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Broadband Speed Tester

ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Broadband Speed Tester

Is anyone else seeing strange behaviour from the Plusnet recommended speedtester at www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk? As I am currently monitoring my speed with the tester due to some (hopefully sorted) problems, I usually run the test once a day in the morning. Yesterday at 09.11hrs the speed reported was (download) 4569kbps, this morning at 09.23hrs it was 4523kbps. Nothing wrong with these, my IP profile is currently 5000.
However, yesterday at 18.36hrs a speed of 1619kbps was reported, and today at 11.34hrs 2686kbps; 16.48hrs 2840kbps; 1649hrs 1044kpbs; and 17.02hrs 908kbps. What intrigues me is not the rubbish speeds, but the fact that I didn't carry out the tests! My computer wasn't switched on any of those occasions, and in fact at some of the stated test times I wasn't even at home!
I have just run a couple more tests myself, at 19.12hrs the speed reported was 4569kbps, and at 19.22hrs it was 4572kbps, which is what I would expect. Incidentally the upload speed has been pretty consistent in all the tests, at about 370kbps.
Any explanations would be gratefully received!
25 REPLIES 25
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Hi ajbrown1965,
Are you sure someone's not piggybacking your wifi?
Jojo Smiley
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Hi, Jojo,
Thanks for the reply.
The router has WPA2-PSK wireless protection. I will change my password as a precuation, I haven't done so for a couple of months, so it is time. Be surprised if anyone had gussed it though.
Also I've not seen anything else to make me suspicious. So far today the only tests showing on the speed tester have been mine.
Will keep a close eye on it and repost if anything else odd happens.
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Hi ajbrown1965,
I can't think of anything else really, and the slow speed on those tests made me think of someone with a weak wifi signal.
Jojo Smiley
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

I changed the WPA passcode (unless someone has cracking software they'd never guess it) and within a couple of hours there was another entry on the speedtest, so I am sure no-one is piggybacking my account.
Put it down to the gremlins, it's not affecting me and everything else is functioning just as it should be.
Have just chcked my Usage on my Plusnet account and there is nothing unusual at all on there.
pierre_pierre
Grafter
Posts: 19,757
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

if you are getting these rouge results regularly, could you power down your router and see if yo still get them
Me I am on at all times of the day so It would inconvenience me, but its worth a try
itsme
Grafter
Posts: 5,924
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎07-04-2007

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Thought the results from the speed tests using mybroadbandspeed are stored locally on the PC used and not remotely. So if another PC is used the historical results will be different.
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

pierre_pierre -  I'm reluctant to power down the router at the moment because I've had a lot of issues with losing the connection and am now trying to see how long I keep a stable connection. I may restart the router sometime next week as I will then have had a stable connection (hopefully) for some time and want to see if the throughput speed alters. If I do restart, I'll see what happens with the unusual test results.
itsme - I think the speed tester has changed in some way recently. Until a few weeks ago if I ran the test on my wife's laptop, albeit through the same router, results from my desktop didn't show, and vice versa. However, I've noticed that now if I run a test on either laptop or desktop, the results show up on both computers. As I said, I'm not particulalrly worried by this, there is no evidence of anyone piggybacking my internet connection, and no unusual usage. It just intrigues me as to why I'm getting these odd results.
The only change I made just before the false test results started to appear was that I udpated the router software (it's a Billion 7800N) but I would think it highly unlikely that was the cause. I've carried out routine updates before and never had any problems.
Thanks for the feedback; as always it's worth putting things on the forum!
saguaro
Rising Star
Posts: 85
Thanks: 1
Fixes: 1
Registered: ‎26-01-2011

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

I would agree that there seems to be something odd about that tester. I tried it for the first time ever yesterday, but it had results for the previous two days! These were for times when I was home and quite likely online, but I know I hadn't used the tester. I'm on a Vodafone dongle while I wait for my Plusnet service to start (only another week, yay!) and I don't share the connection, so it's a puzzle.
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Ah, so I'm not the only one!
shutter
Community Veteran
Posts: 22,206
Thanks: 3,769
Fixes: 65
Registered: ‎06-11-2007

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

nowt wrong with it in this location...
Quote

Date                   Download Speed             Upload Speed
Today 13:44  2764 kbps (346kB/s)  368 kbps (46kB/s) Share
Today 09:18  2755 kbps (344kB/s)  317 kbps (39.6kB/s) Share

jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

HI guys,
It is a strange one. I've tried it myself and haven't noticed any results I haven't conducted. Anyone who's reading this may like to see if they've had any results to tests they haven't run.
Jojo Smiley
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Didn't have anything dodgy over the weekend but there was one today when no-one was at home and all computers in the house were switched off. My own legitimate tests cotinue to be exactly as expected.
ajbrown1965
Grafter
Posts: 121
Registered: ‎27-02-2009

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

Just a quick update to say that I have had no unusual results for a week now. Put it down to the gremlins.
jojopillo
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 9,786
Registered: ‎16-06-2010

Re: Broadband Speed Tester

HI ajbrown1965,
very strange in the first place! Bloomin' gremlins! Wink