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ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

oxfordjonathan
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎26-04-2012

ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Installed the ThinkBroadband speed test software today, to participate in the ISPA trial as a thankyou to PN for generally excellent service.
It's only done one test so far, but the results are less than stellar - showing only about 27Mbps downlink, whereas speedtest.net consistently shows nearly 70Mbps.
I have other evidence (speed of downloading from software distribution sites, for example) that the link is supporting at least 35Mbps.  I have been thinking that speeedtest.net is probably fairly accurate, and other sites are limited by the server rather than my downlink.  Is that wrong?
And more generally, what's going on with the ThinkBroadband measurement to make it so pessimistic?
Jonathan
52 REPLIES 52
w23
Pro
Posts: 6,347
Thanks: 96
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

For comparison, what does TBBs 'normal' speedtester give you?  http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
scovel
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎05-03-2013

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Only just installed software so not seen results yet.
Question for plusnet - when it said what speed was advertised for superfast fibre. Options were 60 or 80Mb. PlusNet advertise it as up to 76Mb (as I assume quite rightly - no-one gets 79-80).
Using BTtest and speedtest.net - I can get up to just over 73Mb. So subject to previous post - interest on what mine comes out. Also if it does it randomly - how does it know if streaming TV to PC and Son's laptop and TV!!
oxfordjonathan
Dabbler
Posts: 17
Registered: ‎26-04-2012

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Quote from: w23
For comparison, what does TBBs 'normal' speedtester give you?

Pretty much the same as the Speedtest.net results:

I believe Speedtest.net uses 4 HTTP connections for download.  TBB's proprietary test uses only one connection as far as I can tell.
Jonathan
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

The TBB test shows two different results. The green heading one (circa 31Mbps) is a single stream whereas the yellow heading one (circa 67Mbps) is 6 HTTP streams. That suggests the single stream one doesn't max out the line at the higher fibre speeds.
David
w23
Pro
Posts: 6,347
Thanks: 96
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎08-01-2008

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Slightly odd, my connection seems to love the TBB test but something (line, router, PC?) doesn't like the 6 x http:
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

At more mundane speeds on Vista I get the same result from both tests.
David
TomJasper
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎18-12-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Is anyone else having a problem downloading the monitor?
I am seeing
Quote
An error occurred while downloading the file
http://www.installengine.com/cert05/dotnetfx/dotnetfx.exe. What would you like to do?

When I try to hit it from browser, I see
Quote
No webpage was found for the web address: http://www.installengine.com/cert05/dotnetfx/dontnetfx.exe
Error 6 (net::ERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND): The file or directory could not be found.

Incidentally, Bitdefender 2013 blocks the page as unsafe.
Can any kind soul who's succeeded in downloading this throw it onto a share (I assume we can't attach exe files here) and post, please.
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Sounds like you need to install Microsoft .NET - get it from Microsoft Update. According to the tbbMeter FAQ you need .NET 2.0, which is part of .NET 3.5 these days. You probably don't need .NET 4.0, which is separate.
shalom2010
Grafter
Posts: 982
Thanks: 3
Registered: ‎28-12-2012

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

I also wondered about this. The tester ran this morning first time & showed this
http://sdrv.ms/12ts56Z
Anotherone
Champion
Posts: 19,107
Thanks: 457
Fixes: 21
Registered: ‎31-08-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Comparison should also be made to the BTw Performance test Diagnostic  Shocked
@scovel
The "upto 76Mbps" that Plusnet advertise is the same as for any other ISP and is because of OFCOM's stupid advertising rules, nothing to do with what the product could be capable of if your lived next to or close to the Cabinet.
TomJasper
Dabbler
Posts: 13
Registered: ‎18-12-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Absolutely right.
Running 64 bit Windows 8
Didn't realise the .Net 3.5 need - going into "Programs & Features"  followed by "Turn Windows Features on and off I see that .3.5 isn't installed (although .net 4 is).
All is good. Thank you both.
SteveDurbin
Newbie
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎06-03-2013

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Quote from: w23
For comparison, what does TBBs 'normal' speedtester give you?  http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html

Mine has been installed 2 days and not done any tests yet. Ran their normal speedtest as suggested elsewhere in the thread and it gave about 71Mbit, which is about right - however it used my IPv6 tunnel which is not good for Plusnet as it add a layer to their routing - the speed on IPv4 is a bit higher.
Chris
Legend
Posts: 17,724
Thanks: 600
Fixes: 169
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

For those seeing significantly lower results than expected, can you PM me the 'testerinstance number' from within the software?
TBB think this may be the software only displaying the single thread result but want to take a look deeper into the issue.
Former Plusnet Staff member. Posts after 31st Jan 2020 are not on behalf of Plusnet.
irisandlori
Hooked
Posts: 5
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎06-03-2013

Re: ThinkBroadband's speed tester for ISPA

Hi, I seem to be getting a similar story to everyone else.
I am on the Unlimited Fibre with a theoretical max of 80 MB
Speedtest. net  gives Down = 58 and Up = 15
The normal Think Broadband gives Down x 1 = 29 and Down x 6 = 56  and Up = 11
This tester gives  Down 16.6  and Up 14.6
So if this supposed to be showing Plusnet in a good light, it is failing dramatically.
There clearly must be something wrong somewhere, but I don't know where.
Lawrie