SamKnows Broadband Performance Measurement Study

I have signed up to participate in SamKnows Broadband Performance Measurement Study. Any information regarding SamKnows Broadband Performance Measurement Study would be appreciated, such as; is it approved by ISP�s or is permission required from my ISP to take part in the studies? Does installing the Whitebox have any bad effects on my internet connection? Good or bad thing to participate in the studies?
Your views will be greatly appreciated.

it just sits there and does its thing, completely unnoticeable. It does obviously transfer data for speedtests, I think the web site says how much this is.

I wouldn't get your hopes up about hearing back from them any time soon. I signed up well over a year ago and have heard nothing back since

I signed up a year to 18 months ago and this week I recieved a couple of emails to give give further details and accept the terms and the Whitebox should now arrive 10-14 days time.

Edit; up

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Feb-13 11:48:12)

There's hope for me yet then

Just checked and it was July 2011 I signed up!

I have had my samknows whitebox for about 2 years now - it just sits and runs tests every hour. No impact on performance.

Its reporting (internet page or via an Android app) is good. Useful for FTTC connection when modem stats are not available. Gives good latency and packet loss info "the right way round" with the tests run from the customer end of the line rather than by a remote server pinging the router.

Quietly impressed. Not sure what the use the data for - the don't really go into details.

Thanks for that. I was just worried it may interfere or have a bad effect on my internet connection. I have read the SamKnows web site notes and they seem to give us a password to access the stats and a monthly email check.
You have put my mind at rest.

You may still be contacted by SamKnows provided you meet all their reqirements. As far as I know the tests last for around 2 years so they may contact people when others drop out of the test.

Looks like I just got accepted. I wonder if it'll be in time to capture my infamous 'four days of naffness' due on the 19th? It'll be nice if I can also send IDNet that information.

It looks as they are accepting a whole new bunch of participants to start a new test session!

Just had my invite as well, just waiting for the box to turn up. mind you i wonder how many ppl were on the icm tests, that's know going to samknows

My original acceptance of the SamKnows offer was a year ago. Just yesterday I was asked for a delivery address and was formally welcomed to the community.

My only concern is that they send me the right white box. One the SK-TL-WR741ND can measure connections up to 100Mbs. It has a 100Mb ethernet connection. This would not be suitable for me because my connection goes up to 120Mb soon and my home network is gigabit throughout. The other the SK-TL-WR1043ND is suitable for connections up to 250Mb and has 1Gbs ethernet. If they don't send me that one, after all my insistence, my relationship with SamKnows will abruptly cease.

White box specifications HERE.

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Feb-13 06:26:15)

I would "hope" that all whiteboxes are now the version 2 spec as it would be very difficult to correctly manage the distribution of version 1 and version 2 boxes depending on the connection profile.

The use of the whitebox connected as per samknows instructions will not impact the internal network - the 100Mb/s connection will only limit the transfer speed to and from the internet (which is far from ideal!).

I've had my samknows box since May 2010. No signs of them wanting it back - in fact I've just changed ISPs and when I let them know they thanked me for continuing to support.

It has never caused me any issues and is great for telling me what my line is really doing - on FTTC most of the speedtests I do don't get to the connection speed yet the samknows one is pretty consistent (within a meg or 2).

My only issue is the 100Mb ports on the box because I now have gigabit through most of my network - so now I don't actually plug the rest of the devices into the samknows box - it still seems to do it's job though and I haven't seen any performance issues.

In reply to a post by roughbeast:

My only concern is that they send me the right white box.
... my home network is gigabit throughout.

Like several others here I signed up ages back and there has been a recent flurry of emails including a promise ot the white box arriving soon. Amongst the questions in the latest round of emails and I think originally was one on home network speed so if you answered that as gigabit as I did you should get the right box. In my own case getting the wrong one wouldn't be a disaster as my network is based around a couple of switches and my 60Mbps cable connection just feeds into that with the only other router port occupied being a Vonage VOIP box. TBH the VM Superhub is so poor I wouldn't trust the throughput of its switch anyway even though it is supposed to be gigabit.

I have just recieved the SamKnows WhiteBox, and connected it up. Now wait to be able to see the stats when it has been running for a few days to see what it shows!

In reply to a post by scopio:

I have just recieved the SamKnows WhiteBox, and connected it up. Now wait to be able to see the stats when it has been running for a few days to see what it shows!

Should get mine soon. I completed the sign the T&Cs last week.

Recieved email from SamKnows confirming my Whitebox is connected and running performance tests, and my login details to the online reporting system to view my test results.

I have news for you.

I received the SamKnows whitebox this morning. They sent me Whitebox 1, the one with only 100Mb ethernet! I asked them specifically for the TL-WR1043ND because my VM connection goes up to 120Mb by April and that I have a gigabit network.

Already I have noticed that I am only getting 85Mb/7.2Mb in speed tests when I usually get 104Mb/9.6Mb, so the box isn't even coping with my 100Mb connection. I have protected my network for now by placing the whitebox between my superhub in modem-only mode and my main router WNDR3700 v1. Soon I will be receiving my trial VM superhub, so this will have to be in full mode. The whitebox will be useless for me. Grrrrrr

In reply to a post by greenglide:

The use of the whitebox connected as per samknows instructions will not impact the internal network - the 100Mb/s connection will only limit the transfer speed to and from the internet (which is far from ideal!).

If connected as-per the instructions that came with mine there is the potential for the unit to impact on the wired internal network. The instructions tell you to swap all your existing network connections to the whitebox and just connect from the whitebox WAN to a LAN port on your current router. I received the WR1043ND anyway though as I specified that I run a gigabit home network during the signup. As it happens all that is connected to mine is a gigabit switch and my Vonage ATA which is 100Mbps anyway. I have VM 60Mbps and the two results showing so far are down on that considerably. It looks like the agreement prohibits making the test details public though.

In reply to a post by ian72:

I've had my samknows box since May 2010. No signs of them wanting it back - in fact I've just changed ISPs and when I let them know they thanked me for continuing to support.

Likewise I have the original "black-box" rather than the current "whitebox" models - I've got the modified Linksys thing.

It has never caused me any issues and is great for telling me what my line is really doing - on FTTC most of the speedtests I do don't get to the connection speed yet the samknows one is pretty consistent (within a meg or 2).

Mine is reporting the same speeds as most speed testers (except for TBB's new green graph, the yellow is fine) on my FTTC, which is only 45meg so doesn't stress the black-box's 100meg ports.

My only issue is the 100Mb ports on the box because I now have gigabit through most of my network - so now I don't actually plug the rest of the devices into the samknows box - it still seems to do it's job though and I haven't seen any performance issues.

Likewise!

In reply to a post by ian72:

My only issue is the 100Mb ports on the box because I now have gigabit through most of my network - so now I don't actually plug the rest of the devices into the samknows box - it still seems to do it's job though and I haven't seen any performance issues.

Won't that ruin the validity of the tests on your line though. AIUI the whole point of plugging the LAN into the white box is that it knows when your network is otherwise engaged and doesn't perform it's tests.

If it doesn't know you are, for example, streaming a video and runs it's download test then I would have thought it would result in a lower performance figure.

Or am I missing something?

That is the theory but my tests so far have been pretty consistent. If it gets to the point they aren't then I'll let them know and they can either have the box back or send me a gigabit one. If I decide to go FTTP at some point then they will have to upgrade it anyway or it won't be able to max the line.

In reply to a post by scopio:

Recieved email from SamKnows confirming my Whitebox is connected and running performance tests, and my login details to the online reporting system to view my test results.

Plugged mine at 4pm. Now just waiting for the email.

I had the original Samknows box from about May 2010, more recently changing over to the White Box.

I am not aware of either causing any problems, acknowledging that I rarely download massive files such as videos.

Once a month, I have received e-mails from Samknows, about the latest full calendar month's statistics; the e-mail containg a summary and with a link to the detailed results.

I also frequently use the TBB Speed Testers; and there is general agreement.

I am on Orange/EE "up to 17 Mbps" service, generally downloading at 15 Mbps and uploading about 1 Mbps.

Unfortunately, nobody else in the area uses TBB Speed Tester on a frequent basis, so difficult to assess that performance.

However, as far as it goes, my results are the only ones showing those levels; compared with two known recent SKY results, similar distance and attenuation measured for one on a different cabinet (and probably the other is on the same cabinet as mine, presumably similar distance and attenuation), showing 10 Mbps downloads.

All the other TBB results in the area are decidedly lower.

So in my case, it is very unlikely that the Samknows Whitebox is having any detrimental effect.

In reply to a post by scopio:

Thanks for that. I was just worried it may interfere or have a bad effect on my internet connection. I have read the SamKnows web site notes and they seem to give us a password to access the stats and a monthly email check.
You have put my mind at rest.

Mine doesn't seem to do anything. I haven't had the email and I can't get to any UI for it. I've had to plug my server back into my router instead of the Samknows box. When plugged into the Samknows box it kept getting conflicting IP addresses. I'm guessing I'd need to tell the Samknows box about static IP addresses but without a UI I can't do that.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

In reply to a post by scopio:

Thanks for that. I was just worried it may interfere or have a bad effect on my internet connection. I have read the SamKnows web site notes and they seem to give us a password to access the stats and a monthly email check.
You have put my mind at rest.

Mine doesn't seem to do anything. I haven't had the email and I can't get to any UI for it. I've had to plug my server back into my router instead of the Samknows box. When plugged into the Samknows box it kept getting conflicting IP addresses. I'm guessing I'd need to tell the Samknows box about static IP addresses but without a UI I can't do that.

Ah ha! Just an email saying I'm connected.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

Ah ha! Just an email saying I'm connected.

I've had the Whitebox connected for four days now. I can get to the Monitoring Performance Charts by signing in, just waiting for the monthly email showing the statistics. The Whitebox will just sit there monitoring and reporting the internet connection.
If you are having problems with your server, IP addresses and the Whitebox I suggest you contact Samknows at [email protected].

I've had mine a few days. Don't notice anything affecting the connection (and I'm a bit pedantic about such things). It knows if you're doing things on the connection and just doesn't test if that's the case.

And, importantly, they fulfil their GPL requirements on the included software, it appears to run OpenWRT firmware with some basic tools.

To be honest, I only really ordered it because at the end of the trial you get to keep it. A free TPLink router isn't to be sniffed at, and even a year or more from now I'll still be able to use it for what I want (especially if I have the source to the firmware!).

But the graphs are pretty and seem to reflect reality.

In reply to a post by greenglide:

I would "hope" that all whiteboxes are now the version 2 spec as it would be very difficult to correctly manage the distribution of version 1 and version 2 boxes depending on the connection profile.

I had hoped that yor were right but the theory doesn't seem to work in practise. I received my white box today and is the old version.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

Mine doesn't seem to do anything. I haven't had the email and I can't get to any UI for it. I've had to plug my server back into my router instead of the Samknows box. When plugged into the Samknows box it kept getting conflicting IP addresses. I'm guessing I'd need to tell the Samknows box about static IP addresses but without a UI I can't do that.

There is no user interface - the Samknows box itself is expecting DHCP but if you run static addresses, you'll have to run a DHCP with one pool and assign it to the MAC address. The user interface is the website and login you'll have in the email you get when it starts reporting.

It will be interesting to see (after a month or so) if the SamKnows reports show your regular issue.

Edited by jchamier (Sat 23-Feb-13 21:16:13)

In reply to a post by jchamier:

It will be interesting to see (after a month or so) if the SamKnows reports show your regular issue.

It's showing it now. Got a beautiful dip from a steady high 60s, down to dodgy 30s. It shows as a lot better today although DLM has knocked me back for a while:

18/02/2013 18:00 69.22
18/02/2013 19:00 66.66
18/02/2013 20:00 68.79
18/02/2013 21:00 64.34
18/02/2013 22:00 68.93
18/02/2013 23:00 68.87
19/02/2013 00:00 8 68.6
19/02/2013 06:00 8 69.07
19/02/2013 12:00 8 68.69
19/02/2013 18:00 8 26.94
19/02/2013 19:00 8 71.73
19/02/2013 20:00 8 44.01
19/02/2013 21:00 8 64.77
19/02/2013 23:00 8 16.49
20/02/2013 00:00 8 18.74
20/02/2013 06:00 8 18.2
20/02/2013 12:00 8 32.77
20/02/2013 18:00 8 24.48
20/02/2013 19:00 8 19.55
20/02/2013 20:00 8 18.79
20/02/2013 21:00 8 19.97
20/02/2013 22:00 8 69.41
20/02/2013 23:00 8 28.57
21/02/2013 00:00 8 20.34
21/02/2013 06:00 8 69.66
21/02/2013 12:00 8 39.18
21/02/2013 18:00 8 72.9
21/02/2013 19:00 8 35.94
21/02/2013 20:00 8 30.02
21/02/2013 21:00 8 18.33
21/02/2013 22:00 8 69.05
21/02/2013 23:00 8 33.14
22/02/2013 00:00 8 23.61
22/02/2013 06:00 8 19.06
22/02/2013 12:00 8 34.32
22/02/2013 18:00 8 19.09
22/02/2013 19:00 8 55.01
22/02/2013 20:00 8 24.88
22/02/2013 21:00 8 66.67
22/02/2013 22:00 8 23.7
22/02/2013 23:00 8 19.37
23/02/2013 00:00 8 19.46
23/02/2013 06:00 8 69.06
23/02/2013 12:00 8 26.77
23/02/2013 18:00 8 69.88
23/02/2013 19:00 8 27.4
23/02/2013 20:00 8 69.1
23/02/2013 21:00 8 21.67
23/02/2013 22:00 8 25.8
23/02/2013 23:00 8 57.56
24/02/2013 00:00 8 40.61
24/02/2013 06:00 8 23.5
24/02/2013 12:00 8 18.17
24/02/2013 18:00 8 17.61
24/02/2013 19:00 8 61.15
24/02/2013 20:00 8 19.93
24/02/2013 21:00 8 18.04
24/02/2013 22:00 8 67.93
24/02/2013 23:00 8 22.23
25/02/2013 00:00 8 67.97
25/02/2013 06:00 8 19.47
25/02/2013 12:00 8 61.95

My TBBQM is a lot better since this morning. As noted in the other thread a session change cleared it:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ping/share/a4668f33174...

No idea why it resyncd but it's put interleaving on. Oddly my sync has dropped but my attainable rate has gone up.

The red bars last night we me trying to fix with a session change.

Edited by Andrue (Mon 25-Feb-13 15:19:07)

Just to say that having contacted the community at Sam Knows the are sending me a replacement gigabit box. Good recovery.