Why does Bt Speed Checker show much higher speeds than all other checkers?

[andy_lee_40]

Hello

I am on the BT Halo package. Minimum guaranteed download speed 100mbs. I upgraded to work from home, with three of us in the house wfh I thought I'd maybe need it.

The speed checker from BT shows just over 100mbs, consistently. Just over the guarantee...fine, but it is literally 1mbs over the minimum, so do I believe it?.

ALL OTHER speed checkers I have tried show about 35mbs. For example, just now I tried the Which? checker, 35.5mbs, immediately followed by the BT app speed checker...101mbs.

So which is the real / true speed of my Broadband? 

Thanks

[licquorice]

The BT speed checker tests the speed to a server that is reached purely within the portion of the network they own and control. Other speed testers are traversing the wider internet over paths and servers BT have no control over that could be the bottleneck.

[Earthling · Accepted solution]

My understanding is that the BT speed checker is measuring the data rates between your hub and the BT servers, but other online speed checks are measuring the data rates between the servers and whatever device the user is using to run the test. usually a PC or laptop.  In that case the results are heavily affected by wifi or other local network connection losses, so the two are not comparable.

If this isn't correct hopefully one of the experts here will elucidate.

[imjolly]

@andy_lee_40 

There is no guarantee of download speeds and the speeds quoted by BT are connection speeds to you router/hub

[andy_lee_40]

Thanks....

But below is some of the blurb about my Halo package...seems to be guaranteeing 100mbs to me? When I upgraded, I was told "you'll get 150mbs, and we have a Stay Fast guarantee of 100mbs".

And my BT speed check shows 101mbs, whilst all other checkers show about 35mbs...I used Which? and theirs is supposed to be the most trustworthy. So I am confused.  Am I REALLY getting 100mbs? I have tried with a wired/Ethernet connection.

 

 

[Earthling]

You are comparing apples and pears.  Read my post above.

[NeilO]

Hi @andy_lee_40 welcome to the community and thanks for posting, your Hub is getting 101Mb.

If you're not seeing this on the device, it's likely that there is quite a bit of loss over the wireless connection or the within the device itself. When connecting via wifi make sure you're on the 5Ghz signal to get the fastest possible speed.

Have you tried doing a wired speed test to see what you get on the which test? 

Thanks

Neil

[michaeldigney]

I have read through all these replies and I am sorry but a minimum guaranteed speed should mean to my device, especially when I have shut all my other devices down. This is misleading to say the least. BT should do like other providers and quote an average download speed.

[andy_lee_40]

Yup, I agree with you.

I use a wired connection, BT hub straight to my laptop on an ethernet cable, not WiFi, so no "interference" possible...yet I get nowhere near 100mbs. I have no interest in the measurement BT use, I'm only bothered about the speed I get on my PC! Bit of a marketing scam. 

On the other hand, it has been reliable.