Testing upload/download bandwidth speeds for verification

[Daniel B. Thurman]

Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
> Ed Greshko wrote:
>> Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
>>  
>>> I have been testing my residential ISP/DSL-Landline
>>> connections and wanted to make sure that I was getting
>>> what I am paying for. Supposedly, one can use the various
>>> website based "speed test" tools to determine their upload
>>> and download speeds.
>>>
>>> Are these "speed test" tools credible and can they
>>> be trusted?
>>>
>>> Of the several sites I have tried, they all more or less
>>> seemed to be in close agreement with one another in
>>> terms of the bandwidth speeds, i.e. my connection
>>> speed is quoted at 768KB/s up and 3MB/s down,
>>> and the farther away from central, the more reduced
>>> is the speeds are.
>>>
>>> The average speed tools says that I have measured
>>> speeds of 720-30 KB/s up and 2.0-5MB/s down.
>>>
>>> Why is it however, that when downloading software
>>> from the various Linux/M$ and other downloads sites
>>> I am seeing on average, speeds of 200-320(max) KB/s
>>> and never see anything much faster than that?
>>>
>>> Is this normal?
>>>     
>> Yes, very normal....
>>
>> First, the download speed get from any site can only be as high as their
>> upload speed.
>>   
> So, does that mean I am wasting money by going from
> 768KB/s Up / 768KB/s Down to 768KB/s Up / 3MB/s
> Down since I will never obtain download speeds faster
> than the Upload limit of 768KB/s ???  The only way to
> get more speed is to increase the Upload speeds to be
> more closer to the Download speeds which is always
> higher?
>
> Perhaps I should downgrade my connection speeds to
> 768KB/s Up / 768KB/s Down since I cannot get higher
> than 768KB/s Up and I am losing $$$ or am I missing
> something here?
>
> I wondered why ISPs do not offer matching Up/Down
> speeds, so as to snare an ignorant dupe?
I think I now understand how downloads work.  Yes, downloads
are generally controlled by the Upload speeds per source however,
if one is able to do downloads from multiple sources such as Bittorent
does, then theoretically, one can have multiples of say 200-300KB/s
per download source so basically, having a large download speed
leaves more "headroom" for other download activities.

Yes, Ed, you explained this point but somehow it went over my
head, and I think I now "get it". ;)

>> Second, run the web based speed checks from 2 or 3 different sites 
>> simultaneously and/or the same site multiple times simultaneously and
>> see what the results are then.
>> Those two things should shed some light as to why it is normal.
>>
>> Oh, and third, the software download sites probably also have rate
>> limits on each upload (from their point of view) so that everyone gets
>> the same level of service.
>>
>> All of these reasons are the driving force behind the development of
>> bittorrent...
>>  
>>> Has anyone gotten download speeds any faster that
>>> what I have reported?
>>>
>>> What I am trying to determine is if my ISP only shows
>>> un-throttled speeds between me & them, but then somehow
>>> throttles my bandwidth usage when I am using the Internet,
>>> or is it more probable that download speeds are being throttled
>>> from the download site itself?
>>>
>>> Other than by using `speed testers', I have yet to find a download
>>> site that pushes out more than 2-300KB/s?
>>>
>>> I have tried HTTP, FTP & Bittorent and there is very little or no
>>> speed improvements as far as I can tell.
>>>
>>> Just wondering,
>>> Dan
>>>     
>