Are speed checks accurate
 

Hi all,

daft question but are speed checks accurate. My speed on speedtest okala can range from 600-400 download within a 5 minute window haha. i find my speed starts at around 700-800 and then drops down. sometimes it only drops down to 500ish but sometimes it'll drop down to 200 and then bounce back up to around 400 in the end. My questions are

1) Surely the speed shouldn't fluctuate that wildly from start to the finish of the test. Going really high and then really low and then back up to midrange all within 30 seconds?

2) I've used another speed back and got 914 download and another one got me to 700 download. its just all seems quite random. like even using the same speed check i can get consistently different results.

Am i over thinking this and it is just normal for results to fluctuate so much or is this a potential problem? i would have thought a speed check would hit 800 to begin with, drop by 20, climb again by 5 and just sort of remain steady rather than going down hundreds and back up hundreds all in the same test before ending on a random figure i could probably never get very close to again.

My internet is fast than ill ever need for my pc im just more curious

yes i am attached to ethernet cable into pc.

My iphone meanwhile just goes from low to high and then doesn't really fluctuate that much and always seems to get scores of around 750-775 whilst my pc as i mention can fluctuate by almost 200+ mbps on final results.

cheers in advance!

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

They give you an idea if there is an issue that is all I take from them

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

The internet is complex, lots of transit providers, peering arrangements, your traffic could go over one of many possible routes to and from the destination.

Also if you testing over wifi, what you reported wouldnt be unusual.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

There seems to be so many ads on some of them, that that's bound to affect the actual test.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

On the odd occaision when I want to test my speeds I use Cloudflare My techie son bookmarked the link for me and although I don't really understand all the tests it is still interesting seeing it working.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

One of the best ones I find is the ThinkBroadband.

Its the one linked as the SpeedTest in our navbar menu.

I ran this about 5 minutes ago.

https://www.cableforum.uk/board/atta...chmentid=30396

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

Speed test results aren't just dependent on your network. They are also affected by the device you are measuring speed on.

Speed tests use up PC resources. For example, a speed test will use up processor time. If your processor capacity is pretty low, then a test may max it out. Symptoms include variable speed test results and wildly varying speed during the test.

You can check this out by having your processor performance showing whilst you are running a speed test. If 90% or more of processor resources are being used that will be a likely cause of inconsistent result. You say your mobile results are more consistent. No doubt your mobile is handling the test comfortably.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

thanks all!

Paul i got 367mbps on your test
joglynne i got 859mps on your test hahah.

apart from that some helpful advice and info from you all!

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

Try SamKnows Real Speed.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

To check my speed i always download largest test file from here and it gives me a pretty accurate measurement...

https://speed.hetzner.de

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

I was lucky to break 31Mb/s on the above.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

I got 636Mb instead of my usual 940Mb on that test. I used the 10Gb file.

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

My client been trail on virgin media 1.8gig with 100Meg upload.

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2023/03/1.jpg

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

Re: Are speed checks accurate
 

How can that test result be showing with the test needle still active and the test still running?