Question about accurate speed testing and Choke points

I have a question about download speeds.

There is a customer in my local area that has service with Charter communications. They are paying for 60mb down and 5mb up. They are not getting the speed they are paying for at all. A couple of techs have been out to their home to resolve this an stated this was a line problem. So that is still waiting to resolved. Here is the odd question. When trying to measure the speed I am getting different results.

Here are all the average test results:

These tests were all done with direct connections to a ubee modem.

Speakeasy Speed Test
http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
20mb down 5mb up

Speedtest.net
http://www.speedtest.net/
15mb down and 5mb up

Testmy.net
http://www.testmy.net/tools/test/d_load.php
11.5 down and 5mb up

Toast.net
http://performance.toast.net/default.asp
4mb! down and 5mb up

Charter communications (charters own speed test)
http://spt01olvemo.stls.mo.charter.com/
33.5 down and 5up


So every test got the upload speed right but every speed test was different. Now all of the closest servers were selected but still this odd result. Now I know you should use your ISP's speed test but this can be misleading to the average consumer.

So I'm looking for some opinions on the best most accurate way to test a customers download speed. Also is it possible for a routers firewall to choke and hurt the speed coming into a customers home?

Any other idea's?

 

I prefer Speakeasy site. Mfg speed test is good for internal but is not real world. Comcast is a party line and the hardware they are using has a bottle neck built in to limit speed. Any and All hardware and restrict speed. If your router is logging, number of users, used as a proxy filter. The way to test if you have a external modem is do a direct connect. Bypassing the router will tell you if your routers is restrictive. Firewalls, hardware and personal, AV can even slow every ting down if you have it set to scan all incoming traffic. The number of Total Simultaneous connections is where a lot have problem. You can check performance numbers or your particular router on www.smallnetbuilder.com .

 

Thanks for the reply but you might wanna read my post again. All of the test done were with no router in place.

 

What you found is why I left them for FIOS. I found that Comcast backbone could not handle the load.

I switched to a lower service on FIOS and it still out performed Comcast.

 

A router can definitely choke the speed of a network connection, but it's more likely to be heavy usage in the neighborhood than anything else. Multiple speed tests only tell me that there's a bottleneck somewhere, but since each test probably hops through a different route, it's hard to say where it is.

My suggestion would be to do a 24-hour test over a single test at a time (if you do more than one) to see if it's cyclic. My cable connection slows down between 3-11pm, worst just after dinner (7-9ish), and pings rise accordingly. Nothing the cable company could do about it.

If it's consistently slow or consistently disrupted, there's something else going on - maybe bad power to the modem (power supply or unclean power/ungrounded outlet), maybe some physical interference on a line (interference from power or some external factor)

 

It simply amazes me how people don't read my posts. Ha.

As stated in my post, the customers isp has already advised him they have a line problem. I was just trying to find the best way to test a customers speed. A very reliable way. Someone got me thinking in the right direction. Either way, thanks for responding.

 

I did read your post and thought I was offering more info that might be useful to identify the issue. You asked about firewalls, the earlier poster addressed that somewhat, you shot it down. I tried with possible routing (not router) bottlenecks, hardware/line issues, or overall slowdowns that can't be avoided (assuming the tests were done during a generally overloaded time of day), and you show that down. Not sure what you were looking for, but it seems you don't care to share what the bit of info was.

 

Huh? I stressed in my first post that my customers isp was sending out a line tech to resolve the problem.

I never said I was trying to figure out the problem outside of that. Then I showed speed test results to stress the different rates. So my question was trying to find out a more exact way to test a customers speed. Where did you get that I was seeking help or insight regarding line issues or slowdowns? If you read my post you would have seen I wasn't asking for line or quality help. Ha I was just looking for the best way to measure a customers speed and I asked if routers can affect a customers speed.

Haha.

Again, I think maybe you read the wrong post and continue to do so. Maybe next time, I'll highlight what I have done and all the information.

So thanks anyway and keep in mind, I'm not trying to be rude or offensive. Its just annoying to try and put up as much information as possible only to have someone go in the wrong direction or tell you try something that you clearly have already done.

Lastly, here is where I said in my first post.

Either way, thanks for responding.