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How to Effectively Measure Broadband Speeds?

There will always be claims of product/service superiority among competing companies and the one between Smart and Globe is a classic example. The latest one is the battle between mobile broadband services Globe Tattoo and Smart Bro.

I’m sure a lot of you have seen SmartBro’s latest commercial with Mo Twister in it. If you haven’t, check this YouTube clip:

In the commercial, Smart claims that 9 out of 10 times, SmartBro is faster than the competing brand. In this case it, was implying Globe Tattoo (the blurred footage of the Tattoo USB dongle is pretty obvious). In the trials made by Smart they used Speedtest.net as their benchmark tool of choice.

Not to be outdone, Globe Telecom wants to rebut the claim and says it isn’t so. So Globe commissioned NESIC to do a broadband test for them and showed the results to the media proving otherwise.

The methodology includes both an HTPP Speed Test using 2Wire.com as well as Direct HTTP Download from Download.com and an FTP Speed Test using a 12MB file from a local server. I am sure you know what the results of the study are and who came on top.

What is more interesting is the methodology of the benchmarking they’ve done. In my opinion, using SpeedTest.net is not a reliable way to test broadband speeds, despite it being a popular tool among users. My understanding is that Speedtest.net measures the burst speed of your connection and not the sustained speed or average speed. It means that during the test window, the tool will see variable speeds (that’s while the dial meter fluctuates) and will pick up the fastest it has detected. In some sense, it is a good way to measure the maximum achievable speed of an internet connection but that’s all it does.

Here’s an analogy — imagine a Javelin Thrower in a competition is allowed 3 attempts to get the javelin the farthest. His 3 attempts were 55 feet, 125 feet and 185 feet. If SpeedTest.net were the judge, it will score the athlete a 185 feet rating. If 2Wire.com were the judge, it will give the athlete just 121.67 feet (average of 3 attempts).

So why is Globe saying that Speedtest.net is not reliable? Because it does not take into account consistency. Let’s go back to the Javelin tournament — a second athlete throws with the following distances: 145 feet, 130 feet, 155 feet. If Speedtest.net were the judge, it will give the 2nd athlete a score of 155 feet while 2Wire.com would give it 143.3 feet.

Now, which of the two athletes is the better javelin thrower?

However, there could be a number of external factors that may affect speed test for mobile broadband:

  • Location of the Test Site. The distance of the cell tower from the test site can affect the performance of the benchmark as signal degrades over distance.
  • Signal Strength. This is self-explanatory. Factors include distance, elevation and barriers like buildings or thick walls.
  • Connection Mode. Connection mode (GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA) sometimes switches depending on which tower is servicing the connection.
  • Time of the Day. Networks could get congested depending on the time of the day when a lot of users are using the network.

Rather than using benchmark tools, I’d rather propose some real-world measurements:

  • Download a movie file using Bittorent. A 600MB file downloaded in about 4 hours will give you a speed of 44KB/s or 350Kbps. Longer download times will give us a better picture of the network’s consistency.
  • Streaming with YouTube HD. Streaming a 10-minute HD video on YouTube will also provide live bandwidth performance of the connection. This can be augmented with a YouTube upload of a 100MB file to see upstream speeds.
  • iTunes Download. What I used to do is download 3 video podcasts simultaneously on iTunes and record the incoming bandwidth using NetMeter. This will show sustained download speeds (like the one shown below).

Who has the biggest subscriber base? Who has the widest coverage? Who has the fastest mobile broadband service? Any one of them can claim these but ultimately it is the users’ commulative experience that will decide which is more reliable.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

76 Responses

  1. Avatar for SpeedDemon SpeedDemon says:

    Sana Eastern Communications would come up with a USB broadband access too. You will never go wrong with them.

  2. Avatar for v3xat10n v3xat10n says:

    in my case, smart is the fastest due to strong signal, but i hate smart, mag nanakaw kasi ng load… how i wish na malakas signal ng sun dito

  3. Avatar for Kyle Kyle says:

    Iba kac ang Broadband Speed sa Transfer Rate or download speed. I’ve read a comment before na 200-250kbps lang something. I think may point dun ung sun cell kac most users nagsasabi or iniisip na kung 2mbps ang broadband speed eh 2mbps din ung speed na makikita pag nag dodownload sila. Which is wrong, Transfer rate po un hndi un ung broadband speed. Hindi ko lang talga alam kung bakit ba talga 2mbps ang pinapakita tapos ang transfer rate eh hndi naman tugma sa broadband speed,napaka misleadng.Regarding sa post na to, agree ako sa sinsabi ni sir yuga. hndi talga reliable ang speedtest.net when it comes to getting the average speed of an internet connection

  4. Avatar for Cmdr73 Cmdr73 says:

    para makakuha ako ng pinaka accurate bandwidth test gumagamit ako ng bandwidth monitoring + by using the testmy.net set at 50mb download test then compare the result of bandwidth monitoring and testmy.net that they are too close almost 95% accurate i think

  5. Avatar for Ernie Ernie says:

    I got dizzy with all the comments regarding broadband speed. What I did gather from all those comments is the importance of location. So eto na lng, I live in Project 8, QC. Has anyone tried all three telcos (Sun, Smart, Globe)in this area? Ano pinakamabilis? I’m planning to get Sun, but I want to be sure. Can anyone help me out?

  6. Avatar for Neil Neil says:

    I think the better way to test the speed of the connection is to do an actual test on both smartbro and globetatoo and see which one is faster and better

  7. Avatar for llewon17 llewon17 says:

    Agree to the fact that Speedtest.net gets the maximum bandwidth obtained. BUT USING 2WIRE.COM OTHERWISE???? I DON’T THINK SO… 2Wire.com is much more not reliable in checking for speedtests. Our company has a 12Mbps speed yet 2wire measured it @ 25Mbps. Is that what you called reliable as the article suggests??? THINK AGAIN, MEN!!!

  8. Avatar for biggie9385 biggie9385 says:

    i really like the congress to investigate this “up to #mbps” style of the ISPs. This is another big scam in the level of the lagacy banks. Hehehehe! I noticed that everytime i call Smart hotline, they will try to have me test using speedtest.net. But last time, I let them have their choice. I tested my speed thru speedtest.net connected to QC server and it really reported a very slow connection. The next thing the tech support guys (not the robot script reading support) asked me to do was test using the Singapore server. I was shocked because, QC is nearer to my place than Singapore. :D Luckily, very slow pa rin. :D Right now, I can ask Smart to call me the next day when I have a slow connection. And they really call me. Hehehehe!

  9. Avatar for simplynice93 simplynice93 says:

    I have working as a network and computer technician for quite some time now. Let me advice you all about the truth in broadband internet here in the Philippines.
    When ISPs (Smart, PLDT, Globe, etc.) offer up to 2Mbps or 5 Mbps, they are actually telling you is the PIR (Peak Information Rate). But what you really need to know is the CIR (Committed Information Rate). What is the CIR? It is the average bandwidth guaranteed by your ISP under “normal” conditions. “Normal” means peak hours internet speed (usually daytime). Ask your ISP about your CIR speed. Magugulat kayo lahat! It’s usually 128kbps (or 258kbps) if you choose the basic plan. Sobrang bagal! Hope that helps! :-)

  10. Avatar for The Teknisyan The Teknisyan says:

    very well explained… plus the commercial of smartbro… still has a lot of factor to consider… like signal and location.

    Anyhow… thanks for a very informative post!!!

  11. Avatar for Lezuric Lezuric says:

    I actually have both Smart and Globe internet kit.. Im from Gumaca in Quezon Province.. all I can say is.. they’re both slow and really useless here in our place. I get less than 56kbps.. :> not really good even for facebook.

  12. Avatar for Calvin Calvin says:

    dapat talaga mobile broadband providers will give a money back guarantee pag di satisfied sa service.

    oo nga pala, nice long post for somebody who’s in bicol. wala bang magawa dyan? hehehe.

  13. Avatar for Jhong Medina Jhong Medina says:

    Very informative Yuga. I’ve tested sun, globe, and smart… in terms of speed it will really vary on areas. There are areas where Sun will be faster that globe and smart. Bottom line, before buying those internet provider, you should survey your area, try asking your neighbor about there experience.

  14. Avatar for deuts deuts says:

    Very well said Yuga. It all boils down to user experience. I have tried both (Smart/Globe), actually I own both, and depende talaga sa lugar.

    @petken, 200-250Kbps, I think that’s already fast enough! Gusto mo ba ng 0?

  15. Avatar for IC DeaDPiPoL IC DeaDPiPoL says:

    When it comes to torrents Sun will fail, else its far more stable compared to the other two (using a Nokia phone as a modem Globe had pretty spotty connectivity while Smart often suffered from random times where no data would be flowing)

    Sun > Smart Bro > Globe

  16. Avatar for nanayMo nanayMo says:

    Advertising and Gullibility are corresponding ends of the consumer meter. There is no such thing as “truth” in advertising. If ever, it only gets twisted and the celebrity endorser (BTW, I hate Mo Twister)has nothing substantial to offer save flashing his teeth.

    User experience (mine)with mobile broadband hovers between stomping that dongle underfoot and impaling those advertisers along with their toothy endorsers. XD….XD….XD

  17. Avatar for petken petken says:

    Sun is not reliable. I’ve been using it for a month now and consistent speed that I get is only 200-250Kbps. Usually during the 1st few minutes, my speed is faster but after 20-30minutes of surfing the speed is consistent at 200-250Kbps. I tried calling Sun but the CSRs are always saying the same scripted answers for slow connections and that 200-250Kbps is a tolerable speed. Sabi ko akala ko ba up to 2Mbps plus I have full HSPA signal and they just kept on saying the same old script of the factors affecting the speed etc everytime I call. I think the telcos should not be advertising “UP TO” 2Mbps/1Mbps/512Kbps/384Kbps/etc because it is like fooling everyone. They should state the right speed that they could only provide. They should advertise “AS LOW AS” 1Mbps/512Kbps/384Kbps/etc.

  18. Avatar for Marky Marky says:

    Sure, go for Sun. They say it’s upto 2MBps but the heck, akalain mong tama sila. 2MBps BURSTABLE SPEED. Inconsistent, it will just eat up your load. Like from 150kbps download speed, it will continue to deteriorate until it reaches 0. And kahit isang profile picture sa facebook di ka maka-upload. Iyak ang mga may DSLRs sa SBW.

    At our province, (which happens to be Ilocos) Globe wins hands down. Although I think di pa ako nakakasagap ng HSDPA signal, malakas ang HSUPA signal and consistent given na our ancestral house is located on a valley, beside 2 mountains (who knows kung may cellsite ang globe sa bundok haha).

    Never tried Smart Bro Plug-it. Aside from my bad experience sa Smart Bro Canopy nila, wala pang free unlitxt for every 30 load haha

  19. Avatar for drew drew says:

    sakin mas accurate ung 2wire and i lyk their new homepage. hehe depende yan talaga sa lugar e ang dami kasind interference now a days..

  20. Avatar for PinayOnlineMoneyMaker PinayOnlineMoneyMaker says:

    I completely agree with you. I knew that SpeedTest is not reliable because it only measures burst speeds. That’s why when I first saw that commercial, I was like, they’re lying to everyone! Most probably, they used PLDT test sites, which obviously will give them faster speed because they’re in the same network.

    From reports and observations from my friends and people I know, though, I’ve heard more complaints against Globe Tattoo than Smart.

    And, yeah, it will really depend on where you are. In our place in Cebu, Smart Bro has better signal than Globe Tattoo.

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