Inconspicuous bandwith speed test?

Question

I think my grandparents are getting throttled and I'm trying to confirm it. Using their internet connection from SBC Global Yahoo, I have been having a horrible time. This is nothing new however, as they have been having very slow speeds themselves. I have been around several sites trying to get an accurate reading on their connection but the tests are obviously fixed. For example, I have been to speedtest.net, speakeasy.net, auditmypc.com, and reviews.cnet.com but all show about a 640 upload and 300 download. There is NO way this is correct because videos, such as on youtube, have been having horrible buffer times, downloads are getting maybe to 80 if I'm lucky, and streaming audio takes longer to buffer than it should. I think the ISP is doing that thing where it's boosted when a speed test is taken, but then shoots back down afterwards. What I would like to know is if I can get a java applet or something to put on my own server to test my connection without the ISP knowing. Thanks.

Answer 1

I think there are a few things that we need to be mindful of when determining bandwidth speed:

1. ISP's rated speed.

2. Time of the day.

3. Web server you are downloading from.

4. There may be other parameters but I cannot remember them offhand.

You have said that youtube continually buffers. This could also be if the video is of high quality and resolution (which means bigger filesize to stream download to your PC)

If the website you are connecting has a lower bandwidth on its webserver and there are number of users accessing it everyday, then there will be a low download speed.

e.g. there will surely be a time difference if you are download 100MB from apple.com as opposed to rapidshare.com

As to your query about testing your bandwidth connection without your ISP knowing, that would be not possible as logically everything that is being uploaded/downloaded will be through your ISP (including the java applet that you mentioned)

Sorry if my answer disappointed you, but I thought that these would be pure facts that you would want to know.

Answer 2

You said 640 upload and 300 download. That seems reversed to me. Download is usually at least 4 times faster than. If you really are getting only 300 kbps download, that's pretty pokey for downloading videos.

You might try running some of the network tweaking tests on dslreports.com. It might spot some problem with your config.

FYI, SBC/Yahoo has its own speedcheck site at

http://helpme.att.net/dsl/speedtest/