[c-nsp] Internet speed

[Charles Sprickman]

> On Aug 14, 2018, at 3:14 AM, Mark Tinka <mark.tinka at seacom.mu> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 13/Aug/18 19:43, Jon Wolberg wrote:
> 
>> There was a very similar discussion on NANOG last month about the same
>> topic.  You can read the thread here:
>> 
>> https://mailman.nanog.org/pipermail/nanog/2018-July/096205.html
> 
> That's the one.
> 
> Bottom line, I don't think speedtest.net is actually adding value to the
> Internet. In fact, I think it's making things worse, centered on passing
> blame rather than fixing the actual user experience. When every Internet
> problem is because of throughput (like a WhatsApp message that won't
> deliver), the focus is misplaced, time is wasted, energy is lost.

The number of hours we spend chasing bad speedtest results is just 
infuriating.  For some issues, it’s great (like customer should have multi-
megabit service and multiple speedtest.net <http://speedtest.net/> servers report sub-1Mb/s).

But with 100Mb/s and 1Gb/s connections becoming the norm in the more
densely populated suburbs, just how meaningful are these tests?  I am
lucky enough to have 1Gb/s FTTH at home.  It’s wonderful.  I have one
desktop where the link between this switch (consumer $30 switches)
will sometimes drop to 100Mb/s.  I can go a week or more without even
noticing that.  Home or business - do people really feel the difference 
between 400Mb/s and 900Mb/s on a 1Gb/s metro-e circuit?  How many
endpoints they’re talking to can support that consistently?

> Connectivity is getting faster and faster, and speedtest.net comes from
> a world where ADSL and low-speed services were the norm. The testing
> platforms and criteria need to adapt to the increase in last mile speed,
> and I believe a lot of this works lies with the content sources and
> CDN's, and less so with the 3rd party services like speedtest.net who
> bear very little responsibility to actually achieving the desired effect
> - a good user experience.

At least in the NYC area speedtest.net <http://speedtest.net/> is getting really negligent in verifying
that their partners that host the test servers actually have the capacity to act
as test servers.  It’a a complete mess and it’s as if the folks at speedtest.net <http://speedtest.net/>
don’t grasp that the northeast is chock-full of FiOS and other high-bandwidth
home and SoHo connections…  It’s a real PITA for anyone supporting
customers of said connections, either as an ISP or an MSP.

Charles

> 
> Mark.
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