Fastest Speedtest Site

Before I post my FTTPoD experience, I am trying to resolve a speed issue. Can anyone confirm whether the thinkbroadband and/or BT Wholesale speed tests can do very fast speeds (above 100mbps). The thinkbroadband graphic tops out at 100mbps and the chart shows me results a bit above is but marginal.

Thank you

The dial is just a graphic, we can set that to 10,000 Mbps if you want.

What is important is the underlying tester, and yes we can go well beyond 100 Mbps, above 350 Mbps then the browser and/or flash version you are using can be an issue. Above around 500 Mbps then even with Gigabit Ethernet not all PC hardware can cope.

If you are using wireless then don't, while 802.11ac may push 200 Mbps it will be very variable.

Great - thank you. I was on a wired gigabit Ethernet connection. I am also trying to run multiple speed tests at the same time from different computers on the network to ensure it is nothing to do with the computers either. I have been lent a router which is definitely capable of the speed so it can't be that either. If my multiple simultaneous speed tests don't solve the problem, it looks like I will be going back to BT.

You may find http://www.thinkbroadband.com/download.html also useful, as these can help to rule out flash or browser issues.

An important point, some speed test results may add up to faster than your connection speed if you simply add multiple results together and will depend on which test you are using, as there are different testing methodologies that exist.

The load from multiple speed tests on your router from multiple computers may be a bottle neck, hence linking you to the speed test file page.

Suspect BT will quote the 40 Mbps CIR over the 330 Mbps service, and suggest more tests are done off peak.

If you are getting under 150 Mbps from our tests then something is seriously wrong, since the VM cable customers on fastest product happily test with no issues.

It is always worth having Windows Task Manager running with the Network tab selected. It does give a good overview of what the connection is doing - hard to get an accurate value however it will be in the right ballpark. Similarly, some modems/routers also have a very basic monitor which will show the aggregate level.

I have successfully tested several 330 and 220 meg FTTP installations using this sites speed tester and found no issues, the same cannot be said of some other sites testers I have used, the one at http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk would not show over 15 meg on a 330 circuit, I know it'll do more, it shows me 72meg connection quite accurately.

Not many FTTPoD services out there before the product got put on hold. How long have you had it ?

I had my FTTPoD installed last month (having ordered in January 2014...). I have been running various tests to make sure it wasn't me. My ISP (Andrews & Arnold) have been really, really helpful throughout the whole order process and very kindly lent me a firebrick router so I could confirm it is not my router. They have also confirmed they have not capped the speed on my line. I have sent the details below to them this morning - do you think this is an installation issue?

I tried the following:

1) all computers were always connected with gigabit wired Ethernet

2) both the BTWholesale and thinkbroadband speed tests (and the thinkbroadband download test)

3) I tried my laptop plugged into the firebrick router they lent me and I tried multiple computers connected to a gigabit switch connected to the firebrick (I also tried my new linksys router which I am told can do 330Mbps+ but given I know for certain the firebrick can do the speed, I have focused on this)

4) When I have a single computer (I have tried different computers) running a speed test , I get a download result of between 100-110Mbps

5) I have tried running 2 or 3 simultaneous speed tests and the downloads add up to between 100-120Mbps (presumably slightly higher because my family didn't all click on 'run test' at exactly the same time)

Hopefully A&A can help me solve this but if you have any ideas, please let me know!

Thank you,

Brian

The shape of the throughput graph from a speed test can be useful too, so posting the link to your results from our test would be helpful.

This is the link to a speedtest I ran this evening - is this what you mean?

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Thanks very much

Based on the shape of the download I would say it is not a hardware/software problem under your control, but someone in the Openreach or BT Wholesale departments has added a 110 Mbps product cap to the downloads

Never seen anyone try it, but what does http://speedtest.btwholesale.com show for the IP Profile setting

Edited by MrSaffron (Fri 13-Mar-15 09:17:24)

If the IP Profile doesn't work, there is a way of getting the sync speed from the ONT. But it is a bit of a fiddle.

Which ISP is this btw?

A&A is the ISP (both a previous post and the speed test show this )

Sorry, I should pay more attention.

I would speak to A&A as they should be able to shed more light. They might have put the OP on a 110Mbps profile their end.

Hopefully they can but unusually for A&A they seem to have problems finding the issue going by this:

My ISP (Andrews & Arnold) have been really, really helpful throughout the whole order process and very kindly lent me a firebrick router so I could confirm it is not my router. They have also confirmed they have not capped the speed on my line

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

Sorry, I should pay more attention.

I would speak to A&A as they should be able to shed more light. They might have put the OP on a 110Mbps profile their end.

A&A have been incredibly helpful. They have confirmed they haven't capped the speed. They have logged a fault with BT - we'll see how BT respond...

I'll see if I can get any more information from the BT wholesale speedtest site (I have also tried the speedtest there before but I'll see if it says anything else)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Based on the shape of the download I would say it is not a hardware/software problem under your control, but someone in the Openreach or BT Wholesale departments has added a 110 Mbps product cap to the downloads

Never seen anyone try it, but what does http://speedtest.btwholesale.com show for the IP Profile setting

In am not sure how to see the IP Profile setting on the BT Wholesale speedtester but I tried further diagnostics and it didn't recognise my address so I have asked A&A for my broadband circuit ID to see if this provides any useful information.

I wonder if it's through TalkTalk Business?

AIUI the BTW speedtest runs on LLU now, but all the Further Diagnostics do is pull up the IP Profile - which TT Business wouldn't have.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I wonder if it's through TalkTalk Business?

AIUI the BTW speedtest runs on LLU now, but all the Further Diagnostics do is pull up the IP Profile - which TT Business wouldn't have.

I don't think FTTPoD can work through Talk Talk Business but others will know better than me. I think it is probably a quirk of FTTPoD that the further diagnostics doesn't work with my address - I'll try again when I have the broadband circuit ID

In reply to a post by bdo21:

Before I post my FTTPoD experience, I am trying to resolve a speed issue. Can anyone confirm whether the thinkbroadband and/or BT Wholesale speed tests can do very fast speeds (above 100mbps). The thinkbroadband graphic tops out at 100mbps and the chart shows me results a bit above is but marginal.

Thank you

Not sure if you still need the info but the TBB speedtest seems to be capable of 600Mbps+.

Here is a test inside a VM on a dedicated server, based on a 1Gbps connection in France:

TBB: http://imgur.com/Su0bGyx

BT: http://imgur.com/SeYo09d


Ignore the upload speed on the BT test; it's a fault with the stupid Virtual Box software the VM is running in.

Looks like the TBB test is more capable than the BT test looking at that.

I don't think FTTPoD can work through Talk Talk Business but others will know better than me. I think it is probably a quirk of FTTPoD that the further diagnostics doesn't work with my address

I agree.

Not sure that having the circuit identifier, the OGEA reference, will be of any use either, I don't think the BT Wholesale tester is set up to intake that either.

Can you press A&A for an SFVA visit from Openreach ?

Have got it to go over 1 Gbps when on a device that has a 10 Gbps interface

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Have got it to go over 1 Gbps when on a device that has a 10 Gbps interface

Are the download files on the same multi-gigabit platform as the speedtest Andrew?

Yes same multi-gigabit network is behind all our testers.