What is your internet's speed?

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Saint, Sep 12, 2012.

  1. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,493
    Not all 1000 mile Internet connections are equal. The 1000 miles you are talking about are as the crow flies. But an Internet rout to that same connection could be two or more times that distance and it's not guaranteed that you will get the same rout every time you make that connection. Also, if your rout has a lot of hops, it's possible for any hop to have a heavy traffic load for whatever reason. This will slow down your connection speed. The best you can do if you want to measure the speed between two points is to do an average over time.

    As far as your operating system goes, the communications functions can be tweaked to maximize your connection speed for the hardware it's running on. Any machine has a hardware limit no matter what software it's running.
     
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  3. Dr Mabuse Percipient Thaumaturgist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    714
    You are aware of more than most. But you are under the impression that a 'connection' is made like a phone call, it isn't. A single download from anywhere on the internet involves packets that take many routes to return to you. One packet may go through Chicago and the next may go through Houston. One may take a route actually going away away from you for a few states and then hop the rectangle and head your way, and the next may take a route geographically in your direction from the start.

    Think of it more like a shotgun, with each pellet liable to take a far different route to get back to you, and less like a bullet headed in your direction and you get closer to the actual a nature of the internet.
     
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  5. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,493
    What you say is true to some extent, but as soon as you establish a connection all the data packets in your communication will have a affinity for the established rout and there's a good chance they will all take the same rout. They don't have to, but most likely they will unless something interferes with that rout. That's especially true for short tests of Internet speed.
     
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  7. Dr Mabuse Percipient Thaumaturgist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    714
    Again, you don't understand routing. You have more of a clue than most, but you are not correct. There is no 'established route', there is nothing that could even be loosely compared to that.

    If you think of it more like a shotgun of completely unconnected pellets, each of which is a packet of data, that take many paths, some of which are even lost for good and have to be retransmitted, you will have a better understanding of routing. There is an IP in the header as a destination, that is handed off to the gateway of the LAN, that then makes a call based on a routing protocol like RIP(small network) or OSPF, in that second, to send it to the next network based on the routing table decision in that second. The decision may be different a second later on that same router/switch. It has no idea of where the destination of that packet is, only that is should throw it at the next gateway and let it make a call to get it closer. Then at that next hop it forwards the packet to, another completely independent decision is made by that router/switch, possibly running a different routing protocol with a different routing table, to forward the packet to the next network. None of them have any clue where the ultimate destination is, they only make a decision on the next place to forward that packet to that their table and protocol say will get it one step closer to the destination network in that second based on a criteria. Those decisions have nothing to do with geography or an overall map of the internet. Hence the packets spread out in all manner of ways when they make their way to the destination.
     
  8. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    Pretty good. What's the speed if you pick the closest server?
     
  9. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,493
    So tell me why you can trace the rout with software that shows each and every hop that was used during a communication. They show you a direct sequential list of hops between point A and point B. Would they be able to do that if all the packets took off in all directions from point A to meet up again at point B?
     
  10. Dr Mabuse Percipient Thaumaturgist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    714
    Posted earlier in the thread.
     
  11. Dr Mabuse Percipient Thaumaturgist Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    714
    I know about this stuff, and you don't. It was obvious you were interested, I thought you might like to know more. I was trying to help you understand things a little better, not argue.
     
  12. KilljoyKlown Whatever Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    6,493
    That was a cop out answer. Also, I've been working with computers and networks much longer than you have. So quit trying to tell me what I don't know about.
     
  13. Chipz Banned Banned

    Messages:
    838
    They don't necessarily follow the same routes (as Dr Mabuse stated), however they 'appear' to have affinity since many route-to-route hops are more deterministic than other hops. This is because some routes may round-robin packets for distribution or offload dependent on loads, hops are often similar because network engineers have done a good job. Routes are close to optimal for each route.

    Code:
    $> traceroute sciforums.com
     1  10.1.10.1 (10.1.10.1)  0.229 ms  0.414 ms  0.480 ms
     2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  2.287 ms  2.246 ms  2.308 ms
     3  * * *
     4  te-0-1-0-8-ur10.beaverton.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.151.41)  67.283 ms  68.310 ms  68.400 ms
     5  ae-3-0-ar03.troutdale.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.243.165)  117.126 ms  117.489 ms  68.508 ms
     6  pos-2-3-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.213)  74.308 ms pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.201)  16.906 ms pos-2-2-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.97)  21.150 ms
     7  4.59.234.25 (4.59.234.25)  14.878 ms  28.534 ms  27.423 ms
     8  ae-32-52.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net (4.69.147.182)  103.508 ms  103.498 ms  103.426 ms
     9  ae-2-2.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net (4.69.132.54)  111.138 ms  111.105 ms  109.733 ms
    10  ae-3-3.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net (4.69.132.62)  103.030 ms  103.625 ms  100.142 ms
    11  ae-6-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net (4.69.140.189)  94.824 ms  90.125 ms  101.009 ms
    12  ae-10-10.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.69.153.86)  128.584 ms  146.310 ms  145.074 ms
    13  IWEB-GROUP.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.59.178.58)  140.906 ms  142.233 ms  142.760 ms
    14  vl693.dr4.mtl.iweb.com (67.205.127.229)  323.336 ms  318.427 ms  316.960 ms
    15  vl3203.dr7.mtl.iweb.com (184.107.1.38)  135.112 ms  128.184 ms  124.440 ms
    16  ip-70-38-28-27.static.privatedns.com (70.38.28.27)  115.103 ms  93.322 ms  90.264 ms
    
    Code:
    $> traceroute sciforums.com
     1  10.1.10.1 (10.1.10.1)  0.315 ms  0.524 ms  0.622 ms
     2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  3.207 ms  3.564 ms  3.781 ms
     3  * * *
     4  te-0-1-0-8-ur10.beaverton.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.151.41)  19.455 ms  20.329 ms  20.462 ms
     5  ae-3-0-ar03.troutdale.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.243.165)  21.587 ms  21.438 ms  21.600 ms
     6  pos-1-15-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.25)  28.140 ms pos-2-1-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.93)  16.982 ms pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.201)  17.360 ms
     7  4.59.234.25 (4.59.234.25)  16.373 ms  15.296 ms  16.454 ms
     8  ae-32-52.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net (4.69.147.182)  91.400 ms  90.104 ms  91.306 ms
     9  ae-2-2.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net (4.69.132.54)  96.605 ms  98.491 ms  99.289 ms
    10  ae-3-3.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net (4.69.132.62)  98.403 ms  97.916 ms  94.115 ms
    11  ae-6-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net (4.69.140.189)  93.473 ms  93.563 ms  98.397 ms
    12  * ae-10-10.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.69.153.86)  113.792 ms *
    13  IWEB-GROUP.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.59.178.58)  89.138 ms  89.213 ms  87.914 ms
    14  vl693.dr4.mtl.iweb.com (67.205.127.229)  110.773 ms  111.660 ms  111.415 ms
    15  vl3203.dr7.mtl.iweb.com (184.107.1.38)  86.680 ms  86.040 ms  85.667 ms
    16  ip-70-38-28-27.static.privatedns.com (70.38.28.27)  85.567 ms  86.059 ms  87.075 ms
    
    We can see here hop 6 is different.
     
  14. Chipz Banned Banned

    Messages:
    838
    Ech... Sciforums is screwing up for me, so if this is duplicated a moderator can delete the other copy.

    They don't necessarily follow the same routes (as Dr Mabuse stated), however they 'appear' to have affinity since many route-to-route hops are more deterministic than other hops. This is because some routes may round-robin packets for distribution or offload dependent on loads, hops are often similar because network engineers have done a good job. Routes are close to optimal for each route.

    Code:
    $> traceroute sciforums.com
     1  10.1.10.1 (10.1.10.1)  0.229 ms  0.414 ms  0.480 ms
     2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  2.287 ms  2.246 ms  2.308 ms
     3  * * *
     4  te-0-1-0-8-ur10.beaverton.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.151.41)  67.283 ms  68.310 ms  68.400 ms
     5  ae-3-0-ar03.troutdale.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.243.165)  117.126 ms  117.489 ms  68.508 ms
     6  pos-2-3-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.213)  74.308 ms pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.201)  16.906 ms pos-2-2-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.97)  21.150 ms
     7  4.59.234.25 (4.59.234.25)  14.878 ms  28.534 ms  27.423 ms
     8  ae-32-52.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net (4.69.147.182)  103.508 ms  103.498 ms  103.426 ms
     9  ae-2-2.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net (4.69.132.54)  111.138 ms  111.105 ms  109.733 ms
    10  ae-3-3.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net (4.69.132.62)  103.030 ms  103.625 ms  100.142 ms
    11  ae-6-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net (4.69.140.189)  94.824 ms  90.125 ms  101.009 ms
    12  ae-10-10.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.69.153.86)  128.584 ms  146.310 ms  145.074 ms
    13  IWEB-GROUP.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.59.178.58)  140.906 ms  142.233 ms  142.760 ms
    14  vl693.dr4.mtl.iweb.com (67.205.127.229)  323.336 ms  318.427 ms  316.960 ms
    15  vl3203.dr7.mtl.iweb.com (184.107.1.38)  135.112 ms  128.184 ms  124.440 ms
    16  ip-70-38-28-27.static.privatedns.com (70.38.28.27)  115.103 ms  93.322 ms  90.264 ms
    
    Code:
    $> traceroute sciforums.com
     1  10.1.10.1 (10.1.10.1)  0.315 ms  0.524 ms  0.622 ms
     2  192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)  3.207 ms  3.564 ms  3.781 ms
     3  * * *
     4  te-0-1-0-8-ur10.beaverton.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.151.41)  19.455 ms  20.329 ms  20.462 ms
     5  ae-3-0-ar03.troutdale.or.bverton.comcast.net (68.85.243.165)  21.587 ms  21.438 ms  21.600 ms
     6  pos-1-15-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.93.25)  28.140 ms pos-2-1-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.95.93)  16.982 ms pos-1-14-0-0-cr01.seattle.wa.ibone.comcast.net (68.86.90.201)  17.360 ms
     7  4.59.234.25 (4.59.234.25)  16.373 ms  15.296 ms  16.454 ms
     8  ae-32-52.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net (4.69.147.182)  91.400 ms  90.104 ms  91.306 ms
     9  ae-2-2.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net (4.69.132.54)  96.605 ms  98.491 ms  99.289 ms
    10  ae-3-3.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net (4.69.132.62)  98.403 ms  97.916 ms  94.115 ms
    11  ae-6-6.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net (4.69.140.189)  93.473 ms  93.563 ms  98.397 ms
    12  * ae-10-10.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.69.153.86)  113.792 ms *
    13  IWEB-GROUP.car2.Montreal2.Level3.net (4.59.178.58)  89.138 ms  89.213 ms  87.914 ms
    14  vl693.dr4.mtl.iweb.com (67.205.127.229)  110.773 ms  111.660 ms  111.415 ms
    15  vl3203.dr7.mtl.iweb.com (184.107.1.38)  86.680 ms  86.040 ms  85.667 ms
    16  ip-70-38-28-27.static.privatedns.com (70.38.28.27)  85.567 ms  86.059 ms  87.075 ms
    
    We can see here hop 6 is different.
     
  15. Enmos Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    43,184
    Fast enough.
     
  16. Verse Registered Member

    Messages:
    27
    9 Mbps down, 1.05 Mbsp up
     
  17. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    12,671
    On a 6+ years old cheap computer, using Linux, I got 24 Mbps, and it impressed the hell out of me. Now I am going to use it for websurfing....
     
  18. rethu Registered Member

    Messages:
    8
    I used to check my internet sped in this site http://www.scanmyspeed.com/ and i posted my results below
    Download speed :25 Mbps
    upload speed :12 Mbps
     
  19. johnstephen Registered Member

    Messages:
    10
    Download speed :1 Mbps
    upload speed :0.89 Mbps
     
  20. Saint Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    4,752
    it is Mega Bit /s
    or Mega Byte/s ?
     
  21. Joaquin Sleuth Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    387
    Download speed 60 mbps

    Upload speed 2.66 mbps
     
  22. Mikemcc Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    13
    18.2M downstream and 2.6M upstream, good enough for what I want.
     
  23. CHRIS.Q Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    147
    Wow, I feel it is very slow
     

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