How reliable is the “speed test” for internet?

[Analogous]

How does this work? How accurate is this?
I find drop outs and freezes (only with Amazon Prime) happening occasionally over WiFi and immediately afterwards starting the Speedtest shows decent up and download speeds…
I can think of an explanation. Grateful for help and guidance on this

 

[vishalrao]

Speed tests (fast.com and speedtest.net) are mostly a scam IMO haha.

I too face amazon (prime and music) stalls/hangs sometimes quite regularly, but very less with other services like NF, YT etc.

My hunch (I'm a software developer) is that amazon apps are not handling the occasional "drop outs" from our internet connections properly... It needs to retry your current operation (like starting a movie/song, or moving to next one, or fast-forward/rewind/seeking etc) and also have a smaller "time out" - meaning if the internet does not respond then the app needs to retry the connection quickly without waiting too long for the current one to complete or fail, etc.

It's a sad state of affairs that even though we supposedly have top-notch "optical fiber" internet connectivity these days in terms of speed and responsiveness, the reality is that your internet connection is not as fast or reliable as your internet provider claims.

edit: Feel free to ask more questions and I (or others here) can try to explain further...

 

[vishalrao]

.

Oh I didn't answer your main question "how does this work" haha... Well speed test simply connects to a nearby server and downloads some data with multiple connections simultaneously (thus giving you the best appearance of internet speed) then uploads some data to show you your download and upload speeds.

In reality the meaning of "internet" is "international network" meaning you should get decent speeds across the globe which is technically impossible due to the physical massive distances from your home to the actual server.

So many companies (services like Amazon , Netflix, Youtube etc) place their servers nearby their customers internet companies or in shared locations so that you get better speeds and responsiveness while watching your content or downloading stuff etc.

 

[Analogous]

Thank you so much. This is helpful.
So is there a more reliable method to check the quality of Internet services that we pay for?

To continue: How come I am facing this lag/ freeze only with Amazon and not Netflix, Apple TV etc?

 

[vishalrao]

Yes there are software tools and techniques (like traceroutes, routing info, ping loops to monitor packet drops etc) to check your internet quality more in depth but not trivial to explain or handle in layman terms.

You are facing the lag/freeze only with Amazon and not NF or others for the reasons I posted, at least that is my suspicion...

Can you tell me where you run the Amazon app versus the others like NF, Apple etc? On what devices?

Perhaps you can try experimenting with some basic initial steps like setting your DNS servers to Google's DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) in your modem/router if you can do that? Usually your default ISP configured DNS are not too good.

Which ISP internet connection do you have and what is the speed you have opted for?

If your Amazon app is running on a different device than your NF, Apple etc then it could also be a Wi-Fi issue which we can try to tackle after you try changing your DNS settings and if you still face the issues with it.

 

[sbg]

a simple rudimentary test will be to ping to the address.

example: my connection ping to google - not so good - packet loss + take 15ms

Testing on Amazon prime: - looks very good - no loss , takes just 1ms


The next I usually check is the DNS server - change at times if this gets slow.
Right now - it uses the Act server itself, Else I do change to Google DNS if this becomes an issue.


Next will be check the Wifi Network( when using Wi-fi) - few tools like wifi Analyser will show up all the routers broadcasting at their respective bands, - if any overlaps ,Change the Channel or the Band on your router where there is no congestion.
The below example as taken from their site - showing 2 routers overlapping - these normally degrade connectivity.

 

[sbg]

...and, After that , if there is still no improvement.
Restart the HOME sequence - PC/Router/MCB .

 

[surfatwork]

If you have connectivity delays to a specific site, you can use traceroute.
If a friend in US or Europe is technically literate, ask him to set up a ftp server with files of different sizes from 50MB to maybe 1GB. See how long it takes you to download it. You can also try to upload files there and see how long it takes. That's probably the most real test.

 

[Analogous]

All the streams (Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV etc) are on LG CX TV. Only Amazon Prime keeps freezing up.
I am severely IT challenged so can’t really understand the tech parts of the guidance .
Restarting the TV (power on and off) does get Amazon Prime video going again…till it freezes after a while.
I do restart my router once a week or so.
The Amazon app is preloaded on the TV software and I don’t know how to uninstall and reinstall this.
This is where I am…

 

[vishalrao]

Yeah, then my initial hunch stands. It's the amazon apps that are at fault. Best you can do is check and change your DNS settings in the TV or your internet modem/router (ask someone to help you nearby) to Google's DNS server numbers...

 

[Analogous]

Yeah, then my initial hunch stands. It's the amazon apps that are at fault. Best you can do is check and change your DNS settings in the TV or your internet modem/router (ask someone to help you nearby) to Google's DNS server numbers...

Thank you again so much. I will do that and update

 

[reignofchaos]

In my experience, 90% of bad network buffering is due to buffer bloat and bad networking equipment with terrible quality firmware. I have suffered through all this for a long time and tried all the consumer networking brands. DD-WRT and its various offshoots fixed the software side somewhat but nothing can fix bad network hardware. Chasing specs is wrong. We should chase reliability.

Over the last couple of years, I have slowly migrated to pro level equipment and all these issues have completely vanished. My network uptime is almost 99.99% and my main load balancer and gateway haven't been rebooted for months. Only time things go down are for firmware upgrades but those are also made ridiculously easy thanks to the SDN setup I use.

It costs a big chunk of cash to setup but then it is peace of mind after that. No drops, no buffering, no resolution drops no nothing.

We spend lacs and lacs on hifi gear but skimp on networking without realising the consequences.

 

[vishalrao]

@reignofchaos yes those factors play a role but do note the point that on the same setup of the OP only the amazon apps misbehave but not the others. these are the same symptoms i observe on both my sony TVs where i run all my amazon/NF/YT apps and chalk it down to poor coding heh.

What "pro level" equipment do you have? Ubiquity type stuff?

 

[reignofchaos]

What "pro level" equipment do you have? Ubiquity type stuff?

Yes UI and some cisco

 

[bornfi]

All the streams (Amazon, Netflix, Apple TV etc) are on LG CX TV. Only Amazon Prime keeps freezing up.
I am severely IT challenged so can’t really understand the tech parts of the guidance .
Restarting the TV (power on and off) does get Amazon Prime video going again…till it freezes after a while.
I do restart my router once a week or so.
The Amazon app is preloaded on the TV software and I don’t know how to uninstall and reinstall this.
This is where I am…

If you are on wifi, try an Ethernet cable instead.

 

[Analogous]

@reignofchaos yes those factors play a role but do note the point that on the same setup of the OP only the amazon apps misbehave but not the others. these are the same symptoms i observe on both my sony TVs where i run all my amazon/NF/YT apps and chalk it down to poor coding heh.

Yes, it’s only with Amazon Prime Video streams.
So likely an issue with the software from this company?
A google search of this issue reveals several such complaints.

If you are on wifi, try an Ethernet cable instead.

I did. It happens with both.

 

[mbhangui]

I have found android tv to be always glitchy wrt two apps. prime video app which hangs/freezes and netflix app that restarts in the middle of watching something. I have never found this to be an issue when watching the same using amazon firestick. That is one option you can try. Another advantage of firestick will be that the software always gets updated to the latest version, whereas the software on the tv stops getting updated after a year or so (because these hardware manufacturers do not have the capability of updating android version for tons of new tv models that they keep on coming up with every year). Even google stops android update for its own designed phones after some time.

 

[altair21]

In my experience, 90% of bad network buffering is due to buffer bloat and bad networking equipment with terrible quality firmware. I have suffered through all this for a long time and tried all the consumer networking brands. DD-WRT and its various offshoots fixed the software side somewhat but nothing can fix bad network hardware. Chasing specs is wrong. We should chase reliability.

how do you deal with crap ONT like that of Jio? I have written up a script to periodically restart the router just to maintain speeds otherwise even google will come to a crawl after a few days

 

[ssf]

@Analogous

Try clearing Amazon Prime app cache to see if it helps.

 

[reignofchaos]

how do you deal with crap ONT like that of Jio? I have written up a script to periodically restart the router just to maintain speeds otherwise even google will come to a crawl after a few days

Don't have jio. I have act and Airtel. Both seem to work okay. The pppoe session happens from my load balancer not the only.