mybroadbandspeed - when is it going to be fixed?

[#1]

My initial thought was 'better no speed tester than an unreliable one' but I suppose if people are made aware that they can't rely on it's accuracy during 'busy periods' they can decide whether to use it or not.

[#2]

Better than nothing though if there's any chance it could be wrong I don't really see the point in using it. If a pop-up was used it could be blocked by pop-up blockers I would think.

[#3]

Matter of interest - why don't you recommend the TBB speed tester http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=navigation&utm_campaign=...

[#4]

It's not a pop-up and my reasons for not wanting to take the site down are in my post here. I wouldn't recommended you use it whilst it's performing as it is.

Quote from: Oldjim

Matter of interest - why don't you recommend the TBB speed tester http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=navigation&utm_campaign=...

We're going to look at whether or not it's worthwhile us referring customers to another speedtester in the interim. I think we'd probably be better pointing to another flash-based speedtest though rather than one that relies on Java?

[#5]

TBB has a Flash Option http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/broadband.html
These are my speeds all taken in the last few minutes - the last one is the TBB Flash version

[#6]

Quote from: Bob

I think we'd probably be better pointing to another flash-based speedtest though rather than one that relies on Java?

So you wouldn't advise people to use the BT speedtest when reporting problems with speeds?
If you are going to ask people to use the Java based BT speedtest I see no reason for you not to recommend the tbb test.

[#7]

Quote from: jelv

So you wouldn't advise people to use the BT speedtest when reporting problems with speeds? If you are going to ask people to use the Java based BT speedtest I see no reason for you not to recommend the tbb test.

Jelv, we have no choice regarding the BT Speedtest. It's the only one that will store back-end results that are then accessible to us via the remote testing tools we use. Raising performance faults can be troublesome for us if there are no BT speedtests recorded against a circuit.

Quote from: Oldjim

TBB has a Flash Option http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/broadband.html

Thanks, I didn't know that.
Edit: Is there any way to link directly to a speedtest result using the TBB flash version? That's a pretty important requirement.

[#8]

So you'd never read the box underneath the standard Java tbb speed test box?
Rather proves my point that just because you put a message on the screen to say it is unreliable at present doesn't mean it will be read!

[#9]

The standard tbb test page has a link to the flash test, advice and a link to download Java plus a link to standard test files of various sizes that can be downloaded and timed. I don't see any reason to worry about linking to their test.

[#10]

I never use the TBB speedtest. Can't remember the last time I did. Regardless, I think the proposed messaging on our speed test is slightly more prominent.
Edit: To be clear, any linking to a third party website would be from our Help pages etc. rather than mybroadbandspeed.co.uk itself.

[#11]

Quote from: Bob

Edit: To be clear, any linking to a third party website would be from our Help pages etc. rather than mybroadbandspeed.co.uk itself.

That's fair enough.
Have CSC been told that if anyone is reporting speed issues and quotes results from mybroadbandspeed they should ask them to run a different test as confirmation of the result?

[#12]

Yes they have. I'll make sure they're aware of the caveat prior to it going live too (assuming that's what we end up doing).

[#13]

Quote from: Oldjim

Matter of interest - why don't you recommend the TBB speed tester http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html?utm_source=mainsite&utm_medium=navigation&utm_campaign=...

It does not work correctly for FTTC see http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/newsite/t/4082773-thinkbroadband-speed-tester.html neither Java nor Flash tools give anything approximating to the correct result.

[#14]

I've just looked at that topic and you didn't ever provide the information Andrew requested!
Edit: ... and looking at their speedtest results map I can see results for BT users up to full speed FTTC for BT users.

[#15]

Quote from: Bob

OK, I can't say when it's going to be fixed, but what do people think to us chucking a caveat on the site as per the attached screengrab?

That seems reasonable, apart from the fact that it doesn't seem to be "busy periods" in particular when it doesn't work. It's just given me a download speed of 4894kbps, against 50Mbps+ on other testers (which in itself isn't that good as it should be giving over 60). Is this a busy period?