There is a big pile of variables in all of this up/down stuff. You will take what you get and you will like it to quote my father at dinner time.
Ron
I think really the only "guarantee" you can get regarding your speed is the speed of the connection between you and your provider; I don't think they guarantee anything beyond their own network.
I generally test my speed using two different methods - one via speedtest.net (which is currently telling me 50ms ping, 28.76 Mbps/10.75 Mbps D/U), and the other via Cox (my provider -
**broken link removed**), which is currently telling me 20ms ping, 33.33 Mbps/15.25 Mbps D/U.
The difference is likely in the number of hops (and their latency) between cox and speedtest; anything within cox's network is going to be made as fast as possible, but they have no control over anything beyond their network. I just tried a traceroute to both speedtest:
Code:
andrew@buster:~$ traceroute www.speedtest.net
traceroute to www.speedtest.net (74.209.160.12), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1) 0.479 ms 0.666 ms 0.854 ms
2 * * *
3 ip68-2-6-37.ph.ph.cox.net (68.2.6.37) 15.469 ms 16.352 ms 16.443 ms
4 mcdlcorc01-pos-0-7-0-0.ph.ph.cox.net (70.169.72.72) 18.695 ms 18.730 ms 18.755 ms
5 mcdldsrj01-ae2.0.rd.ph.cox.net (70.169.76.225) 16.438 ms 16.463 ms 18.507 ms
6 langbprj01-ae2.rd.la.cox.net (68.1.1.17) 28.297 ms 23.205 ms 23.585 ms
7 tg9-4.cr01.lsancarc.integra.net (209.63.113.57) 66.384 ms 69.418 ms 67.369 ms
8 tg13-1.cr01.sntdcabl.integra.net (209.63.113.106) 68.421 ms 68.364 ms 67.286 ms
9 tg13-4.cr02.sntdcabl.integra.net (209.63.113.134) 63.525 ms 63.350 ms 63.456 ms
10 tg13-1.cr02.rcrdcauu.integra.net (209.63.114.169) 64.744 ms 62.255 ms 63.362 ms
11 tg13-4.cr01.rcrdcauu.integra.net (209.63.114.101) 157.478 ms 157.413 ms 156.417 ms
12 tg13-2.cr01.ptleorte.integra.net (209.63.114.45) 232.321 ms 194.376 ms 193.418 ms
13 tg13-1.cr01.sttlwatw.integra.net (209.63.114.97) 66.477 ms 65.526 ms 66.672 ms
14 tg9-1.ar10.tkwlwazs.integra.net (209.63.114.126) 65.211 ms 67.935 ms 60.881 ms
15 ge6-1.rtr3.lw.netriver.net (64.122.5.50) 196.815 ms 195.888 ms 196.843 ms
16 static-74-209-160-12.lynnwood.netriver.net (74.209.160.12) 59.138 ms 64.214 ms 65.141 ms
...and cox:
Code:
traceroute azspeedtest.cox.com
traceroute to azspeedtest.cox.com (70.169.77.14), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1) 0.423 ms 0.604 ms 0.785 ms
2 * * *
3 ip68-2-6-37.ph.ph.cox.net (68.2.6.37) 10.324 ms 11.234 ms 13.728 ms
4 70.169.75.91 (70.169.75.91) 15.370 ms 16.384 ms 16.427 ms
5 70.169.75.91 (70.169.75.91) 17.417 ms !X * *
andrew@buster:~$ traceroute cox.com
traceroute to cox.com (24.248.75.200), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
1 10.0.0.1 (10.0.0.1) 0.521 ms 0.704 ms 0.882 ms
2 * * *
3 ip68-2-6-37.ph.ph.cox.net (68.2.6.37) 14.234 ms 15.166 ms 15.227 ms
4 mcdlcorc01-pos-0-7-0-0.ph.ph.cox.net (70.169.72.72) 17.473 ms 17.490 ms 17.505 ms
5 mcdldsrj01-ae2.0.rd.ph.cox.net (70.169.76.225) 15.207 ms 15.224 ms 17.288 ms
6 dukedsrj01-ge-210.0.rd.at.cox.net (68.1.1.121) 59.109 ms 92.175 ms 55.843 ms
7 * * *
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Though as you can see, cox wasn't being as cooperative - so you can't compare things to know what is going on...hmm.
Also - if you look upthread (waaay upthread), you'll note my numbers have come down a lot since I last posted my speed; I'm not exactly sure why, although my numbers are still within (actually, above) the service agreement with cox - though not the insane difference it used to be. They advertise a set of tiers that end with "Premier" or something, but there is actually a level above that which you can pay for to get 50 Mbps down and 20 Mbps (I think) up; I tried to get that myself, but they want to send somebody out to your house and you have to have a 'doze box set up (I say screw that - flip the damn switch on your end and re-provision the modem, and we'll see what happens; I already have RG6 from their termination thru the rest of my house, if it doesn't work, its likely their problem). I guess they don't really want my $100.00 a month...
They also have a tier they don't talk about that is lower than their lowest advertised tier; you have to call and ask for it - some stupid small bandwidth (but much faster than dialup) for like $9.99 a month. Both of these extra tiers are little known about, it seems (at one time they advertised both, but I guess maybe they didn't get a lot of people taking them up on them, so they stopped advertising them).
One of these days I'll just pony up for a business account; my speed likely won't change much, but I'll be able to run servers legally, and have a better guarantee on "uptime" (not that it has been a problem lately).