FCC releases Internet speed test tool

FCC releases Internet speed test tool
WASHINGTON
Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:18pm EST
(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday launched a broadband test service to help consumers clock the speed of their Internet.

TECHNOLOGY

Located at the site www.broadband.gov, the test is aimed at allowing consumers to compare their actual speeds with the speeds advertised by their providers.

The FCC release follows an FCC meeting in September where officials said that actual speeds were estimated to lag by as much as 50 percent during busy hours.

"The FCC's new digital tools will arm users with real-time information about their broadband connection and the agency with useful data about service across the country," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

The FCC is also collecting information about where broadband is not available. Consumers can email the FCC at fccinfo@fcc.gov or call the FCC.

My results:






I have the Verizon 30/5 package.

Verizon has a speed test too

http://www2.verizon.net/micro/speedtest/hsi/

Quite a range using 3 different tests.

Try speedtest.net

You actually see where to you're testing your bandwidth and you have the option to try what is e.g. your bandwidth to London or Tokyo.

Very consistent with the FCC's site.




My ISP's (Verizon) test site is the worst!

Tested to Ireland!

If you do a traceroute to some odd site, you get an idea how the bit travels:

iMac:~ ojala$ traceroute www.nyc.gov
traceroute to prtl-drprd-web.nyc.gov (167.153.240.51), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 172.17.2.254 (172.17.2.254) 0.513 ms 0.200 ms 0.220 ms
2 helso1.fi.elisa.net (88.114.224.1) 398.444 ms 57.046 ms 30.519 ms
3 ge0-1-0.helso-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.16.93) 4.953 ms 14.736 ms 5.170 ms
4 ae8.helpa-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.201) 4.840 ms 4.971 ms 4.859 ms
5 ae2.heltli-gw1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.246) 17.975 ms 5.369 ms 4.927 ms
6 ae1-10.bbr2.hel1.fi.eunetip.net (213.192.191.49) 4.929 ms 5.213 ms 5.168 ms
7 as0-0.bbr1.sto1.se.eunetip.net (213.192.191.210) 11.299 ms 11.423 ms 12.110 ms
8 213.242.110.169 (213.242.110.169) 11.525 ms 41.903 ms 11.260 ms
9 ae-2-5.bar1.copenhagen1.level3.net (4.69.140.198) 88.263 ms 25.773 ms 25.879 ms
10 ae-7-7.ebr1.dusseldorf1.level3.net (4.69.142.170) 38.139 ms 37.513 ms 37.871 ms
11 ae-2-2.ebr2.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.132.138) 40.626 ms 85.180 ms 41.321 ms
12 ae-41-41.ebr2.washington1.level3.net (4.69.137.50) 131.896 ms
ae-42-42.ebr2.washington1.level3.net (4.69.137.54) 131.235 ms
ae-44-44.ebr2.washington1.level3.net (4.69.137.62) 132.505 ms
13 ae-62-62.csw1.washington1.level3.net (4.69.134.146) 130.567 ms
ae-92-92.csw4.washington1.level3.net (4.69.134.158) 131.356 ms 135.733 ms
14 ae-4-99.edge1.washington4.level3.net (4.68.17.210) 132.308 ms
ae-1-69.edge1.washington4.level3.net (4.68.17.18) 132.408 ms 132.862 ms
15 4.68.62.30 (4.68.62.30) 130.148 ms
4.68.62.34 (4.68.62.34) 132.910 ms
4.68.62.30 (4.68.62.30) 131.541 ms
16 cr2.wswdc.ip.att.net (12.122.84.82) 192.657 ms 121.837 ms 138.877 ms
17 cr2.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.3.37) 154.011 ms 126.909 ms 121.206 ms
18 12.122.115.94 (12.122.115.94) 147.569 ms 121.961 ms 123.117 ms
19 gar20.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.130.237) 147.171 ms 150.586 ms 151.714 ms

iMac:~ ojala$ traceroute www.newyork.com
traceroute to www.newyork.com (208.109.238.206), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 172.17.2.254 (172.17.2.254) 0.702 ms 0.206 ms 0.187 ms
2 helso1.fi.elisa.net (88.114.224.1) 530.468 ms 10.030 ms 5.389 ms
3 ge0-1-0.helso-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.16.93) 5.396 ms 5.281 ms 4.897 ms
4 ae8.helpa-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.201) 6.175 ms 10.599 ms 5.108 ms
5 ae2.heltli-gw1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.246) 5.152 ms 4.732 ms 4.946 ms
6 ae1-10.bbr2.hel1.fi.eunetip.net (213.192.191.49) 5.056 ms 4.898 ms 4.928 ms
7 so0-0-0-0.bbr1.ldn1.uk.eunetip.net (213.192.191.178) 48.029 ms 47.803 ms 47.740 ms
8 ge-3-3-0.mpr1.lhr3.uk.above.net (195.66.226.76) 48.013 ms 48.396 ms 71.951 ms
9 ge-4-2-0.mpr1.lhr3.uk.above.net (64.125.27.157) 49.011 ms 48.989 ms 48.718 ms
10 so-1-0-0.mpr1.lhr2.uk.above.net (64.125.28.38) 48.785 ms 48.148 ms 54.180 ms
11 so-0-1-0.mpr1.dca2.us.above.net (64.125.27.57) 121.440 ms 121.152 ms 121.910 ms
12 ge-2-0-0.mpr3.iah1.us.above.net (64.125.25.114) 147.802 ms 147.195 ms 190.418 ms
13 xe-1-1-0.mpr4.phx2.us.above.net (64.125.28.73) 171.163 ms 171.207 ms 191.402 ms
14 xe-1-0-0.mpr3.phx2.us.above.net (64.125.27.97) 170.227 ms 170.781 ms 171.419 ms
15 64.124.196.38.allocated.above.net (64.124.196.38) 171.264 ms 171.294 ms 170.544 ms
16 ip-208-109-112-153.ip.secureserver.net (208.109.112.153) 171.015 ms 171.369 ms 170.525 ms
17 ip-208-109-112-142.ip.secureserver.net (208.109.112.142) 214.107 ms 171.581 ms 171.438 ms
18 ip-216-69-188-77.ip.secureserver.net (216.69.188.77) 170.446 ms 170.506 ms 170.698 ms
19 ip-208-109-112-6.ip.secureserver.net (208.109.112.6) 171.463 ms^C

iMac:~ ojala$ traceroute www.nytimes.com
traceroute to www.nytimes.com (199.239.136.200), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 172.17.2.254 (172.17.2.254) 0.396 ms 0.195 ms 0.190 ms
2 helso1.fi.elisa.net (88.114.224.1) 6.261 ms 4.965 ms 5.430 ms
3 ge0-1-0.helso-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.16.93) 5.668 ms 5.408 ms 5.372 ms
4 ae8.helpa-p1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.201) 5.180 ms 5.458 ms 30.251 ms
5 ae2.heltli-gw1.fi.elisa.net (139.97.6.246) 66.508 ms 14.510 ms 4.875 ms
6 ae1-10.bbr2.hel1.fi.eunetip.net (213.192.191.49) 5.115 ms 18.286 ms *
7 as0-0.bbr1.sto1.se.eunetip.net (213.192.191.210) 12.719 ms 11.737 ms 12.053 ms
8 213.242.110.169 (213.242.110.169) 19.007 ms 11.866 ms 11.518 ms
9 ae-2-5.bar1.copenhagen1.level3.net (4.69.140.198) 79.103 ms 26.524 ms 26.368 ms
10 ae-7-7.ebr1.dusseldorf1.level3.net (4.69.142.170) 38.426 ms 38.253 ms 39.160 ms
11 ae-2-2.ebr2.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.132.138) 44.568 ms 41.525 ms 41.669 ms
12 ae-72-72.csw2.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.140.22) 46.563 ms
ae-62-62.csw1.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.140.18) 75.612 ms
ae-82-82.csw3.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.69.140.26) 54.607 ms
13 ae-4-99.edge6.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.68.23.206) 42.098 ms
ae-1-69.edge6.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.68.23.14) 42.341 ms
ae-2-79.edge6.frankfurt1.level3.net (4.68.23.78) 42.530 ms
14 * * *
15 ae-1.r20.frnkge03.de.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.5.229) 38.910 ms 39.794 ms 97.808 ms
16 as-0.r22.londen03.uk.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.2.226) 52.570 ms 52.864 ms 52.911 ms
17 as-0.r20.nycmny01.us.bb.gin.ntt.net (129.250.3.254) 112.664 ms 112.679 ms 113.067 ms
18 * * *
19 ge-1-1.a00.nycmny01.us.da.verio.net (129.250.30.113) 144.280 ms 179.984 ms 142.686 ms
20 * * *