Broadband speed - am I being conned?

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I have Virgin fibre broadband M250.

I've checked the speed via "Sppedtest" as well as Google's own speechecker and, for some reason, get two different results for the upload time.

Speedtest is 245MBps download / 8.51MBps upload
Google is 230MBps download / 0.45MBps upload

Why such a big difference in upload speeds?

For background - the broadband cable connects to router in the lounge. Then we have approx 4 TP-Link AC1900 wi-fi extenders around the house . one is in my study and my PC connects to the AC1900 via ethernet.

We have 3/4 people working from home and whilst Zoom/Teams stutters sometimes overall I have no problem. However one of my kids is a software engineer and he complains about the upload speed.

TL:DR why would there be such a difference in upload speeds? Is it likely to be a Virgin media issue or a "Wi Fi in the house" issue?

Thanks in advance

[simon_harris]

the speedtest is usually best done with a direct wired connection to the virgin router, anything else is suffering from the in house connection.

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simon_harris said:

the speedtest is usually best done with a direct wired connection to the virgin router, anything else is suffering from the in house connection.

i thought so too but my know-it-all son disagrees.

However i'd still expect consistency between the two tests if they are run from the same device/location?

[Your Dad]

What results to you get testing directly from the VM Connect app?

[Motorman74]

Best way to test it is connected via a gigabit capable wired device attached directly to the router, and use fast.com - it gives by far the most consistent results in my experience.

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Your Dad said:

What results to you get testing directly from the VM Connect app?

That's a new one on me. I assume this is on the App Store?

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Motorman74 said:

Best way to test it is connected via a gigabit capable wired device attached directly to the router, and use fast.com - it gives by far the most consistent results in my experience.

I agree. I just need to find a spare ethernet cable

[Your Dad]

Countdown said:

Your Dad said:

What results to you get testing directly from the VM Connect app?

That's a new one on me. I assume this is on the App Store?

Yes. Also lets you test speed internally room by room.

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Your Dad said:

Yes. Also lets you test speed internally room by room.

cheers - will give it a bash

[megaphone]

The upload should be about 10% of the download speed, you should get 25Mbps up. As mentioned, the only way to test properly is with a cable into the router.

I pay for 150 but often get 250 Mbps.

Edited by megaphone on Thursday 23 November 16:30

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Yep - speedtest is giving me similar to those figures. It's Google's OWN version of the broadband speedchecker that's telling me my upload speed is 500kbps.

[Hoofy]

Countdown said:

simon_harris said:

the speedtest is usually best done with a direct wired connection to the virgin router, anything else is suffering from the in house connection.

i thought so too but my know-it-all son disagrees.

However i'd still expect consistency between the two tests if they are run from the same device/location?

Different servers used?

As for your son, tell him to stand at the end of the garden then.

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Hoofy said:

Different servers used?

Good point.

ETA - wouldn't that also affect download speed?

Hoofy said:

As for your son, tell him to stand at the end of the garden then.

I would but he's bigger than me

[Hoofy]

Countdown said:

Hoofy said:

Different servers used?

Good point.

ETA - wouldn't that also affect download speed?

Hoofy said:

As for your son, tell him to stand at the end of the garden then.

I would but he's bigger than me

Run the google one again. Might have been an anomoly because someone was uploading something.

Well, move your router to the end of the garden, then. Do I have to think of everything?

[bitchstewie]

Your son doesn't know it all

Connect directly to the router using a cable as that way you're testing the internet connection at the point your ISP hand it off to you and bypassing all the stuff you're responsible for inside your house.

[Your Dad]

I’m on the M250 product, Speedtest app on iOS reports back 273Mbps download speed, VM Connect app reports identical speed. Google gives me 254Mbps.

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Your Dad said:

I’m on the M250 product, Speedtest app on iOS reports back 273Mbps download speed, VM Connect app reports identical speed. Google gives me 254Mbps.

Downloads speed are fine. It's only the upload speed and only on Google's speedcheck

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Hoofy said:

Run the google one again. Might have been an anomoly because someone was uploading something.

Well, move your router to the end of the garden, then. Do I have to think of everything?

Ran it again - same result.

If I move the router to the bottom of the garden the CCTV stops working and I won't get an alert when the pizza delivery gets here

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

I work for Virgin and only ever use speedest as ive never found googles speedtes to be accurate, heres a comparison of the 2 when I just ran them.

[megaphone]

Countdown said:

Your Dad said:

I’m on the M250 product, Speedtest app on iOS reports back 273Mbps download speed, VM Connect app reports identical speed. Google gives me 254Mbps.

Downloads speed are fine. It's only the upload speed and only on Google's speedcheck

Your upload is not as good as it should be, you should be getting 25Mbps