<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 11:24 AM, Adam Tauno Williams <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:awilliam@whitemice.org" target="_blank">awilliam@whitemice.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">On Tue, 2013-04-23 at 10:40 -0400, Brad DeVries wrote:<br>
> Ben, I don't have an upper tier connection here in Hudsonville,<br>
> although I feel like it because I pay almost $60/mo, and I just ran 5<br>
> speedtests with the old DOCSIS 2 modem with vastly different results:<br>
</div><div class="im">> I'm not sure how accurate these test are<br>
<br>
</div>These tests are approaching whichever axis is the 'meaningless' one.<br>
<br>
But I do generally take someone making a big deal out of a web-site<br>
'speed test' as rather solid evidence that they do not know what they<br>
are talking about. Once 'speed test' is mentioned one can comfortably<br>
return to one's beverage, you aren't going to miss anything.<br>
<br>
Meaningful performance metrics are hard, tedious, and full of caveats.<br>
Arbitrary, meaningless, and off-the-cuff metrics are easy to do ... but<br>
do little other than dilute the conversation and promote pomposity.<br>
<br>
A meaningful metric must at least be derived from a long-duration<br>
sampling as IP throughput tends to be quite wobbly - this is something a<br>
web browser cannot accomplish. And to test 'the last mile' the remote<br>
node needs to be very very extremely close to, if not at, the other end<br>
of your 'last mile'.<br>
<br>
Gathering SNMP stats for your edge router is probably much more<br>
meaningful - what throughput does the interface actually see? Does it<br>
hit a ceiling?<br>
<br>
And Define "speed" - throughput or latency? And throughput to/from<br>
where for what traffic pattern? Latency to/from where for what traffic<br>
pattern? "speed" is a bogus layman's concept and itself is just not a<br>
technically useful term.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div style>Throughput. Obviously there will be time of</div><div style>day, latency, and a server's bandwidth to </div><div style>contend with. No one reasonably expects</div>
<div style>to get their nominal service speed to all points</div><div style>on the globe at all times of the day.</div><div style><br></div><div style>It's the aggregate speed that matters to me.</div><div style>If I have a large file to transfer, I could hardly</div>
<div style>care whether its done at the nominal speed, </div><div style>or in bursts that are 10X that speed. d=r*t.</div><div style>If I move a 100 MB file in a time that says</div><div style>on average it was 100 Mbps, what else do I</div>
<div style>really care about?</div><div style><br></div><div style>I'll guess that latency depends a lot on what</div><div style>one is doing, but is similarly not under one's</div><div style>direct control. </div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Yes, it would be nice if the Internet was a</div><div style>very uniform beast, and that service speed</div><div style>meant just that, 24/7. But there are times </div><div style>of the day, e.g., 4-6 AM EST, when demand</div>
<div style>is low, and one gets their service speed and</div><div style>then some. I suppose the 1Gbps Google test</div><div style>city users are occasionally surprised at what</div><div style>that kind of speed actually means in practice.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Anyway, until and if the Internet becomes </div><div style>more uniform, one takes some speed when</div><div style>and where they can get it. Technically useful</div><div style>term? Well, if one is suggesting there is no</div>
<div style>such thing as actual transfer speed, then I</div><div style>guess I'm simply left with the illusion there </div><div style>is such a thing......</div><div style><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<br>
If you're comfortable with your network's performance - then it has<br>
enough 'speed'.<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br></div></div></blockquote><div style>Uhm, ya, but one has to put a label on it </div><div style>when they order a service. "I just want a</div><div style>speed I'm comfortable with" doesn't help</div>
<div style>a whole lot. </div><div style><br></div><div style> -- Bob</div><div style><br></div><div style> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="HOEnZb">
<div class="h5">
<br>
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