On 12/23/11 11:16 , Joel Maslak wrote:
On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 2:18 AM, jacob miller <mmzinyi@yahoo.com> wrote:
Am having a debate on the results of speed tests sites.
Am interested in knowing the thoughts of different individuals in regards to this.
It's one data point of many.
Depending on the speed test site, the protocols it uses, where the test is located, any local networking gear (I've seen transparent proxies get great speedtest ratings!), etc, they can be useful, particularly in verifying that a provider's off-net interconnects and partners are doing well.
However, they are susceptible to things like wireless network issues, TCP limitations (one stream vs. many streams), and misconfiguration of devices at the customer location. And the speed test box isn't necessarily configured/speced correctly either.
I don't imagine it accounts for l3 emcp either... To be clear, what one is I assume generally looking for from a speed test is usable throughput from the vantage point of the end-user running it.
I second the thoughts on NDT and I like the ICSI Netalyzer. But I wouldn't necessarily put either tool in most end users' hands (I think they are too complex for most end users to interpret the results properly).