Does shaping affect your speedtest results???

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Gboss

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Like the topic asks, if your service is shaped will that affect your speedtest results?

My theory is that it shouldn't affect your speedtest results since its your protocols like P2P and NNTP that will be shaped. Based on when I was with MWEB I'd always get a result of 0.7MB to 0.8MB on speedtest (I had a 1MB line and account at the time) yet my NNTP downloads never exceeded more that 60kbps during office. Obviously shaping being applied to the NNTP protocol.

If your connection is throttled then I expect your speedtest results will show the throttled speed.

I only ask because I have a friend (wont mention ISP) who's speedtest results during the day are between 0.7 and 2.2MB yet after 5pm the speed test results show 3.5MB. Daytime downloads are terrible yet after 5PM he gets around 400kbps.

Any input would be greatly appreciated, we just trying to troubleshoot the problem.
 
HTTP can also be shaped. Shaping doesn't mean that it will only be on P2P and file sharing protocols only that protocols have different priorities and will get shaped according to the network load or shaping policy.
 
@DrJohnZoidberg - I am aware that HTTP can be shaped as well but why are the speedtest results so bad? I can understand that using speedtest probably uses an HTTP download and upload to test the speed but surely the results should never be that bad unless the account is being throttled. HTTP is also shaped way less than other protocols.

Why is it then that after 5 are the results back to what they should be? I read on a thread on MYBB that bsuggests that ISP's prioritise traffic for speedtest.net, I dunno how true this is though.

Maybe we can get some speedtests results posted and which ISP you using, results before 5 and after would be great for comparison purposes.
 
Gboss said:
@DrJohnZoidberg - I am aware that HTTP can be shaped as well but why are the speedtest results so bad? I can understand that using speedtest probably uses an HTTP download and upload to test the speed but surely the results should never be that bad unless the account is being throttled. HTTP is also shaped way less than other protocols.

Why is it then that after 5 are the results back to what they should be? I read on a thread on MYBB that bsuggests that ISP's prioritise traffic for speedtest.net, I dunno how true this is though.

Maybe we can get some speedtests results posted and which ISP you using, results before 5 and after would be great for comparison purposes.
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Speedtests do indeed use HTTP.

It also depends a lot on what type of account we are talking about. If we are talking regular consumer account then shaping will come down significantly after 5 as that is when priority on business accounts will be lowered as load decreases. You also get different types consumer accounts, some will perform better than others and obviously you'll pay a premium to get priority during business hours.
 
MickZA said:
Could be exchange congestion which diminishes outside of business hours.
Click to expand...

He stays down the road from me and we both on the same exchange, the only difference is our ISP's. I dont experience any of the fluctuating speedtest results he does.

I told him to try another ISP but he's a heavy user and he's afraid of being throttled. I suggested TI but he pulls in excess of 400Gb's a month and on TI he'd be throttled after 350.
 
Gboss said:
@DrJohnZoidberg - I am aware that HTTP can be shaped as well but why are the speedtest results so bad? I can understand that using speedtest probably uses an HTTP download and upload to test the speed but surely the results should never be that bad unless the account is being throttled. HTTP is also shaped way less than other protocols.

Why is it then that after 5 are the results back to what they should be? I read on a thread on MYBB that bsuggests that ISP's prioritise traffic for speedtest.net, I dunno how true this is though.

Maybe we can get some speedtests results posted and which ISP you using, results before 5 and after would be great for comparison purposes.
Click to expand...

Your friend probably has some throttling going on.

ISP's usually give speedtest a higher priority so they always look good.
 
@DrJohnZoidberg & @MickZA

What ISP's are you guys on and what is your account speed? Can you post a speedtest and give me an idea of the download rates you get (on P2P, NNTP and HTTP) before business and after business hours.

I'm trying to find the correlation between the speedtest results and the hectic shaping/throttling.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) I can't use my account as a barometer since I almost always get 1.7MB and 200kbps download regardless of download type :( [:)]
 
Chevron said:
Your friend probably has some throttling going on.

ISP's usually give speedtest a higher priority so they always look good.
Click to expand...


This is what I read too and it would appear as such. My friend has emailed his ISP support and got the usual "we don't throttle, we only shape" story.....

I'm a server administrator and I might not know enough about networking but it sure looks like throttling not shaping
 
Gboss said:
What ISP's are you guys on and what is your account speed? Can you post a speedtest and give me an idea of the download rates you get (on P2P, NNTP and HTTP) before business and after business hours.
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TI 4Mbps Uncapped on a 6Mbps line and I can pretty much max out on all protocols anytime (even last month when I went "orange" on the TI Tracker).

Local
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2699182981.png

International - Milton Keynes UK
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2699186142.png
 
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Well, there is also contention to consider. ADSL is a shared resource, and may underperform even if there is no shaping or throttling.
 
MickZA said:
TI 4Mbps Uncapped on a 6Mbps line and I can pretty much max out on all protocols anytime (even last month when I went "orange" on the TI Tracker).

Local
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2699182981.png

International - Milton Keynes UK
http://www.speedtest.net/result/2699186142.png
Click to expand...

Damn dude those are some impressive results!
Makes me wanna call Ti and upgrade to 4MB right now LOL

But sorry your results have to be excluded from the comparison.

Food for thought, how is it that Ti can offer an unshaped experience to us yet other ISP's cant?

Ti uncapped is awesome, so long as you don't hit the Red Power user zone....
 
Gatecrasher said:
Well, there is also contention to consider. ADSL is a shared resource, and may underperform even if there is no shaping or throttling.
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Agreed. Unshaped is a contended service and speeds are never guaranteed but FFS why is it that after 5 (almost to the exact hour and minute) does contention suddenly not become an issue???
 
Gboss said:
Agreed. Unshaped is a contended service and speeds are never guaranteed but FFS why is it that after 5 (almost to the exact hour and minute) does contention suddenly not become an issue???
Click to expand...

Well, on my Openweb Gold account, it certainly does feel like a switch gets flicked on at 8am and flicked off at 5pm, Moday to Friday.
 
Gatecrasher said:
Well, on my Openweb Gold account, it certainly does feel like a switch gets flicked on at 8am and flicked off at 5pm, Moday to Friday.
Click to expand...

I still dont get the Gold account thing yet. Why sign up for a premium Gold account yet there seems to be no benefit over the Silver or Standard account?
If you look over at the OW thread it would seem like the Gold accounts are getting hit the hardest with business hours shaping.
Just something I noticed thats all

EDIT: Isn't Gold accounts supposed to have less shaping/contention? Thats why you paying more right??
 
All true, sadly. It never used to be as bad as in the last month or two.. And that's why I've cancelled.
 
Gatecrasher said:
All true, sadly. It never used to be as bad as in the last month or two.. And that's why I've cancelled.
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Sadly it would appear that the OW Gold accounts are not what they used to be. But right on, complain with your wallet and take your business elsewhere. Such a shame because OW is one of the best ISP's out there.

Where will you be getting your Internet fix from now?
 
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It seems no1 wants to post any speedtest results here, except MickZA who's banned LOL
 
Gboss said:
Sadly it would appear that the OW Gold accounts are not what they used to be. But right on, complain with your wallet and take your business elsewhere. Such a shame because OW is one of the best ISP's out there.

Where will you be getting your Internet fix from now?
Click to expand...

Still got 3 weeks to make up my mind. Probably Afrihost or Telkom.
 
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