Ookla speedtest-is it any good?

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
I mean, what would I know right?

I don't use the xfinitytest because, duh, they are my provider and of course they will tell me good stuff,right?

And I am a little leery of random "test" sites-might they say I ma slow just to sell me something?

so I used this Speedtest by Ookla; these are the results-are these speeds 'ok' for the generic home user like me? I mean, it is off a wireless router which is also supplying feed to 3 roku tv's, a PS4, a laptop, 2 desktops and some other random devices like the occasional cell ph or tablet use

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Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Ookla is the vendor most ISPs use to measure thruput.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
I mean, what would I know right?

I don't use the xfinitytest because, duh, they are my provider and of course they will tell me good stuff,right?

And I am a little leery of random "test" sites-might they say I ma slow just to sell me something?

so I used this Speedtest by Ookla; these are the results-are these speeds 'ok' for the generic home user like me? I mean, it is off a wireless router which is also supplying feed to 3 roku tv's, a PS4, a laptop, 2 desktops and some other random devices like the occasional cell ph or tablet use

View attachment 33387

They (your numbers) are somewhat on the low end. The new "standard" in my state is somewhere around 30 down and 5 up. The download speed determines how fast pages load, and the upload speed determines quality of video calls to others, transmission of emails, uploading pictures, synching to cloud, etc.

My results (Spectrum cable, residential):

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YJ02

Well Known GateFan
do you think it may be just this PC? everything else on the router (tv's etc ) are doing fine. that is--is this a measurement of 'how fast' on this particular device or is it 'how fast' at the router?

a few weeks back when i had comcast here (when our internet was working but the phones weren't--don't know how that works on the same damned cable!!!) the guy did a test and said my download number was 36.

maybe i need a more capable router? but for now, i want to get this PC working right or exchanged (the other thread i posted)
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
do you think it may be just this PC? everything else on the router (tv's etc ) are doing fine. that is--is this a measurement of 'how fast' on this particular device or is it 'how fast' at the router?

a few weeks back when i had comcast here (when our internet was working but the phones weren't--don't know how that works on the same damned cable!!!) the guy did a test and said my download number was 36.

maybe i need a more capable router? but for now, i want to get this PC working right or exchanged (the other thread i posted)

You have to have a basic understanding of bandwidth and data transmission rates. More bandwidth, more speed. You can divide the bandwidth for up and down, so that both up and down are the same, but that is inefficient since the vast majority of your surfing involves the download bandwidth. If you do a lot of FTP or video conferencing, the upload speed becomes more important than the usual, but still not needing equal upload speed to download speed. Stuff like Netflix and Amazon and other streaming services can detect your download speed and feed you your optimum streaming speed, which is why it is possible to get smooth streams on phones and tablets.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
so i brought that POS back-and I got a Lenovo ideapad 320-15abr.

ran the same test and got a download speed of 26 with ookla

went to xfinity-i didn't sign in but i think the test knows i am on xfinity anyhow, and got a diff result. why the difference?:

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Lord Ba'al

Well Known GateFan
I just ran these tests over the course of about 20 minutes on my crappy old laptop.

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Average down: 67.793
Average up: 4.918
Ping: Quite consistent.

And that's while watching American Netflix in UK using a dedicated IP VPN and having three laptops online. (including this one)
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
IDK, I mean just how fast it is really matter after a certain point of efficiency?

That is- in this house, every device is wireless-and that 'download speed' is coming into my house off of the cable, yes? So, at any given time. That speed is supporting 3 roku tv's. a desktop that my son is using for online gaming, this laptop, a PS4 and sometimes my daughter using her laptop or the wifi option on her phone.

So, if it is supporting all of that--our needs-- without any lag or breaks in service/dropped connections,etc, why do we need any faster?

it is like a guy on the highway with a boring sedan and a guy with an italian sportscar-you can both only go the speed limit, so the power of the sports car is unused/unusable and wasted. in the meantime, both guys get to their destination all the same, probably at the same time.
 

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
IDK, I mean just how fast it is really matter after a certain point of efficiency?

That is- in this house, every device is wireless-and that 'download speed' is coming into my house off of the cable, yes? So, at any given time. That speed is supporting 3 roku tv's. a desktop that my son is using for online gaming, this laptop, a PS4 and sometimes my daughter using her laptop or the wifi option on her phone.

So, if it is supporting all of that--our needs-- without any lag or breaks in service/dropped connections,etc, why do we need any faster?

it is like a guy on the highway with a boring sedan and a guy with an italian sportscar-you can both only go the speed limit, so the power of the sports car is unused/unusable and wasted. in the meantime, both guys get to their destination all the same, probably at the same time.

A more apt analogy would be the street vs the freeway. Both the sedan and the sports car have to go the same speed down the highway, but only a freeway will also allow a semi-truck or a house trailer on it. Bandwidth is the width of the signal. If you are streaming, surfing on another device or two, or even streaming on more than one device, your bandwidth can be managed to give smooth streams on each device. That freeway can have several cars going in each of the 4 lanes at the same speed. But put that sedan and sports car on a street, and one has to come behind the other.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
A more apt analogy would be the street vs the freeway. Both the sedan and the sports car have to go the same speed down the highway, but only a freeway will also allow a semi-truck or a house trailer on it. Bandwidth is the width of the signal. If you are streaming, surfing on another device or two, or even streaming on more than one device, your bandwidth can be managed to give smooth streams on each device. That freeway can have several cars going in each of the 4 lanes at the same speed. But put that sedan and sports car on a street, and one has to come behind the other.

yeah ok, but we are getting all that we need to run all those devices at once,at a great speed with no interruptions from download lag or any other issue...so why should i be worried about how much faster my download speed could be? it will not play/run anything any faster then it already is...comcast is delivering on what i pay for and better, so no issues imo
 

Quetesh

Well Known GateFan
We use the crap out of our internet. Virgin Media speeds here seem to hold up quite well. So well, my next goal is to get another mini PC and put a TV as a monitor for it in our bedroom using just that to watch stuff. I think it should be fine.
 

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
We use the crap out of our internet. Virgin Media speeds here seem to hold up quite well. So well, my next goal is to get another mini PC and put a TV as a monitor for it in our bedroom using just that to watch stuff. I think it should be fine.

like i said--and i do get the bandwidth thing OM is talking about--at any one time we can-and frequently do, have 4 or 5 devices using the internet at one time--streaming, gaming, general browsing

3 roku tvs' all using streaming for either YT, Playstation view (which i have been told that in my area, comcast is the only service that can spt uninterrupted viewing of PS VUE), or other streamers like DRAMAfever OR VIKI (korean tv)-a PS4 running where my son is playing online with other players and the random browsing

so I think we are good

now maybe if we want something crazy like a 'smart' refrigerator or 'smart' washing machine we may need to step it up :)
 
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