Online test vs Real test

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:17 pm

Real test wins

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:31 pm

What's the difference? I mean why is one so much better than the other? Can you elaborate a bit?

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:34 pm

http://speedguide.net/faq/index.php?num ... 4&q_id=110

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:38 pm

Good link thanks

. But it doens't really explain why one is better than the other, could you explain a bit?

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:43 pm

Well, do you want to download faster or have a inaccurate online test score

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:44 pm

What? I'm just asking for some clarification on why one is better than the other.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:51 pm

If you have a fast online test score, find out how fast you are really downloading here:

ftp://ftp1.optonline.net/pub/test64

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:54 pm

I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. My question is why is one test more reliable than the other? To they incorporate different TCP/IP Protocols or something? Is one based on different factors than the other? That's what I want to know, not just "do this test and see", I can do that, I want to understand what the difference is.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 12:59 pm

I go by what SG recommends as they are alot smarter than me, plus in testing I find real test faster

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:02 pm

So, what your saying is you don't know? If you don't understand something or can't explain it then you shouldn't recommend it to people.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:04 pm

Oh, I know but you have search engine, fine out, I stick by SG

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:08 pm

Originally posted by Lobo
Oh, I know but you have search engine, fine out, I stick by SG

What? If you know please explain it, that was the whole point of me asking.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:10 pm

You test, try real test vs online, choose best

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:16 pm

I apologize again, but do you not understand what I'm asking? It's not about what's the fastest test, it's about why is one more accurate than the other? You ALWAYS say do "real" test but never explain why.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:17 pm

Ask SG

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:23 pm

You are the "guru" here, I have read this site for a long time and have never posted. Everyone comes here asking for your advice and I see some inaccurate information being provided from you, I respect the fact you spen time helping people but you need to understand things and have the facts straight when helping others or they just get confused. It's not right to "pass the buck" to Speedguide or anyone else for that matter when asked a direct question, if you don't know just say so, nobody knows everything. Like the saying goes "the only dumb question is the question not asked".

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:26 pm

Real Test downloads win, case closed

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:26 pm

But why? That's my question.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:28 pm

Closed

Post by **Philip** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 1:48 pm

Originally posted by nickburns
I'm sorry if I'm not being clear. My question is why is one test more reliable than the other? To they incorporate different TCP/IP Protocols or something? Is one based on different factors than the other? That's what I want to know, not just "do this test and see", I can do that, I want to understand what the difference is.

If you guys are referring to the two ways to test here: http://speedguide.net/faq/index.php?num ... 4&q_id=110 I can try to explain a bit better:

If you are testing from one page on the net, you are measuring the slowest connection between you and the server you are downloading from... Your connection is not necessarily the bottleneck, so the reported speed might be lower than yours. Also cache comes into play, on your own PC, your ISP's proxy servers, etc. that might produce incorrect higher result. Also, many "online speed tests" incorrectly adjust for TCP headers or compression.

With all that in mind, it's better when you download from multiple fast servers at the same time, since the chance of your connection being the bottleneck increases a lot.

Why distant servers, you might ask ? Because it is a better representation of real Internet traffic. Because downloading from your ISP only tests the connection between you and them, it does not test your ISPs backbones which might be the bottleneck even if your broadband modem is not capped. Bandwidth/leased lines cost a lot of money to your ISP and they oversubscribe, unless you have a dedicated business line.

Just my 2¢

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 6:14 pm

Good explanation Philip

, if I may add also that it's not really one test is sooo much more accurate or better than the other, there are difference's in what protocols are used with a ftp test as compared to a http test. The most important thing is do many tests to see if what tweaks you have done are working and do them at different times of the day. Nothing is 100% accurate but you will get an idea if things are going in the right direction. Remember that no matter what test you do certain things are going to effect it no matter what such as how much bandwith the testing server allots, congestion on your end and theirs, time of day (due to some of the factors I mentioned).

joecool169 · Post by **joecool169** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 10:11 pm

One last thought to go with yours mnosteele52 and Philip

Aren't we all tweaking our connections so that our downloads go faster, not so some speed test shows higher? So that is reason enough for me to wanna believe a real speedtest over an online test

Maybe that was already said, but I din't see it

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 10:28 pm

Bless you

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Thu Aug 08, 2002 11:37 pm

Originally posted by joecool169
One last thought to go with yours mnosteele52 and Philip

Aren't we all tweaking our connections so that our downloads go faster, not so some speed test shows higher? So that is reason enough for me to wanna believe a real speedtest over an online test

Maybe that was already said, but I din't see it

Both tests are "real" speed tests as long as the http test is a large enough file to get a reliable reading. Both tests are going to give you the same results within a certain degree of error. But as I said different protocols of TCP/IP are involved with ftp tests that aren't involved with http tests and vice versa that being the case you should do both tests and see especially since most downloads and all web surfing is http based.

nickburns · Post by **nickburns** » Fri Aug 09, 2002 12:07 am

Originally posted by Lobo
Bless you

???

You don't even understand it. Thank you Philip & mnosteele52.

vicoman · Post by **vicoman** » Fri Aug 09, 2002 9:28 am

Another quick explaination is to define how a speed test actually calculates the results. It times how fast you download a block of raw data. It then takes that time and calculates your line speed. There are many things that can interfere with this.If for some reason your browser hangs or other software hangs, this will make a 2 meg line display rediculously innaccurate results like 400k. Besides net conjestion, if there are programs running on your PC that connect to the net automatically every 5 minutes, like scheduled tasks such as live update, this will throw off your results. You can probably think of other things. Speed tests are just a rough number, and a very rough one at that. In my opinion, the best way to tell if a tweak is working for you, in addition to speed tests and downloads, you should judge by overall performance. If you cant tell your browsing faster, than whats the point?

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Fri Aug 09, 2002 10:23 am

He knows the difference