- Joined
- Jan 17, 2001
- Messages
- 8,629
- Reaction score
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Dear all,
Our local ISPs advertise internet plans with fantastic numbers for us. However, as we all know, Singapore isn't a country where content is locally produced - a lot of content we consume come from overseas and hence are bottlenecked at the international exchanges.
Not everything is mirrored locally (it's impossible to download the whole of the internet, if you think about it), so more often than not we find our traffic going over the international pipes.
Thought of starting an initiative to collate some real-world speed tests over a period of time so that we can make an informed choice of ISPs for those who are planning to recontract or are looking for an ISP. This will be on a purely international traffic performance basis.
Remember: our local speed test results do not give us the real truth. Also, they are optimised traffic to the speed test servers, so again aren't very accurate representations.
As this effort depends on a large collaboration, I would suggest that we try and keep it to a fairly universal standard layout so that we can all have a pool of real results to compare. It's not about getting the fastest, but really about getting the best money for your buck. There is no point signing up for 2Gbps, 10Gbps, or even 1Gbps plans if our real speeds are much, much lower than that. Now with the economy getting worryingly bad, every dollar saved can be put to other expenses for the family!
As with anything, screenshots are appreciated so we can see real results. I would suggest that, given the nature of IP assignments these days, that you redact your IP address to protect yourself. But it is up to you.
As such:
1) State your ISP
2) State your plan
3) Date/Day/time of test - this is for statistical information.
4) Screenshots of tests with various countries.
5) I randomly selected the following servers: USA (Comcast San Francisco), Japan (Rakuten Tokyo), Canada (Bell Mobility, Vancouver, BC), UK (Jump Networks Ltd, London), Hong Kong (China Mobile), Thailand (AIS Fibre Bangkok), Malaysia (U Mobile, Kuala Lumpur), Australia (Optus, Melbourne), Korea (kdatacentre, Seoul)
6) Any comments you may wish to add.
Speed test servers from www.speedtest.net. The native Windows app does not allow you to select most other servers to do international tests. Feel free to suggest new servers to test so we can get more optimal results.
===
Updates.
Revision 2.1:
Thanks to a massive contribution from fellow forumer @xiaofan and some tinkering, we've moved to using the command line interface to automate testing.
https://www.speedtest.net/apps/cli
For now, the tentative Linux/macOS shell script and Windows BAT file. It exports a file results-YYYYmmdd.csv, and we can open the file using the attached MS Excel File that automates the formatting process. Open it, go to Data -> Refresh. Select your exported CSV and it should automatically fill and format the data. Go to Alternate tab, copy/paste in HWZ. Done.
Server list is a random selection from around the globe.
Linux/macOS Version:
Windows csvspdt.bat
Link to Excel file: https://disk.yandex.com/i/VGCa8eMQvb1DBw , https://file.io/42mZP6Gf84DD
Open it, go to Data -> Refresh. Select your exported CSV and it should automatically fill and format the data. Go to Alternate tab, copy/paste in HWZ. Done.
Edit log
- 16/3/22 Added China servers.
Our local ISPs advertise internet plans with fantastic numbers for us. However, as we all know, Singapore isn't a country where content is locally produced - a lot of content we consume come from overseas and hence are bottlenecked at the international exchanges.
Not everything is mirrored locally (it's impossible to download the whole of the internet, if you think about it), so more often than not we find our traffic going over the international pipes.
Thought of starting an initiative to collate some real-world speed tests over a period of time so that we can make an informed choice of ISPs for those who are planning to recontract or are looking for an ISP. This will be on a purely international traffic performance basis.
Remember: our local speed test results do not give us the real truth. Also, they are optimised traffic to the speed test servers, so again aren't very accurate representations.
As this effort depends on a large collaboration, I would suggest that we try and keep it to a fairly universal standard layout so that we can all have a pool of real results to compare. It's not about getting the fastest, but really about getting the best money for your buck. There is no point signing up for 2Gbps, 10Gbps, or even 1Gbps plans if our real speeds are much, much lower than that. Now with the economy getting worryingly bad, every dollar saved can be put to other expenses for the family!
As with anything, screenshots are appreciated so we can see real results. I would suggest that, given the nature of IP assignments these days, that you redact your IP address to protect yourself. But it is up to you.
As such:
1) State your ISP
2) State your plan
3) Date/Day/time of test - this is for statistical information.
4) Screenshots of tests with various countries.
5) I randomly selected the following servers: USA (Comcast San Francisco), Japan (Rakuten Tokyo), Canada (Bell Mobility, Vancouver, BC), UK (Jump Networks Ltd, London), Hong Kong (China Mobile), Thailand (AIS Fibre Bangkok), Malaysia (U Mobile, Kuala Lumpur), Australia (Optus, Melbourne), Korea (kdatacentre, Seoul)
6) Any comments you may wish to add.
Speed test servers from www.speedtest.net. The native Windows app does not allow you to select most other servers to do international tests. Feel free to suggest new servers to test so we can get more optimal results.
===
Updates.
Revision 2.1:
Thanks to a massive contribution from fellow forumer @xiaofan and some tinkering, we've moved to using the command line interface to automate testing.
https://www.speedtest.net/apps/cli
For now, the tentative Linux/macOS shell script and Windows BAT file. It exports a file results-YYYYmmdd.csv, and we can open the file using the attached MS Excel File that automates the formatting process. Open it, go to Data -> Refresh. Select your exported CSV and it should automatically fill and format the data. Go to Alternate tab, copy/paste in HWZ. Done.
Server list is a random selection from around the globe.
Linux/macOS Version:
Code:
# csvspdt.sh
#!/bin/bash
# exports to YYYY/mm/results-YYYYmmdd.csv in subfolder.
mkdir -p ./results/`date +'%Y'`/`date +'%m'`
RS=./results/`date +'%Y'`/`date +'%m'`/results-`date +'%Y%m%d'`.csv
# Singtel
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps --output-header -s13623 > $RS
# ViewQuest SG
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s2054 >> $RS
# PT FirstMedia - Singapore
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s7556 >> $RS
# Comcast - Sacramento, CA
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s9436 >> $RS
# Spectrum - Los Angeles, CA
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s16974 >> $RS
# University of Texas, Austin - Austin, TX
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s16089 >> $RS
# Optus - Melbourne, AU
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s30932 >> $RS
# Misaka Network Inc - Tokyo, JP
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s44988 >> $RS
# SIMPLYCONNECT - Dar es Salaam
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s13902 >> $RS
# Celcom Axiata - Kuala Lumpur
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s4956 >> $RS
# Bell Mobility - Vancouver, BC
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s17402 >> $RS
# Telstra International - HK
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s44340 >> $RS
# ChinaTelecom 5G - Guangzhou, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s27594 >> $RS
# ChinaTelecom - Shanghai, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s3633 >> $RS
# ChinaUnicom - YunNam, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s39012 >> $RSWindows csvspdt.bat
Code:
@echo off
:: Create results subdirectory if it does not exist
if not exist "results\" mkdir results
:: Define the filename variable
set RS=.\results\results-%date:~10,4%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%.csv
:: Singtel
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps --output-header -s13623 > %RS%
:: ViewQuest SG
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s2054 >> %RS%
:: PT FirstMedia - Singapore
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s7556 >> %RS%
:: Comcast - Sacramento, CA
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s9436 >> %RS%
:: Spectrum - Los Angeles, CA
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s16974 >> %RS%
:: University of Texas, Austin - Austin, TX
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s16089 >> %RS%
:: Optus - Melbourne, AU
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s30932 >> %RS%
:: Misaka Network Inc - Tokyo, JP
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s44988 >> %RS%
:: SIMPLYCONNECT - Dar es Salaam
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s13902 >> %RS%
:: Celcom Axiata - Kuala Lumpur
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s4956 >> %RS%
:: Bell Mobility - Vancouver, BC
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s17402 >> %RS%
:: Telstra International - HK
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s44340 >> %RS%
:: ChinaTelecom 5G - Guangzhou, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s27594 >> %RS%
:: ChinaTelecom - Shanghai, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s3633 >> %RS%
:: ChinaUnicom - YunNam, CN
speedtest -fcsv -uMbps -s39012 >> %RS%Link to Excel file: https://disk.yandex.com/i/VGCa8eMQvb1DBw , https://file.io/42mZP6Gf84DD
Open it, go to Data -> Refresh. Select your exported CSV and it should automatically fill and format the data. Go to Alternate tab, copy/paste in HWZ. Done.
Edit log
- 16/3/22 Added China servers.
Last edited:
