How fast am I?

A lot of Internet users are switching to broadband cable or DSL. Many wonder just how much faster broadband is than a modem. So I decided to look into it. I think I found some interesting information that might be of interest.
Note: this info was done in 2000. Web sites may have changed. Search for "bandwidth testing, DSL testing or cable speed test" to find latest info.

As a result of a question about the speed of my cable service compared to what we expected it to be, I decided to do some comparisons. What I discovered is that the speeds reflect more the speed of the server and the path between us than our ability. I got speeds from as low as 250 to as high as 1900 depending on the server. These are the sites I found from a search on Yahoo. Many explain bandwidth and show comparisons of what to expect from different connection types. Earlier tests were run when I was on Cox Cable Las Vegas. 2005 tests were run on Keyon over the air system in Pahrump.

2007 note. In November 2006, I switched to a new experimental service with AT&T called WiMax available only in Pahrump and somewhere in Texas. Click here to read about it.

Bandwidth testing sites

Note:

Some sites require you to delete Temporary Internet Files before repeating test
Download speeds are usually much higher and represent data being received on your computer.
Uploads are slower and represent the signals you send out to load a new site or information.
Most of the workload is downloading. Very little time is spent on uploading.
Unless otherwise noted, the numbers reflect download.

http://www.pcpitstop.com/internet/bandwidth.asp ran 1422, 1122 & 1012 on repeat tests
I just ran the test (2-9-05) on my wireless broadband supplier in Pahrump called Keyon (They are also in Vegas) & got comparable results of 600 to 1600 kilobits per second. Quite a variation, but all acceptable.
Jan 2003 results using Keyon: Download Bandwidth Test Results Download speed: 1519 kilobits per second Test details: 1204 kilobytes downloaded in 6.343 seconds.
Their statement says: Typical rated speeds vary depending on your type of Internet connection. Dial-up users can get up to 54 Kb/s but typical connections are in the 40s. Cable modem users can expect from 1000 to 3000 Kb/s, the maximum rate may be capped by the cable company. DSL users get from 256 Kb/s to 2000 Kb/s depending on the level of service you have purchased.
So I would say Keyon is doing pretty good.

http://home.cfl.rr.com/eaa/Bandwidth.htm has links to many test sites

http://www.beelinebandwidthtest.com/ 648 to 712 on repeat tests. Pretty consistent at 600+ on Keyon 2-9-05

http://www.dslreports.com/stest 1307 down, 115 up from one Calif server. 1437/119 from another calif server.
1152/115 from another. 2-9-05 test required installing latest Java on XP SP2. Good idea anyway. Again favorable test on Keyon. Jan 06 2006- Your download speed : 1482 kbps or 185.3 KB/sec. Your upload speed : 110 kbps or 13.7 KB/sec.

http://bandwidthtest.info/ has links to test sites, info and software to download

www.2wire.com/meter/bm.html showed 1719, 956 & 2132 on Cox & 200 to 500 on Keyon. Jan 2006 1450 on Keyon.

http://www.toast.net/performance/ Tests different servers. First 12 are free. Select "Both Image & Text". Click the radio button on a server & click Run Test

Here's some of the results I got with Cox in 2000

Canada 587 to 1083 kbps on repeated tests
Phoenix 1758
Barbados 465
Bahamas 462
North Dakota 1250

Results with Keyon in 2005 were from 1.2 to 1.5 MB. Not bad.

http://nyc.speakeasy.net/ 1317/116 from New York on Cox. 1.2 MB on Keyon

http://homepage.tinet.ie/~leslie/testpage.htm results are in cps

http://specials.zdnet.co.uk/misc/band-test/ got from 50 to 5000 on this one. 1452 Kbps 177.9 K bytes/sec with Keyon

www.austin.rr.com/speedtest/speed.asp was really slow repeatedly. Keyon was in the ballpark with others above

http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Communications_and_Networking/Benchmarking/Bandwidth_Tests/ has links to the following & others

http://www.polycom.com/common/scripts/band_start.html doesn't actually provide a number. Just shows a chart. Test with Keyon compared to high speed DSL.

http://www.testmy.net/ Showed 1300 to 1500. Results for Keyon are:

Your connection rating is: 2.5 stars. Your connection is: 1749 Kbps (about 1.7 Mbps) Bottom Line: You are running: 31 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 4.81 second(s)

http://www.cable-modem.net/perf.html showed 1525. Keyon: Your Connection Loaded 322,649 bytes in 1.797 seconds. Your throughput is 1436 Kbps.

http://www.testmyspeed.com/ provides a list of test servers all over the US with a link for International test sites. With keyon, I tested a Nevada server: Your line speed: 1083.7 Kbps 132.8 K bytes/sec

http://www.numion.com/YourSpeed/ gives nice results and explanations. It checks a lot of servers, but gave a rather slow result at just under 500. Keyon showed Throughput 74255 Bps bytes per second Throughput 594 kbps kilobits per second

and my latest addition http://helpme.att.net/dsl/speedtest/