Adsl Speedtests Which One Is Right?

[negreanu]

Spoon. Thank you for the post. It MIGHT go someway to convincing the antichrist their that people are maximising and in some applications exceeding their allocated bandwidth on True's products.

[jfchandler]

That's a nice looking bandwidth monitoring program... What program are you using to generate that?

[negreanu]

That's a nice looking bandwidth monitoring program... What program are you using to generate that?

Yeh yeh. But how do you explain (or discredit knowing that you will try to because it's a positive report on true) the data it shows that he is downloading from on Rapidshare

Just to recap he is 8mb True customer downloading from RAPIDSHARE servers in the US at 10mb...

Rapidshare another provider that has quality bandwidth available for it's premium customers, same as apple same as microsoft etc.

Could other people actually know what they are talking about and not be bull shitting and your on the verge of admitting that u can maximise your bandwidth on True's products and indeed u can actually exceed your allocated bandwidth by a couple of MB on True?

Edited August 25, 2010 by negreanu

[Pib]

It's been an interesting thread, notwithstanding all the personal stuff....

I've learned a lot, including that my download capacity isn't limited to that just which comes thru a single thread, but rather, those threads can be additive on top of each other, at least for certain kinds of applications.

But equally true, it also means that downloading or streaming that needs to rely on a single thread (such as streaming Adobe Flash video or Slingbox streams, etc etc.) can still be constrained by network congestion, even on the faster packages.

I guess the trick is to find an ISP package that at least gives you at least enough speed to cover the single stream things you want to do in adequate manner.

In other words, if what you really want to do is watch Hulu from the U.S. and it streams at about 450 Kbits/second (.43 Mbits), then you want an ISP that can give that can give you 450 Kbits/second reliably for an international connection.

Now, if someone really just needs a reliable .43 Mbits international connection, how much better is a 4 Mbit vs an 8 Mbit vs a 16Mbit DSL package going to be in achieving that.... Interesting question.

Very good summary of the Thailand internet speed/bandwidth issue. A lot depends on "how, what, and from where" (which can be very varied) you are downloading (and uploading). And of course, your location, location, location in Thailand can make a big difference in what internet packages are available to you (e.g., 56Kb dialup to 50Mb latest-and-greatest). Cheers.

[jfchandler]

I already posted my results above... clear for everyone to see...

Part of the discussion here, which some people find convenient to forget, is that it makes a huge amount of difference where the files one is accessing are coming from. If they're cached or distributed locally or regionally by some of the major Internet players or ISPs, then of course they'll have speedy access. But if they're actually coming from the U.S. and having to traverse the under-ocean cable, then it's an entirely different matter.

When someone streams an NFL game on a service only available to U.S. IPs, then you can be darned sure the content is coming from the U.S. Same with Hulu, which is only available in the U.S., so they'd clearly not be deploying any content in Asia or Europe... But Apple, Microsoft, YouTube, etc... who knows?

Back to the personal insults, huh???

Logged onto ITunes, and ordered up downloads of a bunch of concurrent podcasts... Monitored the live incoming streams into my connection using BitMeter... Indeed, with Itunes, it showed a total download stream that bounced around between 6, 8 and 10 Mbits... A pretty good sign that, as previously suggested, Apple-Itunes is using some kind of distributed content system, with that content not likely coming from the U.S.

Then logged onto one of the better known video torrent streaming packages, and opened 9 concurrent video windows. The supposed bitrate of the 9 streams, originating from the U.S., totaled about 4.9 Mbit... The actual download streams coming into my PC never got past 4 Mbits...and averaged in the 3-4 Mbits range -- hardly meeting or exceeding True's 8 Mbits label for my package. And those readings (4 Mbits out of 4.9 Mbits) look about right, since the final two streams never got past buffering (as opposed to actually playing).

Be interesting to see how that performance changes if I repeat the same experiment tonight at 9 or 10 pm....

Edited August 25, 2010 by jfchandler

[negreanu]

As I've said before, if anyone thinks True is really giving me 10 Mbits to the U.S. on a DSL package that's only rated for 8 Mbits INSIDE Thailand, then I've got some bricks to sell you that really are gold..

So why is the user above getting 10mb from rapidshare?

Once again you tactically ignore that above user who posted 10mb because u know it pisse's all over your argument.

You never acknowledge any post on here in fact on other threads you post that puts your little knowledge where it belongs in the trashcan.

You selectively ignore Posts and evidence that disprove your theory and continue on your 1 man argument that has no technical merit or logic to it.

More and more you just come across as the Thai Visa village idiot on this thread ref internet and others. Do you really want to know how many PM's I have got from other TV users who really think you are complete idiot and self proclaimed fountain of knowledge on all subjects.

I just cant stop laughing at you and a lot of other TV users are doing the same. Take a step back and look and the drivel you post on here mate. I am trying to help you.

Edited August 25, 2010 by negreanu

[Spoonman]

That's a nice looking bandwidth monitoring program... What program are you using to generate that?

http://www.bwmonitor.com/

Edited August 25, 2010 by Spoonman

[jfchandler]

And what makes you think their content is coming from the U.S.??? Based on the info below, I'd pretty much assume it is not....

</h1>

<h1 class="firstHeading" id="firstHeading">RapidShare

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia RapidShare has been operating as a filehosting site since at least 2005.^[3]

RapidShare used to operate two different websites. The original site is RapidShare.de, which uses the German top-level domain ".de", and the organization has its central office in Cham, Switzerland.^[5] The second website, RapidShare.com, has been operated and maintained simultaneously with RapidShare.de. On March 1, 2010, RapidShare.de was permanently shut down, and users visiting the site were forwarded to RapidShare.com. Furthermore, files uploaded to RapidShare.de were no longer available for download.

In 2010, RapidShare was said to have hundreds of millions of visitors per month and to be among the 50 most popular Internet sites.^[4]

As I've said before, if anyone thinks True is really giving me 10 Mbits to the U.S. on a DSL package that's only rated for 8 Mbits INSIDE Thailand, then I've got some bricks to sell you that really are gold..

So why is the user above getting 10mb from rapidshare?

[jfchandler]

Your wisdom is exceeded only by your lack of manners...to be sure...

As I've said before, if anyone thinks True is really giving me 10 Mbits to the U.S. on a DSL package that's only rated for 8 Mbits INSIDE Thailand, then I've got some bricks to sell you that really are gold..

So why is the user above getting 10mb from rapidshare?

Once again you tactically ignore that above user who posted 10mb because u know it pisse's all over your argument.

You never acknowledge any post on here in fact on other threads you post that puts your little knowledge where it belongs in the trashcan.

You selectively ignore Posts and evidence that disprove your theory and continue on your 1 man argument that has no technical merit or logic to it.

More and more you just come across as the Thai Visa village idiot on this thread ref internet and others. Do you really want to know how many PM's I have got from other TV users who really think you are complete idiot and self proclaimed fountain of knowledge on all subjects.

I just cant stop laughing at you and a lot of other TV users are doing the same. Take a step back and look and the drivel you post on here mate. I am trying to help you.

[negreanu]

emmm...just an educated guess:

Rapidshare -> Teilasonera backbone to USA west coast to Thailand. Mainly because they don't go eastbound from germany with their backbones.

So ok he might be downloading from German servers via the Europe-usa backbone and still getting 10MB which pisse's all over your argument even more!!!!

Edited August 25, 2010 by negreanu

[jfchandler]

You don't think one of the largest file sharing entities in the world might just possibly have some server content/direct network access of some form in Asia.. Just maybe???

emmm...just an educated guess:

Rapidshare -> Teilasonera backbone to USA west coast to Thailand. Mainly because they don't go eastbound from germany with their backbones.

So ok he might be downloading from German servers via the Europe-usa backbone and still getting 10MB which pisse's all over your argument even more!!!!

Edited August 25, 2010 by jfchandler

[negreanu]

One Word: Tracert

[negreanu]

One Word: Tracert

I just thought i would kill your Apple, Rapidshare, Microsoft mirrors all their downloads in asia.

If I connect to my USA based VPN (West coast) and download I get more or less the same speeds less a little bit for VPN overhead.

So connected to a USA VPN I can still download from itunes US Store at the same speed.

So therefore we can assume that I am downloading from the USA itunes store on a USA based server. And guess what I Max my bandwidth doing it.

Thailand - USA VPN - iTunes Server US = Maxed bandwidth.

Any other conspiracy theories on why you cannot get your allocated bandwidth to the USA from Thailand?

Edited August 26, 2010 by negreanu

[jfchandler]

I happened to be listening lately to a techie radio broadcast that talked in detail about how Apple (and many others) uses Content Delivery Networks to deliver its ITunes content around the world.... The purpose, of course, is to connect the end user with the closest available server housing the requested data, based on the IP address location being used by the end user.

Below is a graphic that shows two of the major CDN players and some of the larger companies like Apple that use their worldwide networks to deliver their content...as opposed to relying on the local/public data networks that other, regular data travels on.... The result, of course, is to more speedily provide the data to end users and avoid excessive strain on a company's central servers...

So, whether an end user is using a Thailand local IP address or a U.S. based VPN provided IP address, the CDN is still routing the data request to the closest local data resource.... In the case of a Thailand IP address, presumably somewhere local around Asia... In the case of a U.S. IP address, the CDN would pull from there and then send along via that user's VPN provider...

In either case, the data request isn't traveling on the regular public data lines connecting Thailand and the U.S., making those kinds of speed test results using ITunes downloads a bad indicator of real generic U.S.-Thailand download speeds.

Network users are supposed to look up IP addresses from a nearby server, which itself queries and caches answers to name and address lookups from other DNS systems, distributing the workload across the network. CDNs like Akamai, which Apple works with to deliver iTunes downloads, use DNS lookup information to locate where users are, and then optimize content delivery via the nearest available server.

Quote above taken from:

http://www.spiritjb....ads-slowed.html

The key reason they're [non-local DNS servers] bad is that they stuff up your computer's ability to find the closest Akamai server to you. Akamai is the worldwide system which places massive file servers inside ISP data centres worldwide -- so that when you download a big file like a Windows or Mac OS X update, or a TV show or movie from iTunes, it downloads from a server that's very close to you, and therefore pumps down your line as fast as your ADSL2+ can handle. (The primary selling point of Akamai is that it avoids server overload when everyone tries to download something at once, but a secondary selling point is that you're downloading a file from a local server inside your ISP or at least in your country, so that the trip between the file server and you is as short/fast as possible.)

If you use a US-based DNS server [like Google DNS], your closest Akamai cache will instead be chosen as being in the US, and you'll get crummy download speeds as your file trickles over the international link [for users outside the U.S.]

Quote above taken from:

Why using Google DNS / OpenDNS is a bad idea (especially for those outside the U.S.)

http://apcmag.com/wh...-a-bad-idea.htm

Excerpted Wikipedia entry below re Akamai Technologies' customers

Akamai's customers include many large Internet, media, and computer companies, as well as many other non-technical companies with online media distribution requirements.

On July 21, 1999, at Macworld Expo New York, Apple and Akamai announced a strategic partnership to build Apple's new media network, QuickTime TV (QTV), based on QuickTime Streaming Server.^[5] Both companies later announced that Apple had made a $12.5 million investment in the company the previous month.^[6] Apple continues to use Akamai as their primary content delivery network^[7] for a wide range of applications including software downloads from Apple's Website, QuickTime movie trailers, and the iTunes Store.^[8]

In September 1999 Microsoft and Akamai formed a strategic relationship to incorporate Windows Media technology in Akamai's FreeFlow service, as well as to facilitate the porting of the FreeFlow product to the Windows platform; this relationship exists to this day.^[9]

Other customers include Amazon.com, Adobe Systems, J. C. Penney, Yahoo!^[7] and Blizzard Entertainment^[10].

In June 2008, The NewsMarket teamed with Akamai to accelerate dynamic content and applications to global media ahead of the Beijing Olympics.^[13]

The BBC iPlayer uses Akamai to stream its recorded and live programs, focused through an XML playlist.

The official U.S. government Website for the White House (WhiteHouse.gov) uses Akamai Technologies for hosting video clips of President Barack Obama's Web addresses on their own in-house servers, after having posted previous addresses as embedded YouTube clips on the site.^[14]

The Website of China Central Television (CCTV.com), along with all contents and video streaming, has been hosted on Akamai's edge servers since late 2009.^[15][16]

Hulu currently uses Akamai for hosting video.^[17]

And from Akamai's own "About Us" web site:

Network Deployment

Akamai has the most pervasive, highly-distributed cloud optimization platform with over 73,000 servers in 70 countries within nearly 1,000 networks.

--85% of the world's Internet users are within a single "network hop" of an Akamai server.

--The top online music stores have sold billions of songs... and counting... delivered via the Akamai platform

Edited January 13, 2011 by jfchandler

[jfchandler]

BTW, in the course of reading about this, came across a recent report comparing the Internet speeds obtained by users in different countries as of the second quarter 2010...

Thailand scored at an average Internet connection speed of 2.9 Mbits...behind South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan [ranked No. 1, 2 and 3 based on speed], the U.S. and U.K... and almost the same as Australia.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/12/real-connection-speeds-for-internet-users-across-the-world/

Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines all trailed based on speeds, averaging under 2 Mbits each... China ranked first in number of Internet users but near the bottom of the top 50 based on speed, with an average of .86 Mbits.

It looks like Thailand ranked 24th based on average speed, and 25th among the top 50 countries based on numbers of Internet users. The world average speed, not just among the top 50 countries based on users but all countries, was reported to be 1.8 Mbits.

The report also shows the vast major of Thailand user Internet connection users have speeds between 256 Kbit/s and 5 Mbit/s, and what looks like 5% or so connecting at better than 5 Mbit/s.

The report says the speeds cited are actual ones as measured by Akamai, not the speed ratings of ISP plans....

The speeds in this article are actual connection speeds. We're not showing what people are paying for, we're showing what kind of real-world speeds they are actually getting. After all, we all know that ISPs don't always deliver the kind of connection speeds that they promise in their ads.

Edited January 13, 2011 by jfchandler