Two ISPs - Which is "faster"

[Alex]

We have had RoadRunner for about 4 years now, and we have become
increasingly frustrated by the frequent outages. So, we are testing Verizon
to see if it is a viable alternative. We currently have two ISPs:
RoadRunner and Verizon.

RR is supposed to have a maximum speed of 5 megabits which, of course,
degrades to slower speeds as others in the neighborhood get online and start
sharing the connection. Verizon is supposed to be a 3 megabit, always on,
DSL connection. I am trying to compare the speed of the two. When
downloading a large file from a single location, RR wins hands down. A 6.6
MB file from MS takes 6 min. 45 sec. on RR and an additional 2 minutes on
Verizon.

However, in loading various web pages the Verizon "seems" to be faster! I
suspect that the difference is due to additional latency in the RR server
network, but I don't know how to quantify it to confirm what "seems" to be
different. Would using the "Ping" command show differences in latency? If
so, ping what? Any website? A loopback or what?

I have limited experience with pinging and no knowledge of latency
measurement. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Alex

 

[Jim]

We have had RoadRunner for about 4 years now, and we have become
increasingly frustrated by the frequent outages. So, we are testing
Verizon to see if it is a viable alternative. We currently have two ISPs:
RoadRunner and Verizon.

RR is supposed to have a maximum speed of 5 megabits which, of course,
degrades to slower speeds as others in the neighborhood get online and
start sharing the connection. Verizon is supposed to be a 3 megabit,
always on, DSL connection. I am trying to compare the speed of the two.
When downloading a large file from a single location, RR wins hands down.
A 6.6 MB file from MS takes 6 min. 45 sec. on RR and an additional 2
minutes on Verizon.

However, in loading various web pages the Verizon "seems" to be faster! I
suspect that the difference is due to additional latency in the RR server
network, but I don't know how to quantify it to confirm what "seems" to be
different. Would using the "Ping" command show differences in latency?
If so, ping what? Any website? A loopback or what?

I have limited experience with pinging and no knowledge of latency
measurement. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Alex

On the other hand, Verizon is far faster when RR is down.

"ping" is the IP program which sends an ICMP packet to a computer. The
computer replies to the packet, and ping returns the time taken for the
round trip.

In the Run box, enter ping <computer address). Computer address can be a
web site or an ip address. A web site address is merely an alias for an ip
address.
Jim

 

[__spc__]

Better still, ping -l 2048 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

-l (an 'L') specifies packet size - go BIG!

 

[Jack \(MVP\)]

Hi
May be this can Help, http://www.ezlan.net/DSL_Cable.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

..

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

We have had RoadRunner for about 4 years now, and we have become
increasingly frustrated by the frequent outages. So, we are testing Verizon
to see if it is a viable alternative. We currently have two ISPs:
RoadRunner and Verizon.

RR is supposed to have a maximum speed of 5 megabits which, of course,
degrades to slower speeds as others in the neighborhood get online and start
sharing the connection. Verizon is supposed to be a 3 megabit, always on,
DSL connection. I am trying to compare the speed of the two. When
downloading a large file from a single location, RR wins hands down. A 6.6
MB file from MS takes 6 min. 45 sec. on RR and an additional 2 minutes on
Verizon.

However, in loading various web pages the Verizon "seems" to be faster! I
suspect that the difference is due to additional latency in the RR server
network, but I don't know how to quantify it to confirm what "seems" to be
different. Would using the "Ping" command show differences in latency? If
so, ping what? Any website? A loopback or what?

I have limited experience with pinging and no knowledge of latency
measurement. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Alex

Here are some sites that I use to test connection speeds:

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/
http://www.giganews.com/test_connect.html
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Alex]

So, speed is download / upload speed, and there is no latency?

Alex

 

[Steve Winograd [MVP]]

So, speed is download / upload speed, and there is no latency?

Alex

The Speakeasy page measures download and upload speeds. The Giganews
page measures download speed. On both pages, you'll probably get
different speeds from the different servers that they offer. To
eliminate an uncontrollable variable in speed measurement, those pages
don't write a file on your computer.

All networks connections, including ones that use the Internet, have
some amount of latency (delay) between the time that a packet is sent
and the time that it's received, caused by the finite transmission
speed of electrical signals, the communication path between sender and
receiver, etc. On the Internet, packets typically travel through
several routers between the sender and receiver.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

 

[Alex]

Thanks to all who replied.

Alex

The Speakeasy page measures download and upload speeds. The Giganews
page measures download speed. On both pages, you'll probably get
different speeds from the different servers that they offer. To
eliminate an uncontrollable variable in speed measurement, those pages
don't write a file on your computer.

All networks connections, including ones that use the Internet, have
some amount of latency (delay) between the time that a packet is sent
and the time that it's received, caused by the finite transmission
speed of electrical signals, the communication path between sender and
receiver, etc. On the Internet, packets typically travel through
several routers between the sender and receiver.
--
Best Wishes,
Steve Winograd, MS-MVP (Windows Networking)

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com