Server bandwidth test

Jeremy Collake · July 22, 2011, 07:21:05 AM

I am curious to know what the bandwidth of our server is from various routes around the world.

Here is a test file: http://www.prolasso.com/files/test/testbw.zip . It is just some a product installer for developers (phalanger), don't run or use it though it is of no danger. I was too lazy to generate random data.

Please let me know your speed, and where you are located

. Thanks.

TfH · July 22, 2011, 12:59:09 PM

Gives 404 for me :/

HTTP Error 404

We're sorry, this page could not be located. The page may have been moved. Please try searching for it or browsing our main site at http://www.bitsum.com . If this page is normally accessible, it may return to availability in a few minutes.

Requested URL: /files/test/bwtest.zip
Client IP: XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
Referring URL: /files/test/bwtest.zip
Server Name: www.processgovernor.com
Visitor Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:5.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/5.0
Redirect Status Code: 404

Jeremy Collake · July 22, 2011, 01:14:18 PM

Fixed link, sorry.

TfH · July 22, 2011, 02:15:18 PM

No probs

File was so small that dl speed didn't get maxed out

Speed:

Location:
Finland

Jeremy Collake · July 22, 2011, 02:35:33 PM

You get better bandwidth in Finland than I do to the same server from the US. My particular route is really slow to this server, though I am fine to most all other servers. It seems to be an issue with Level3, one point in the route to the server is just overwhelmed.

TfH · July 23, 2011, 12:14:50 PM

Heh, and i thought that my line is dead slow

Jeremy Collake · July 23, 2011, 12:17:14 PM

Strange enough, I'm fast as hell to every other server I can think of. I have 60Mbit downstream, and get it most of the time (or at least several megabytes a second). Oh well ;o. Just goes to show there are congestion areas in our internet routes.

Hotrod · July 23, 2011, 12:39:28 PM

Too bad there wasn't an app that would allow a user to adjust their net route around the traffic jam.

Jeremy Collake · July 23, 2011, 12:44:20 PM

Well, there is, in a way -- send it through a proxy server. And that's as simple as having ANY hosted account with shell access. SSH -D will open up you an SSL tunnel through the server and set up a SOCKS proxy for you to use. I could route through a server I have in Chicago for instance and get megabytes a second from bitsum.com on the west coast... have tried this. As an added benefit, EVERYTHING gets encrypted (at least from you to the proxy). Is a good way to circumvent firewalls and such at workplaces too. So, want your own secure SSL tunnel proxy? Sign up for a cheapo shared account that offers jailed shell (all you need). As long as they don't block this, then you are good to go. You could also use proxy services, but these get blocked as people abuse them, not to mention more limited bandwidth.

Lunarpages said they had Level3 check it and everything seemed fine, but of course Level3 worries only about larger issues and if they are making money. Maybe in a year or two it will suddenly speed up when they add more fiber or something. The thing is that the backbone market when to hell when new multiplexing allowing a crapload more data to go through existing fiber. Dunno that there is that much new fiber even going up these days.

The whole hosting market is a bit flaky really. Almost all hosts now offer shared hosting for almost nothing, intentionally overselling the hell out of it. Offering 'unlimited' bandwidth, disk space, etc... for their *cheapest* plans only, and customers expect what is advertised (though of course there are limits in reality and they'll boot you off if you use too many resources). That's why I went dedicated, that and security. A dedicated Cloud server may be in the future, if I can ever trust it. It allows easy expansion and you pay for bandwidth and CPU resources as you use them (cheaply). For now, and years to come, a physical box is best. Sadly, I didn't get the best deal out there, but have a decent one. They all have these near essential add-ons that bump up the price. You do get what you pay for though.

My biggest concern is if my host goes out of business, though I can transition quickly as I certainly didn't make the mistake of having my domains registered at the same place I do my hosting

Hotrod · July 23, 2011, 12:55:27 PM

Yeah I'm sure you are well equipped to deal with your own traffic issues, as much as that can be done. I am thinking more of something automated. Most home users don't understand proxies well enough to set one up, let alone the time in their busy day to keep such things up to date and working properly. It would be quite usefull to have a background app that would detect slow routes, detect and set up faster proxies for you, and simply do the grunt work invisibly.

Jeremy Collake · July 23, 2011, 12:58:57 PM

Indeed, most people don't live in their tech 'offices' (if that is what you call this place ;p).

Someone did this with FoxyProxy (iirc). Easy to use Firefox extension lets you pay to use any of numerous proxy servers, switch on and off, or per site. Dunno how 'blocked' their proxies are... but someone has tried that. Pretty cheap, and anybody could use it. Would it improve speed though? Who knows, depends on how overwhelmed their proxies are.

Issue is, of course, the abuse... they always get abused to the point of their limits. Many people want proxies to cause mischief, not solve real problems ;o.