PCA Forums

figured i would start a new thread on this, based on the responses from my other one about a recent dsl upgrade i had.

FP- i just tested wugnet from my work location (DS3 managed circuit...45Mbps up/down) and got this:

QoS: 79%
Round Trip Time: 39ms
Max Pause: 47mx

Download: 9.10 Mbps
Upload: 182Kbps

this is worse than what i get at home, which is also still much slower than the actual speeds seen for other sites, etc. i'm curious if my city is just a terrible location for accessing wugnet, or their server(s) are overloaded. i did a tracert and wugnet is 14 hops away with good ping times, but can't tell specifically where they are (PA or NJ...looks like "hostmysite.net" is used with a final IP of 76.12.0.36).

My experience with Wugnet, and the reason I use it, is it gives me real world numbers that aren't inflated by some of the new burst speed tech that ISPs are using. Almost ALL ISPs are doing some kind of active burst & throttling tech now, and that skews the numbers reported by most speed tests IMO.

Not that there's anything wrong with burst speed, but burst speed tech is only of value when downloading web pages and small files. When I'm checking a client's internet connection for problems, I want the real world numbers so I can tell if there's anything wrong. 8Mbit burst is worthless if the non-burst speed is less than 1Mbit due to packet loss or a flaky modem.

Wugnet is certainly accurate in my area where Comcast never gives you more than 8Mbit non-burst (they only promise 6) and DSL is capped at 1.5Mbit for residential with higher speed options for commercial. DSL around here is very strictly capped and a properly working DSL connection always his right around 1.5 on Wugnet. Comcast varies a lot because you are dependent on the load on the node you're on. Cable nodes automatically load balance when the node is maxed, which is why I can see speeds as high as 9Mbit sometimes late in the evening when all my neighbors are asleep, and rarely see more than 6Mbit during the day.

As for what's happening at your business location, I don't know. Maybe Wugnet is confused by something specific in your connection? Your office might be using load balancing over multiple pipes and maybe Wugnet is only measuring one pipe? Maybe it just doesn't like whatever QoS your network might be running.

It's very possible Wugnet gives me better results here in Central FL. I don't know.

All I know is that the SpeedTest.net gives me a completely bogus number here. I have measured my raw bandwidth transfer rate by uploading and downloading a large file to multiple FTPs (something I do all the time for my work) and I know for a fact that my download speed varies between 6 and 9 Mbit and upload speed is usually around 4 - 5Mbit.

Certainly not the 16/7 Speedtest.net is reporting.

I would say the best test is to use an FTP client and upload and download a large file (and by large I mean one single 100Mb file) and see what you get. On Comcast you will usually see a huge transfer rate at the start which then drops off dramatically at some point when the burst speed tech shuts off.

That's the test that the DSL provider around here (Century Link) requests I use when I report issues with commercial accounts.

yeah, i think just finding a solid source (like microsoft or similar) and downloading a large file is a good test for download speed...for upload, i'm not sure. it's not elegant, but does a good long-term average of a pipe.

The DSL provider here has me FTP into their own FTP server, which I think is located in Atlanta GA, and they have a 10Mb and a 100Mb test file you can download. They always ask me to use the 100Mb file.

Using Wugnet, I get:

Your download speed = 4.73Mbps
Upload speed = 1.14Mbps

Quality of Service: 75%
Round Trip Time: 2ms
Max Pause: 94ms

1mb file = 2 seconds
10mb file = 17 seconds
100mb file = 3 minutes

Most FTP apps have an indicator showing you your download speed, and I'll just watch that towards the end of the transfer.

Using Wugnet, I get:

Your download speed = 4.10Mbps
Upload speed = 5.33Mbps

Quality of Service: 37%
Round Trip Time: 16ms
Max Pause: 203ms

1mb file = 2 seconds
10mb file = 20 seconds
100mb file = 3 minutes

According to Wolfram Alpha 33.3Mb per minute = 4.4 Mbit/sec so looks like Wugnet is dead on for you two guys.

Your download speed = 5.16Mbps
Upload speed = 810Kbps

Quality of Service: 74%
Round Trip Time: 58ms
Max Pause: 87ms

1mb file = 2 seconds
10mb file = 16 seconds
100mb file = 3 minutes