70M : Speedtest to Woking gives 1ms ping

[karma mechanic]

Whenever I use Speedtest I get 10-15ms ping and approx 73/74 Mbps down on a 70 connection. Generally it selects Newbury or Brentford.

But just now it used a server I hadn't seen before - Woking.

Pretty much the same for speeds, but where does this repeatable ping of 1ms come from?




(Yes, I've looked under my desk to see if they've located it there)

[Hom3r]

The lower the ping the better.

I would love 1ms

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by karma mechanic

Whenever I use Speedtest I get 10-15ms ping and approx 73/74 Mbps down on a 70 connection. Generally it selects Newbury or Brentford.

But just now it used a server I hadn't seen before - Woking.

Pretty much the same for speeds, but where does this repeatable ping of 1ms come from?




(Yes, I've looked under my desk to see if they've located it there)

Wow, aren't you a lucky boy!

[Kabaal]

Now cross your fingers that by some miracle Woking becomes the hub for all things internet in the future

[karma mechanic]

Oh well, it didn't last:



I've always let it choose the server based on ping, so it is back to Cowes, Newbury, Maidenhead etc. all giving pretty much the same.

Still not sure how Woking was consistently giving 1ms but that would certainly make it the chosen server. (And not under my desk, in case anyone was actually wondering).

[Kushan]

I believe that VM themselves run some of the speed test servers for VM customers, meaning it could have (literally) been within the VM network itself.

[ileikcaek]

I used to get pings of 5 - 10ms to London on VM but in recent years it's more like 18 - 24ms, some of that could be to do with the Hub 3 issues but even when I used a SH2ac it had higher pings than the SH1.

VM running their own speed test servers is also sketchy depending on how you look at it. These only show up when connected via a VM connection. Customers are likely to see these and pick them (if it don't pick them automatically), This masks VM's often (from experience) overloaded peering to other UK/international networks, while a speed test to VM's own servers is mostly okay.

[Kushan]

Originally Posted by ileikcaek

VM running their own speed test servers is also sketchy depending on how you look at it. These only show up when connected via a VM connection. Customers are likely to see these and pick them (if it don't pick them automatically), This masks VM's often (from experience) overloaded peering to other UK/international networks, while a speed test to VM's own servers is mostly okay.

I don't think VM can really be held responsible for a lack of understanding on the end-user's part. I mean, the point of a good test (for anything, be it broadband or bromine) is to remove as many variables as possible to get a consistent outcome. Cutting out all the network hops to 3rd party networks helps determine that at least the user's connection is running ok. Getting slow speeds on one of those tests is definitely a Virgin issue, whereas getting slow speeds to a server in another part of the country might well be peering (Which I wouldn't go so far as to say isn't Virgin's issue, but certainly isn't necessarily their "fault").

At least you've always got the option. You don't have to use their server, you can use any server you want and get the best of both worlds. If you, as a user, aren't aware enough of what you're seeing, then I suspect there's a good chance that you might have a problem that isn't actually Virgin's concern anyway (i.e. "Facebook is down, Fix it Virgin!").

[karma mechanic]

It wasn't the speed I was curious about, that seems to be a rock-solid 73/74 every time irrespective of server. It was getting a ping of 1ms several times for Woking (International School of London) when all others routinely give 10-15ms.

I can understand something as low as 5ms occasionally with the wind blowing in the right direction but 1ms seemed implausible. Especially on a SH3. Tracert shows 15ms to Southampton core...

[Kushan]

I think 1ms is theoretically possible? Though you're tight, it's likely a mistake. Where are you based, how far away is Woking?

Also note that it's not unheard of for some Antiviruses to interfere with speed tests, I believe Kaspersky was once known for it and produced impossibly fast speeds as a result.

[karma mechanic]

Originally Posted by Kushan

I think 1ms is theoretically possible? Though you're tight, it's likely a mistake. Where are you based, how far away is Woking?

Also note that it's not unheard of for some Antiviruses to interfere with speed tests, I believe Kaspersky was once known for it and produced impossibly fast speeds as a result.

I'm in the Eastleigh area, so it goes through Southampton. Woking is around 50 miles away.

No changes on my machine, same AV (Avast!) and so on. Seems to be the normal and expected pings now so we'll probably never know.

(The two with Woking at 1ms also show the highest upload speeds, 5.29 and 5.33Mb/s, compared to the more typical 5.10 to 5.19Mb/s spanning the 20 or so other results I've got a record of. Significant?

[Kushan]

50miles? 1ms is definitely theoretically possible then. Theoretically.

You're right, we'll probably never know!

[JoelTheSuperior]

I'd be willing to suspect there's an issue somewhere. It's theoretically possible, yes, but really, really unlikely simply because of how DOCSIS technology works unless you've got a ridiculously good connection somehow.

I'm no longer with Virgin Media due to their appalling customer service, but I was seeing a similar glitch recently on AAISP - some speedtest servers were giving very low pings (1ms) despite the fact that my pings to AAISP themselves is around 6.7ms.

Regarding the peering, I can definitely understand why people would be concerned about Virgin Media running speedtest servers. In my experience most of the contention issues Virgin Media have are between the cabinet and one's premises but having now used another ISP I'm quite frankly surprised by how much better some websites (i.e. YouTube) perform now. Virgin Media's peering, as I recall, is nowhere near as bad now as it once was but it's definitely more contended than what other ISPs have.

[nallar]

Speedtest.net intermittently shows completely incorrect values for pings. Don't pay much attention to the ping statistic.

[Sephiroth]

Note above that 314meg is now faster than only 98% of GB!