[afnog] Speed Test Results

[Mark Tinka]

On Friday, December 23, 2011 05:20:32 PM jacob miller wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Am having a debate on the results of speed tests sites.
> 
> Am interested in knowing the thoughts of different
> individuals in regards to this.

I don't trust them as a network operator. Too many variables 
to account for.

But users love them because:

	a) It gives them a chance to go complain to their
	   ISP. Which user doesn't love that :-).

	b) They're usually pretty pictures. Which user
	   doesn't love pretty pictures.


Tricks abound on what some ISP's do with in-house systems to 
make the link look better than it actually is. That said, 
some in-house solutions are actually relatively reliable.

You can partner with some of these folks like 
http://www.speedtest.net/ to get some boxes in your facility 
and provide more useful results.

What I've always suggested is getting your customers to poll 
an internally-hosted FTP server. That should tell them how 
good their last mile to you is, as that tends to be where 
the majority of issues lie, particularly if it's wireless 
and/or if you don't own the last mile infrastructure.

Mark.
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