Speed Testing

Speed Glorious Speed

 Everyone likes doing speed tests. Good results are great for showing off to friends and relatives but sometimes the results aren't as good as expected and B4RN is asked “If it's a 1000 Mbps connection why does my device see lower speeds?” 

So here are some things to consider if you want to do speed testing: 

● Your connection to the router WiFi v Wired You will only get the fastest speeds using an ethernet connection. The difference can be amazing. On my system with a laptop I consistently get 900+ Mbps on an ethernet connection but only around 150 – 200 Mbps on wifi. My old phone will only do 20 Mbps on wifi, my tablet does 40 Mbps but my daughters does 80 because it is newer. If you imagine the WiFi transmitter is just a candle in a dark room and the receiver is a piece of A4 paper with writing on. A few centimetres from the candle the piece of paper will appear well lit, if you move it 1 metre away the writing will be poorly lit, 10 metres away and the paper will be barely visible. The intensity of light produced by the candle hasn’t changed it’s just that the “amount” reaching the paper reduces with distance. Wifi fades out with distance, and won’t pass through metal backed insulation or thick old walls 

● Your computer or other device ◦ Many older computers and most laptops (even newer ones) have network adapters which are only capable of speeds up to 100Mps so if you are seeing these lower speeds this is something to check. The easiest way to do this is to look at the ethernet connection to the router if the connection light on the router is green it's running at 1 Gbps (1 Gbps = 1000 Mbps), if orange it's 100 Mbps or even only 10Mbps ◦ Older computers can fill up with 'electronic junk'; the remains of deleted applications, temporary files that didn't get removed, debris from computer crashes and so on, all of which slows them down. A new, 'clean' computer will usually give brilliant results but once you start adding applications and filling up the drive with photos, video clips and suchlike the memory will fill up and the computer will start to slow down. ◦ My own experience shows how computers can vary; my laptop and desktop on the same connection show quite different results. For some reason the download speed on the desktop is about 1/3 of the upload which is around 700 Mbps while on my laptop which I have deliberately kept 'clean' I consistently get a symmetrical speed of around 900Mbps. 

● What else is your computer doing? There can be all sorts of things going on in the background on your computer that you aren't aware of ◦ virus scans ◦ application updates ◦ email downloading ◦ system self checks These will all have an impact on the speed test. Also using the browser for speed testing can really slow the tests down, it is far better to install the ookla app and use that

● General Internet traffic B4RN does not slow down at peak times, but internet traffic can slow down and occasionally the speedtest sites can be busy, so test results may vary. Remember B4RN delivers 1000 Mbps to your router.. They have no control over what happens at either end; on your home network or on the wider internet. Do not worry if you can’t do high speed tests, if your devices can stream video (youtube, netflix, iPlayer etc then your connection is fine. If, however, you can’t stream in areas you want to, then the B4RN user group run by volunteers every Friday via Zoom or at our Melling HQ on the first Friday of every month can provide help and advice to boost the signal round your house then you don’t buy the wrong thing. Generally a mesh solution is the best and cheapest in the long run and we can advise on which will suit your needs.  Email itclub@b4rn.org.uk for an invite to the zoom meeting.