ThinkBroadband Speed tester issues?

Is anyone else experiencing inconsistent speed test results?
I've only had FTTC for 4 days now and only achieved a consistent result between the BT speedchecker and Thinkbroadband spedchecker on day 2 (Thursday).
Since then the Thinkbroadband speedchecker is reporting a lower speed.
Day 1
BT No reslult
TBB 28740Kbps

Day 2
BT 34928Kbps
TBB 28567Kbps

Day 3
BT 29040Kbps
TBB 15140Kbps (best of 3 tests)

Day 4
BT 29364Kbps
TBB 14917Kbps


Robert
Basingstoke

TBB seems to struggle with FTTC.

In reply to a post by Zadeks:

TBB seems to struggle with FTTC.

I'm pretty sure it's not the tester itself- on occasion I can get full-speed results comparable with the BT one. But mostly it only shows 60-70% of that speed.

I think there's something weird about the routing/peering/something else involved in FTTC connections, which may well be outside tbb's control.

There was a problem with one of the TBB servers - but that has been sorted. I consistently get full speed results - 36.5 Mbps from the TBB tester.

I've always had slower speeds through the TBB speedtester, most likely it's that TBB doesn't have enough bandwidth.

Given the location and connectivity available - bandwidth is not an issue.

In reply to a post by MHC:

I consistently get full speed results - 36.5 Mbps from the TBB tester.

Some do, some don't Some sometimes do and sometimes don't, like me.

And don't put it down to congestion please, I know enough to be able to eliminate that as a cause.

Did I suggest congestion? No.

I know the TBB server can support high speed links - a few weeks back on a business trip to Hamburg, i was trying a suppliers equipment.

We achieved over 400Mbps on a couple of tests with one set up and 88 Mbps on another set up which had a maximum capability of 90Mbps.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Did I suggest congestion? No.

Don't take it so personally

Congestion is the usual verdict when this gets reported, and I know the tbb servers can handle any speed that even a business BB connection is likely to throw at them. It has to be somewhere in the middle, and it doesn't appear to be ISP-specific which pretty much leaves BT

I'd just like to see the problem acknowledged, preferably with the cause identified and ideally fixed. I haven't got to the first stage yet

I agree there is something in the network - probably under BT's control or management that is causing a few problems. The latency spikes I see, the failure to complete web pages (here too), occasional "freezing" of the connection (possibly lost packets and latency issues) and the speed test issue.

Mind you- it could be a lot worse than it is.

A tbb IPv6 speedtest, done this morning:

Detailed Results
Date 23/04/11 11:31:51
Download speed 189.33 Kbps (0.18 Mbps)
Upload speed 7415.23 Kbps (7.24 Mbps)
Server Port 8095 (tcp)

And a link to one on a French server a few minutes earlier:

IPv6 speedtest

Edited by billford (Sat 23-Apr-11 14:57:04)

And one more to add: Port 80 tests do not wok either! They were find in ADSL days but not VDSL/FTTC

It's definitely either the Java tester itself or the servers, as I have full speeds everywhere else, and at peak times TBB tester would say otherwise.

I'm pretty sure it's not the tester itself- on occasion I can get full-speed results comparable with the BT one. But mostly it only shows 60-70% of that speed.

Same for me, and sometimes lower than 50%.

.

In reply to a post by MHC:

And one more to add: Port 80 tests do not wok either! They were find in ADSL days but not VDSL/FTTC

Port 80 just worked fine for me? Maybe you need to stir the wok?

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 24-Apr-11 13:50:19)

That is the point ... there seems to be quite a few problems arising with FTTC but some people get one or two, others get a different set and other suffer none at all.

It's a shame this is still an ongoing problem.

I had FFTC installed last summer and at the time I raised the issue of the TBB speedtest not working properly but I was told in no uncertain terms that there's no problem their end and it's our fault we're not seeing accurate results.

Edit - http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/newsite/t/3894231-r...

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-Apr-11 15:07:58)

Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately that means I can't rely on Thinkbroadband to test my FTTC throughput.

Could it be IP address related, depending on which IP address or subnet you are assigned? Though I've had 14Mbps and 20Mbps with the same IP.

Today TBB is higher but still low 20360 Kbps, compared with the BT speedtester 29349Kbps.

Robert
Basingstoke

Hi,

I don't know if this would help anybody out at all.

from http://www.speedguide.net/articles/windows-7-vista-2...

Compound TCP - Improve throughput
Add-On Congestion Control Provider

The traditional slow-start and congestion avoidance algorithms in TCP help avoid network congestion by gradually increasing the TCP window at the beginning of transfers until the TCP Receive Window boundary is reached, or packet loss occurs. For broadband internet connections that combine high TCP Window with higher latency (high BDP), these algorithms do not increase the TCP windows fast enough to fully utilize the bandwidth of the connection.

Compound TCP (CTCP) is a newer method, available in Vista and Server 2008 (there is also a hotfix available for XP/2003). CTCP increases the TCP send window more aggressively for broadband connections (with large RWIN and BDP). CTCP attempts to maximize throughput by monitoring delay variations and packet loss. It also ensures that its behavior does not impact other TCP connections negatively.

By default, Vista and Windows 7 have CTCP turned off, it is only on by default under Server 2008. Turning this option on can significantly increase throughput.

To enable CTCP, in elevated command prompt type:

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=ctcp

To disable CTCP:

netsh int tcp set global congestionprovider=none

Possible options are: ctcp, none, default (restores the system default value).
Recommended setting: ctcp

It is better to use this newer generation CTCP congestion control algorithm for most broadband connections, we highly recommend it being turned on.