So, as you can see, trying to get accurate results from an online test is almost impossible. With BBMonitor you can eliminate all these problems and you can test 24 hours a day allowing you to test for intermittent down times or connection slowing.
To test your internet connection accurately with BBMonitor all you have to do is start downloading the largest files that you can find (in excess of 100MB) from as many different download servers as you can find. You can also start many different Streaming Video and or Streaming Radio, which are constant streams of data. The object is to continually download as much as your connection will handle for as long as you prefer to max out your bandwidth from many different servers, therefore proving irrefutably your maximum Internet speed.
You can get BBMonitor from here: http://www.absolutefuturity.com/BBMonitor.htm
BBMonitor also stores all your speed data into a database on your computer, so you can show this data to your ISP to get them to fix your connection with your irrefutable evidence. You can even use the data to create charts and graphs.
It has worked wonders for me. Excellent program. I highly reccomend it!
One thing you need to remember about cable modem: It is shared media bandwidth.
That means that everyone who is attached to the provisioning node of your particular neighborhood shares the entire capability of cable bandwidth.
In simpler terms, if the Provisioning node is rated at 100MBPS, and 10 people are connected to this node, they will effectively each have 10MBPS capability.
The more folks connected at any given time, the lower your bandwidth.
You will likely notice that at 0500hrs, the cablemodem zooms. Then try connecting around 0700/0730hrs and it slows to a crawl. That's because everyone is logging on to check e-mail.
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