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Networking & wireless forum: CNET Bandwidth Test Results are much Lower than Other Sites

by: rausdahl October 10, 2009 6:13 AM PDT

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CNET Bandwidth Test Results are much Lower than Other Sites

by rausdahl - 10/10/09 6:13 AM

I just upgraded my DSL connection from 1.5 Mbps to 7.0 Mpbs and wanted to test the actual bandwidth. I've run tests at several web sites including CNET. CNET always returns results of just 1.3 to 1.8 Mbps while all the others test sites return results of 4.8 to 5.2 Mbps.

All tests have been run using a desktop PC connected to my router/modem via ethernet cable. Any thoughts as to why CNETs results would consistently vary so much from the other sites?


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It's called traffic . . .

by Coryphaeus - 10/11/09 4:43 AM

In Reply to: CNET Bandwidth Test Results are much Lower than Other Sites by rausdahl

You're not the first person to notice this. Slow download results are caused by heavy traffic on the server. Or a gazillion other reasons. Since the test is free there's not much you can do about it. I use this site and pick a server close to me (Dallas) and get the results my cable company advertises.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

You need Flash to make it work.


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Wrong Assumption on my part

by rausdahl - 10/11/09 6:12 PM

In Reply to: It's called traffic . . . by Coryphaeus

Thanks for the reply and for the website link. happy

For such reasons as you mentioned I wasn't at all surprised to see differences of 500 Kbps or so, but not the kind of difference reported by CNET. I would not have expected the servers for sites that offer to test bandwidth speeds to run bandwidth tests if unable to actually test the clients bandwidth capability with reasonable accuracy. If a test site's server is so busy it can't provide an accurate test, I would have expected a message to that affect with a note to try later. I realize it's a free service, but more accuracy would be nice.

Are we living in a perfect world yet? wink


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Try this one

by Ross Quinnell - 10/12/09 11:40 AM

In Reply to: Wrong Assumption on my part by rausdahl

This one has been the most standard one that most people use it is called.

www.speedtest.net

And your on dsl and you are using a phone line connection you will not get the full bandwidth depending on how far away you are from the tele exchange .

I am on fiber optic so i get what I pay for


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Cnet.com bandwidth test is always much slower.

by rjcd57 - 2/15/10 5:38 PM

In Reply to: Try this one by Ross Quinnell

While four other sites (VerizonFios, speedtest.net, speakeasy and Bandwidthplace) all consistently measure download speeds on my Comcast broadband service between 5 and 25 MBps, the figure on Cnet.com is always between .8 and 1.6MBps measured within a few seconds of the other tests. So the difference is NOT variation based on number of users signed on, etc. There is an essential difference between the operation of the Cnet site and the others. Either Cnet is bogus or ALL the others are bogus. Who knows?


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Here's my favorite

by Steven Haninger - 2/16/10 3:49 AM

In Reply to: CNET Bandwidth Test Results are much Lower than Other Sites by rausdahl

It should handle your ISP but I don't think it's good for high end FIOS.

http://ndt.anl.gov:7123/


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