[GRLUG] Testing Comcast vs AT&T

[Michael Mol]

Then call it "meaningless in a general context"

Yes, the test has meaning for particular contexts. When looking
specifically at one's internet connection, it only means "I know my
internet connection *can* go at *least* this fast, for this kind of
transferred." It doesn't speak to a broader-term connection maximum,
or a broader-term connection minimum.

There are several parts of the problem:
1) People use tests like speedtest as a reflection of their internet
connection, to the ignorance of other potential network effects. If I
had run that speed test over 802.11b, for example, my throughput would
have been far worse. If I had run that speed test on a day when
comcast's edge routers were having difficulties (say there were a
failing NIC somewhere, or backhoe fade mid-transfer), my throughput
would have been far worse.
2) People expect an internet connection like cable, ADSL or VDSL to
have precise, measurable behavior. It doesn't, it won't and it can't.
In cable's case, you're sharing your connection medium (a coax line)
with up to a couple hundred other users, and their behavior on that
line will affect your own performance. In ADSL and VDSL's cases, there
are physical limitations driven by distance and wiring quality which
mean that I wasn't going to get 6Mb/s (though I always got a *solid*
5Mb/s day-to-day)

I'd say, "remove the rate caps, charge by the gigabyte", but that'd be
a disaster, like setting up a bar tab for someone who doesn't know
when to stop; at the end of the day, they'll be looking at a $200 bill
and not remember what they spent it on.

If people want predictable, guaranteed behavior, there are services
for that; DS0, DS1, DS3, OC3, etc. They simply cost much more money,
and people aren't willing to pay for it. They're barely willing to pay
for residential knock-offs, and then they'll complain royally when
they're not getting the service for something that costs far more.

Put another way, I'm paying $80/mo for just cable internet. By my
speed tests, I'm getting anywhere from 42% to 82% of the throughput of
a T3. At something like 10% of the cost*. And people like Bob think I
should be raising hell because I'm not getting 44% instead of 42%, or
not getting 82% all the time. That's just nuts.

* Ok, I don't know what a T3 costs. Last time I looked hard at those
numbers, a *T1* cost a couple grand a month, and I know it's a lot
cheaper, now. Still, a T3 carries 28 times the bandwidth of a T1.

On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 8:14 AM, Bill Creswell
<bcreswel at morrison-ind.com> wrote:
>> But "meaningless" still strikes me as too
>> strong a way to describe attempts to see
>> one's connection speed.
>>
>
> I might also add that I believe Comcast's powerburst, is really just a cap
> that gets put on after a few MBs, perhaps even designed to look good in
> these tests?
>
> http://customer.comcast.com/Pages/FAQViewer.aspx?seoid=How-long-does-the-PowerBoost-burst-last&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
>
>
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