Why does my download speed change so often?

[Taffy]

This is in relation to the SpeedTest thing that people have been doing recently. I've done it for the past couple of days, and got a different variety of results. On my first post, I got a speed of 14 odd mbps. However, yesterday when I did it, I got under 10. And today? Over 16 mbps.

So why is that? What is it thats giving me such wild variation in my download speeds? Theres been no extraordinary usage of the internet on any of these days, just basic stuff i.e. internet browser with a few tabs open. Anybody know?

This is more just out of interest than as a potential problem or anything.

 

[Macca]

You'll have to wait for one of the tech guru's to come and explain it in full, however I believe it has to do not with you but with your neighbours etc. In most cases you share a line with a certain number of people in the neighbourhood. Therefore if your testing your internet speed at say 3am you should get a high speed due to the fact that most people will not be using the line, on the other hand if your doing it at peak time say 8 o'clock you will have to share the line with other people and hence you won't get as high a speed.

As I say the tech guru's will be able to explain it much better .

 

[elDiablo]

Macca has it, really. And if you really care, contention ratio is where you start.

Edit - Really, it's saying that the more people connected on your neighbourhood (not exchange, but something like that... switch? I forgot...), the less bandwidth you have. This is (usually) why your speeds drop around 6pm, everyone gets home and goes online, and why at 4am, you have decent intertubes.

 

[Taffy]

Does that happen with cable too? Because I'm on Virgin

 

[thatbloke]

yes it happens with cable too

Even though you are on a fibre-optic cable you are still sharing it with a bunch of other people, unfortunately if all 50 people have, say, a 20mbps service, the line itself may only have the capacity to support 50 people with a 10mbps service.

This means that you're going to start getting contention on your line and then you start losing bandwidth.

 

[KillCrazy]

I notice this too, mainly with torrenting. I get high speeds at quiet times, and during the day, it pretty much crawls.

 

[BiG D]

I notice this too, mainly with torrenting. I get high speeds at quiet times, and during the day, it pretty much crawls.

What ISP are you with? That may actually be a result of them throttling certain traffic during peak hours (torrents, especially.)

 

[KillCrazy]

What ISP are you with? That may actually be a result of them throttling certain traffic during peak hours (torrents, especially.)

BT. I don't think it's throttling that's going on though. Our speed is already lower than it should be because we are far from the exchange. Also, it only happens with torrents. Direct downloads run at our full connection speed.

 

[elDiablo]

Why does my download speed change so often?

BECAUSE YOU TOUCH YOURSELF AT NIGHT.

I don't know why I only just thought of this now, but meh.

 

[Haven]

ISP contention

Local Network Contention i.e. other things running in the background or on other network devices.

Line interferance - localised or on route to the substation - also caused by weather pressure changes and their affects on the magnetic fields.

Load on the testing site i.e. speedtest.net is also a factor in this.

Packet loss / load going through the routers on each hop between yourself and the speedtest site, also on the route back as it may take a different route.

etc etc etc.

 

[DeZmond]

We're currently moving all 20mb folks to the new 50mb platform (just the platform though, so not an actual speed upgrade). New platform is a lot more capable, so it should mean much higher average speeds and a lot closer to the stated package. Due to be finished sometime later this year, I believe

 

[Taffy]

Woop go Dez

I am a little in love with Virgin. They've done very well for me personally. Even though i have to switch the TV box off and on again sometimes because for some reason it refuses to tell me what is on each channel and what the time is. Bizarre but a lot better than sky, which always used to just die whenever there was the slightest sign of high altitude cirrus cloud.