is?

This will depend on the make and model of the router you are using. If you are using the O2 Wireless Box then you will need to access the router admin pages which can be accessed via http://192.168.1.254.

To quote O2, "when you first receive your O2 wireless box it is set to a default username and password to allow you quick and easy access without any need for additional usernames and passwords". This means access to the Box is wide open so you are strongly recommended to set a password to restrict access. To do this go to "User Management" and next to Administrator choose "Change my password". You'll now be presented with three blank fields. In the first "Old Password" leave it blank, in the other two type your new password. After confirming you'll then be asked to enter your username and password. These will now be Administrator (note the capital A) and the password you've previously entered. You now have access to a number of functions within the router including the simple connection stats.


How do I measure my download speed?

The best way is to find a high speed server and download a large file. An easier way would be to use a purpose built speedtest server, but, when testing download speeds never rely on just one source of test. Try at least two, one after the other, preferably of two different types and ensure that the test servers are known to be reasonably consistent and accurate. I'd recommend the following:

• o2user's speedtest (this spreads downloads across a number of servers so doesn't usually slow down at peak time)
• Be's speedtest (O2 is on the Be network so this may give an idea of network load)
• Giganews speedtest (use the European server but expect some peak time slowdown)

Note that whilst most such services report the speed in bits (kbps) some applications report the speed in bytes (kBps - note the capital B). A byte is 8 times larger than a bit so if you see a speed reported as 1000kBps, that translates to 8000kbps or 8meg as some people call it. Actually, this whole bit/byte thing can be even more confusing as in technical computing terms there are 1024bits to a kilobit but some people use 1000. If you use one of the tests listed above then you'll be comparing like with like with the router so that shouldn't be an issue.

Why is my download speed so low?

That depends on whether you mean low per se or low in comparison to your router sync.

If you mean low as in "I'd hardly call this Broadband" then there are a number of possible reasons, the most likely being that your line is of poor quality or very long, but that will be the subject of another tutorial.

If you mean the download speed, tested several times and using more than one speedtest provider, is significantly less than 80% of your sync, then the following is a list of things to check:

• poor wireless quality signal (ignore what the adaptor reports, that's signal strength which is pretty meaningless - try wired)
• incorrect TCP/IP settings (XP only, try TCPOptimizer)
• something using the bandwidth (other user on LAN, P2p running, malware)

If you've eliminated those then that leaves network congestion or a fault with the O2 Broadband service as the most likely problem.
.

[Mike8]

I agree use at least two trusted servers. Its debatable how accurate active x methods are compared with computer based programmes like Dan Ewells bb speed test, program. However you also get some interesting readings, I have just been on to speedtests.net and got 18429 and Im only synced at 16and a bit. Im getting 57ms latency on this one when pinging on London, from about 30 miles away. What latency figures should you get?

[Saturday]

Speedtest.net is notorious for giving inaccurate results. The ping times are meaningless too.

However, even the best servers should only be used as a guide as when running a test you're actually testing your PC, the connection, the network and the server(s). Too many variables to consider the result anything other than a guide.

For a ping test ping a reliable server such as bbc.co.uk. On O2 LLU the ping should be ~18ms - again, only a guide.

[Mike8]

I like the positioning of the new bb speed tester. As you know some of these are problematic, some operate directly from the pc others use activex and with various packet upload/download times. Can you confirm that the one we use here is fairly reliable and accurate.

[Saturday]

In my experience our speedtester is one of the better ones but due to its nature, can't be guaranteed 100% accurate or reliable at all times. None can.

I may not be completely up to date but last time I enquired I was told it uses Cachefly which means the download/uploading of data is spread across a number of servers to avoid a single server being overloaded. There have been improvements since then - I'll ask Newsreader to comment.

[NewsreadeR]

Can you confirm that the one we use here is fairly reliable and accurate.

Hi Mike

We have done a lot of work on our speedtester. As Gary says, we use CacheFly for the download side of things, which means that we should nearly always have a good download speed for you to test from.

There are several factors involved whilst running a speedtest and luckily we are great friends with the guy who wrote ours. In fact he is an official partner to us.

The speedtester that we now use, has recently been upgraded to measure upto 50meg speeds similar to TBB, however TBB have 100% control of their network, and so can make any adjustments necessary re routing etc

On SkyUser's speedtester, we have your results linked into your forum account, so therefore, you can store your results against the forum name that you use. This is an addition that we are planning and indeed working on to add to O2User in the future.

Granted there are times beyond our control when this test maybe inaccurate, but as I constantly check my speed, I can usually spot any issues, measured against my account.

So in answer to your question, ours theoretically is accurate, and we have received very few complaints about its results. However, if anyone does have any issues, please let us know, as we are in constant contact with the author and any issues, we can normally resolve.

Here's a screenshot of my results, so that you can see what is coming for O2User.

[Mike8]

Thanks for the re-assurance there NewsReader. I look forward to having a record of my results rather than having to past it into Excel
Mike

[NewsreadeR]

It will be here once we can kick our Serbian coder's backside

[ichilton]

Originally Posted by Saturday

For a ping test ping a reliable server such as bbc.co.uk. On O2 LLU the ping should be ~18ms - again, only a guide.

humm, i'm getting ~33ms, which I was thinking was pretty good until I read that!

Are you still getting ~18ms now or has something changed since last year?

Ian

[Undecided adrian]

I am getting 15ms to BBC.co.uk BUT 33 ms is still fantastic compared to some other ISP's where your lucky to get anywhere near 60-70ms

Although you may get better pings to whatever game your running.

I am currently testing an online game with the test server in the US and I am seeing such low latency and ping it's better than the WoW servers in France.