A question about speed tests

[TheLyppardMan]

It just over 24 hours since my new Full Fibre 900 Internet service with Zen started and I'm trying to evaluate the speeds I am getting. However, the results from the router differ widely from what I get on my Windows 11 laptop when connected via an Ethernet cable. Can anyone explain what might be going on here?

 

[L&LD]

Ignore speed test results on underpowered consumer routers (currently, that is all of them).

 

[bennor]

Can anyone explain what might be going on here?

Do a forum search and you'll find numerous discussions about this exact issue. The answer across the board is pretty much the same as L&LD indicates. The router's speed test often shows a speed around half of what a computer will show due to the limitations of the router's hardware (it's processor). Others, in past discussions, have indicated it's due to the router using a single processor core to run the speed test.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

What I find particularly puzzling here is that the router is showing a much higher upload speed than my Windows 11 laptop.

 

[Adooni]

how fare you have laptop from router? do you have different internet cable to check like cat 6A - short connected directly to router no via wall socket). try different LAN driver. Do you have any AI internet app that can slow down transfer.

what LAN hardware you have - for example Intel i225 v1 and v2 have hardware bug. Here is how you can check process that inform something is wrong https://linustechtips.com/topic/148...-v-25gbe-has-a-connection-drop-issue-updated/

I would be very disappointment with 1Gbit ISP if I have latency 76 - above 20 is not acceptable at all for me for gaming etc.

what is your result here https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat it shall be A+ the worst case A.

 

[AndreiV]

What I find particularly puzzling here is that the router is showing a much higher upload speed than my Windows 11 laptop.

There is nothing puzzling here as already stated the router speed test is USELESS , the router cannot handle the data and you'll get inaccurate results.

Only use a browser based test. Your ISP Zen have their own test which is what you should use first, then for comparison try using >>> nPerf <<<.

Your old connection was FTTC , that was uncontended , your new FTTP connection is contended and speeds will fluctuate over the day as local loads vary so tests are a waste of time.

You are up and running so forget all the paranoia about tests and use the service for its real purpose , life will be easier and your blood pressure will go back to a healthy state.

 

[Keenan]

It just over 24 hours since my new Full Fibre 900 Internet service with Zen started and I'm trying to evaluate the speeds I am getting. However, the results from the router differ widely from what I get on my Windows 11 laptop when connected via an Ethernet cable. Can anyone explain what might be going on here?

Are you using the Speedtest website or the Speedtest app available from the Microsoft Store? It's recommended to use the desktop app as a browser test can be encumbered by settings or extensions being used by the browser when using the website version of the test.

Speedtest by Ookla - Official app in the Microsoft Store

We encourage you to read our updated Privacy Policy http://www.speedtest.net/privacy Use Speedtest for easy, one-click connection testing in under 30 seconds—accurate everywhere thanks to our global network. Millions of people each day use the Speedtest website and mobile apps to test their...

www.microsoft.com

 

[TheLyppardMan]

There is nothing puzzling here as already stated the router speed test is USELESS , the router cannot handle the data and you'll get inaccurate results.

Only use a browser based test. Your ISP Zen have their own test which is what you should use first, then for comparison try using >>> nPerf <<<.

Your old connection was FTTC , that was uncontended , your new FTTP connection is contended and speeds will fluctuate over the day as local loads vary so tests are a waste of time.

You are up and running so forget all the paranoia about tests and use the service for its real purpose , life will be easier and your blood pressure will go back to a healthy state.

Actually, my old connection was also FTTP (BT Full Fibre 500) and I typically got just over 500 Mb/s down and about 72 Mb/s up. The Ethernet connection result I uploaded at the beginning of this thread seems to be the most reliable so far, but I'll try it again using the Zen and nperf links kindly provided by AndreiV, in the morning when no-one else is using the internet on my home network. I'll also test the FRITZ!Box to see how that compares and I may even try the latest stock firmware on my ASUS router, so I'll have the bigger picture. Then I'll relax for a bit and do my daughter's ironing LOL.

 

[Morris]

Internet speed tests can't keep up with fast links. Test to your ISP speed test. This avoids internet congestion and might get you a correct answer.

 

[OzarkEdge]

It just over 24 hours since my new Full Fibre 900 Internet service with Zen started and I'm trying to evaluate the speeds I am getting. However, the results from the router differ widely from what I get on my Windows 11 laptop when connected via an Ethernet cable. Can anyone explain what might be going on here?

What is the provisioned upload speed?

What is the speedtest result with the laptop connected over WiFi only?

OE

 

[TomMe]

Internet speed tests can't keep up with fast links. Test to your ISP speed test. This avoids internet congestion and might get you a correct answer.

What do you mean by ISP speed test? I consistently get much better results using speedtest.net (explicitly selecting server which is better than Comcast) instead of speedtest.xfinity.com. Do you mean something other than speedtest.xfinity.com for my ISP speed test? My thought is that speedtest.xfinity.com doesn't avoid network congestion from my location.

Here are the results just now. They do fluctuate quite a bit, but speedtest.xfinity.com is usually much lower, sometimes less than 50% of speedtest.net.
speedtest.xfinity.com: 388 Mbps
speedtest.net (Using server other than Comcast): 602 Mbps

 

[tgl]

Yeah, if you use the speedtest.net app to test gigabit-class service then you need to be very careful about which server you test against, and you need to keep in mind that your results are likely to vary over time. The servers themselves are often overloaded or underprovisioned, or there could be congestion between you and them. I have Verizon symmetric-1Gbps FiOS, and I noted repeatedly that their supposedly-nearby speedtest server consistently showed worse results than the Comcast server across town. They seem to have fixed that in the last month or two ... but that only applies to where I live. Try a few different servers, test at different times of day, etc.

And, as noted, the router's internal speedtest app is just about useless for this; the CPU is too slow. You can trust numbers from a modern desktop or laptop as long as it's got a wired ethernet connection. Don't even think about testing over WiFi until you understand what your wired baseline speed is.

 

[AndreiV]

For reference the OP is in the UK and the ISP is Zen Internet. This service is running over City Fibre's network.

The 1GB package is rated at 900/100 .

 

[TheLyppardMan]

Well since this morning I'm even more confused. I tried a few speedtests on my ISP's site (Zen Internet) and the download speed had dropped to around 74 Mb/s on a Full Fibre 900 service (I tested from my laptop connected to the ASUS router via an Ethernet Cat 5e cable). Then I carried out the same test using the FRITZ!Box 7530 AX and got over 900 Mb/s down and over 300 Mb/s up. Then I removed the US flash drive and performed a full factory reset. This restored the download speed to where it should be. My next step was to install the latest stock firmware, but after doing that and performing another speed test, I was disappointed to note the the download speed had once again dropped to the mid 70's. Also, when carrying out speed tests, the download graph was fluctuating widely during the test. It seems that my ASUS router doesn't like my new CityFibre broadband, so I've taken the ASUS router off the wall and replaced it with the FRITZ!Box. The Wi-Fi isn't as strong as with the ASUS router and there are less option to customise things, but the internet connection seems more stable. These are the last two tests I did after finishing the swap over this afternoon:

 

[Tech9]

Well since this morning I'm even more confused.

When you test performance do it with stock Asuswrt firmware and close to default configuration. Keep TrendMicro components default disabled.

 

[tgl]

It seems that my ASUS router doesn't like my new CityFibre broadband, so I've taken the ASUS router off the wall and replaced it with the FRITZ!Box.

If you still want to tinker, you could try disabling the FRITZ!Box's WiFi and running the AX88U in AP-only mode behind the FRITZ!Box. The idea here would be to try to alleviate the AX88U's performance issues by having it do just the bare minimum of stuff to provide a WiFi signal: no routing, no filtering, no USB-drive features. Remember that the CPUs in these things are pretty underpowered. The WiFi gear, on the other hand, should be better than the FRITZ!Box.

 

[TheLyppardMan]

When you test performance do it with stock Asuswrt firmware and close to default configuration. Keep TrendMicro components default disabled.

Yes, I did do that. I didn't change anything after the initial setup questions had been answered.

 

[Morris]

What do you mean by ISP speed test? I consistently get much better results using speedtest.net (explicitly selecting server which is better than Comcast) instead of speedtest.xfinity.com. Do you mean something other than speedtest.xfinity.com for my ISP speed test? My thought is that speedtest.xfinity.com doesn't avoid network congestion from my location.

Here are the results just now. They do fluctuate quite a bit, but speedtest.xfinity.com is usually much lower, sometimes less than 50% of speedtest.net.
speedtest.xfinity.com: 388 Mbps
speedtest.net (Using server other than Comcast): 602 Mbps

Typically ISP speed test sites have less congestion. I guess not in your case. Shame on Xfinity

 

[AndreiV]

Shame on Xfinity

What have they got to do with this ?

 

[drinkingbird]

What have they got to do with this ?

Read the post that was quoted.