# What is wrong with this speed test?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 23, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925 "2005-03-23T19:44:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925/1 "2005-03-23T19:44:03Z")

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My ISP’s website provides a speed test, and I’ve noticed that if my computer seems sluggish, sometimes that problem improves when I got online and do their speed test.

(It downloads a 100k file from the server 3 times and then averages)

But I think it’s rigged. Here are my latest results:

Test 1: 81600/Kbps Test 2: 89.4/Kbps Test 3: 95.3/Kbps

Their comparison:  
Modem 56/Kbps — [here you have to imagine a bar instead of lines, sorry]  
ISDN 128/Kbps -------  
ADSL 256/Kbps ---------------  
T1 1.5/Mbps ------------------------------------------------------------------------  
You 27/Mbps -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

or, in other words, I am off the charts! Going faster than a T1!

I don’t think so. I really don’t see how a best score of 95.3/Kbps translates into 27 Mbps. What’s going on here? Are they just trying to make me think my computer is NOT running slow?

For the record, I have DSL.

I’m going to try this test again. But meanwhile, if anyone can enlighten me as to the real efficacy of speed tests, please do.

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**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925/2 "2005-03-23T19:48:06Z")

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I am not going to draw any lines this time. Suffice it to say that this time, I am not outperforming a T1 (sure, and I really was outperforming it last time. Right.)

Test 1: 119/Kbps Test 2: 124.6/Kpbs Test 3: 98.9/Kbps

Average 114/Kbps.

Slow. But this one at least accurately represents how my computer seems to be running, i.e., about half the speed it ought to be.

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925/3 "2005-03-23T23:05:32Z")

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Try this site: [http://www.dslreports.com/stest](http://www.dslreports.com/stest).

(And if you ever want to try drawing lines again, use the

```auto

 tag. I believe it uses a monospaced font.)
```

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**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-wrong-with-this-speed-test/295925/4 "2005-03-24T00:23:59Z")

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It might be that your ISP has incorrectly set up the test so that your downloading a cached version rather than a live version. That would explain your ridiculously fast transfer speeds.