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A Tale of Three Speed Tests

I am putting my Covad T1 through it’s paces right now. I decided that the best way to experience the difference is to live it, so I have taken my Mac and plonked it behind a Linksys router connected to the Covad T1 I got as part of the Covad Blogger Relations program.

I wanted to do testing like Ken Camp had done, so I was using the Visualware MyVoIPSpeed testing tool, but I got a rather disturbing result on one part of my test (note all tests reflected here were run at around 5:30pm PDT):

Visualware Speed Test

Notice that the downstream is far less than the upstream. To sanity check that, I also ran tests using speedtest.net and Speakeasy’s Speed Test tool:

Speedtest.net Speed Test  Speakeasy Speed Test

I will admit to not knowing exactly how these speed tests are done, though I am sure precise location on the network will play a role in how these numbers will turn out. It’s worth using as many testing tools as you can in order to determine what your speed might be.

I suppose the real test will be when I start using it to make VoIP calls and do things like SightSpeed. That should start happening in the next couple of days.

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2 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

  1. Be sure the select the server location nearest you for the VisualWare test. I have found that it makes quite a difference. You can select the server from the map on the left hand side of the page.

    1. Matt on May 16th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
  2. I think these tests are like weighing yourself on a scale. As long as you use the same one, the reference point will remain the same. I’ve found you can also run the tests a few times in a row and get very different numbers…

    2. Jonathan Greene on May 16th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

One Trackback

  1. By Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog on 31 December 1969 at 4:00 pm

    links from Technorati I was going to forego the standard speed test, since Ken Camp and Phoneboy have already covered it here and here.

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