Speed Test Sites and Results – 05 Aug 11

Speed Test Sites

A number of people have asked about how to test the speed of their broadband (high speed) Internet connection. The following lists are a few sites that offer a speed test service.

Bell Speed Check - http://206.47.199.107/
Cogeco Speed Test (Burlington, ON) - http://speedtest.cogeco.net
Ontera Speed Test - https://www.ontera.net/myontera/en/bandwidthtest.html
Primus Speed Test(Etobioke, ON) - http://speedtest.primus.ca
Rogers Speed Test - Website link is here
SaskTel Internet Speed Test (Regina, SK) - http://www.sasktel.com/internet/speedtest/index.html
Shaw Speed Test (Sooke, BC) - http://speedtest.shaw.ca
Speed Test Net - http://www.speedtest.net/
Tbaytel Sped Test - http://speedtest.tbaytel.net/
Test My Net - http://testmy.net/
Vianet Speed Test - http://www.vianet.ca/speedtest.php
Videotron Internet Speed Test (Montreal, PQ) - http://testvitesse.videotron.ca/index-en.html

Multi-Speed Test Sites Test

It is important to remember that the results of the speed test only indicate the statistics at the time of the test. It is highly unlikely that the results will be the same the next. To illustrate this point I conducted tests between 11:30 and 12:10 AM on Thursday, 04 Aug 11.

I used a Toshiba laptop with a wireless connection to a Rogers data hub which was receiving a signal by means of an all house antenna connected through a 50 dB amp to an external Yagi aimed at the Bellevue tower. I did three tests as quickly as possible at each test site. Notice the wide range of results both at each site and amongst the sites. You should also note the theoretical best speed for my connection is 7 Mbps download.

Test Site	Ping in ms	Download in Mbps	Upload in Mbps
Bell	N/A*	3.37	1.09
	N/A	3.30	1.85
	N/A	3.14	2.57
Cogeco	N/A	2.40	2.5
	N/A	2.80	1.2
	N/A	2.40	1.5
Ontera	N/A	1.03	N/A
	N/A	1.04	N/A
	N/A	1.07	N/A
Primus	119	1.65	.660
	119	2.01	1.75
	115	2.46	1.83
Rogers	N/A	2.57	3.44
	N/A	2.68	2.36
	N/A	3.03	3.28
SaskTel	N/A	2.14	0.603
	N/A	2.36	0.896
	N/A	2.06	1.1
Shaw	259	2.61	0.68
	250	2.49	0.64
	259	2.52	,490
Speed Test Net	103	2.17	1.15
	104	2.14	0.75
	105	3.59	0.87
Tbaytel	148	2.80	1.8
	145	1.93	1.15
	146	3.75	0.88
Test My Net	N/A	1.7	0.88
	N/A	3.30	**
	N/A	2.0	**
Vianet	N/A	2.54	1.29
	N/A	4.39	1.03
	N/A	2.82	1.65
Videotron	222	1.2	1.07
	108	2.76	0.867
	103	3.01	1.12

* Site does not provide ping times
**Stopped Working

Single Speed Test Site Multi-location

Speed Test Net allows you to pick a specific server for each test. Using this option I tested a few Canadian and US locations. Again there was a large range of results.

Location	Ping in ms	Download in Mbps	Upload in Mbps
Clifton, ON	104	2.87	.92
Kitchener, ON	105	2.60	1.93
Kanata, ON	90	3.02	.92
Montreal, PQ	117	3.65	2.57
Halifax, NS	216	3.42	2.26
Winnipeg, MB	109	3.64	2.20
St. Johns, NL	129	3.68	3.26
Saskatoon, SK	280	1.32	1.33
Yellowknife	168	4.13	1.06
Houston, TX	156	2.90	2.48
Houghton, MI	193	3.76	3.27

North Sault Tbaytel Outlet Situation Clarified – 05 Aug 11

The circumstance surrounding a local Sault Ste Marie Tbaytel outlet is now clarified. 
For business reasons, the authorized Tbaytel dealer in Wawa – The Brick – must be the agent of record for all Tbaytel transactions for service in the North Sault area.
However, the Wawa outlet can use The Brick associate store in Sault Ste. Marie as a “pick-up” point.  This means a user may either contact the Wawa store directly and the items can be picked up in the Sault Ste Marie outlet, or a user may go the local The Brick outlet to place an order or pick-up hardware. The Sault store keeps a number of data hubs available for immediate pick-up and can have handsets, except Apple iPhones, available within 24 hours.
The authorized Wawa agency and consequently the Sault Ste Marie “pick-up” point can only provide hardware that will be “homed” to the Tbaytel network. Therefore the user must have a home or service address that indicates the primary connection to the network will be through a Tbaytel tower.  For all practical purposes, this means the user must live or have business address north of the Sixth Line/ Hwy 17 intersection in the Sault.
All financial aspects will be in accordance with the Tbaytel pricing plans and policies. Details are available at the general Tbaytel website or the 3G/4G HSPA page.
The above does not impact on the ability of Tbaytel hardware to have full access to the Rogers network when the user is away from the primary address.
Sault Ste. Marie
11 WHITE OAK DRIVE EAST
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario P6B 4J7
(705) 759-5083 
Wawa
41 BROADWAY AVENUE
WAWA, Ontario P0S 1K0
(705) 856-4252
1-(800) 270-9365
A complete list of Tbaytel agents can be seen here.